The Distant Echo. Val McDermid. HarperCollins (2003)

This is a enjoyable and well constructed murder mystery. Four drunk college students stumble a dying woman dumped in an old burial ground in Scotland. They find themselves suspects in her murder and while the pressure on them is colossal the case is never resolved. Twenty five years later and a major cold case review is launched by the police, with the Rosie Duff case included in the review. The review does more than stir up old memories and fears, one of the students is murdered. The plot gathers considerable momentum as the action escalates steadily up to the gripping conclusion.
This is a really well constructed mystery, Val McDermid sets the story up very well from the finding of the body through the initial run of the investigation and the impact it has on the four friends. The four students all respond to the pressure in different and interesting ways, they way that suspicion undermines them is nicely done as it the ferocious frustration of the police and the victim's family. Pushing the story twenty five years ahead and picking up the threads is clever and effective. It means that the four students have become four new adult characters, as they are drawn back into the case the contrast with their previous lives are nicely played out.
Val McDermid uses a large cast and multiple viewpoints to considerable effect, she uses the scope to add depth and tension to the mystery as competing agendas and perspectives are spotlighted. The cast are lively and distinctive and all of them are actively engaged in the story. This is one of the very nice things about the book, there is constant motion as the cast push each other in search of answers. The story escalates in a very natural way as the plot coils tighten. Smart, sharp and very enjoyable.

Fever of the Bone. Val McDermid. Little, Brown (2009)

A gripping crime story with a well developed cast and a thoughtful plot. With a new Chief Constable who does not approve of the team that Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan has set up, she has a short time to prove the benefit of her operation. When a murdered and mutilated teenager is found DCI Jordan's team take on the case, they are hobbled by the absence of their usual profiler, Dr. Tony Hill. Excluded from the case by the Chief's instructions and struggling with the implications of an unwanted legacy from a father he never knew, Tony Hill finds himself involved in a case with a neighbouring force. Links between the cases start to emerge and the story uncoils with considerable tension and a nice level of understated nastiness. The reveals are very well staged, the conclusion is sharp and focused.
The criminal plot in the book is very well thought out and enjoyably surprising, the very visible strength of the book lies with the varied and engaging cast. Val McDermid confidently moves the spotlight around the supporting cast in the book, highlighting both long running cast members and new players with great dexterity. The cast are given the space to establish themselves as individuals as well as part of an effective, established team.
The two principals, Carol Jordan and Tony Hill are given severe personal and professional problems to resolve that do really challenge them. This pressure gives them the opportunity to emerge as credible, competent professionals with well developed personalities. Val McDermid understands the need to have a strong plot drive the action, it never seems mechanical, the action is a vivid human drama. It is very welcome that the victims are drawn with such clarity, murder and loss are given their terrible due in the book. This is a hugely satisfying story from an tremendously accomplished writer, a real treat.

A Darker Domain. Val McDermid. Harper (2009)

A very well structured and tightly plotted crime story. When the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Scotland is killed in a bungled ransom handover and her infant son, also kidnapped, vanishes there is a twenty year gap before a chance discovery in a ruined villa in Italy brings the case back to life. D.I. Kate Pirie from the Cold Case squad is assigned the case and finds that the details are hiding more than they reveal. At the same time D.I. Pirie is investigating the case of a man who disappeared during the miners strike in 1984, the accepted explanation for his disappearance proving to be untrue there uncomfortable questions waiting to be resolved. The reveals are nicely paced and the structure of flashbacks does not impede the narrative in any way, they give it weight and increase the forward motion of the plot.

Val McDermid creates a interesting and varied cast and switches the action between Scotland and Italy, the past and the present with fluid skill. The conflicting interests of the main characters in wishing to bury or uncover the past is developed to considerable dramatic impact. This book engaged me right down to the very satisfying conclusion.

The signal failure in the book was the presence of a stupid male senior police officer who had difficulty with a brighter female subordinate. This addition of a dreary crime fiction staple added nothing to the book and detracted from it when it was shoehorned in. In particular the vibrant exchanges between D.I.Pirie and a truly competent and very powerful male character underlines the limpwristed quality of her interactions with her manager. An annoying blemish on an otherwise gripping thriller.