Quinn and DC Verity Everett are called out to the Edith Launceleve College in Oxford, where it seems that a complaint has been made of sexual assault against a member of the teaching staff, a professor. His general attitude doesn’t always serve him well, particularly in this case which calls for some sensitive handling and he is frequently called out on it. Fawley describes him as “sharp suit and blunt razor” which I think sums him up perfectly.

It’s rather a shame that “safe pair of hands” DS Chris Gislingham is on holiday for much of the book and the demoted DC Gareth Quinn is Acting DS in his absence. The first thing you come to in the book are brief character summaries of the key members of the team – this is so useful, especially when there is a long gap between books and I do wish publishers would do this more often with a series. Also I have to say congratulations to Cara for The Whole Truth being one of Richard & Judy’s Book Club Spring 2021 picks. I have to admit there was some trepidation before starting this – Adam Fawley is one of my favourite book detectives after all and I had a feeling that things were not going to go well for him in this book.

I love this series, the previous books are reviewed here on the blog, and I was delighted to be asked to review the next one. My thanks to Ellie of Penguin for the tour invite and copy to review. Format: Ebook, Audio, Paperback (29 April 2021)

Di adam fawley