In Cold Blood
Jane Bettany
“Crafting a Compelling Copper”.
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A brother and sister renovating an old house stumble across skeletal remains buried in the garden. For DI Isabel Blood, the discovery transports her to her own past – for the house is the one in which she spent the first years of her childhood. Furthermore, the bones have been buried in the ground for decades – could she finally have an answer to the mystery of what happened to her father, whose disappearance has haunted her for forty years?
Jane Bettany’s new protagonist is refreshingly original for the genre. Middle-aged, male detectives are popular in crime fiction, but as is the case in so many fields of entertainment, we rarely see women of this age portrayed (Ann Cleaves’ Vera notwithstanding). The road to publication for In Cold Blood was an interesting one. Bettany was already an accomplished short story writer, and creative writing tutor. This, her debut novel, was the winning entry in a unique competition held by HQ Digital and Gransnet – the criteria being a novel written by a woman over forty, writing a female character the same age.
Isabel Blood is fifty-five years old, with a teenage daughter. We see her juggling being a parent with her work, whilst coping with the emotional fallout from the discovery of the body. The book is set in Derbyshire, and has a strong sense of place.
The story itself is tightly plotted and a real headscratcher. The first in a series, it introduces us to Isabel and a host of other, well-crafted supporting characters that are sure to become series regulars. As the investigation progresses, it twists and turns. There are deeply satisfying revelations and reversals and the two stories, the professional and the personal, are equally important and expertly intertwined. The unfolding mystery is imaginative and original, and Bettany deals with difficult issues sensitively and compassionately.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Time constraints meant it took me several days to read it, and I found myself really looking forward to picking it up again.
This is a very promising start to a series that I am certain to follow.
Highly recommended.
