Review: SHROUD OF EVIL, Pauline Rowson

• source: review copy from Net Galley per Severn House
  
• published 2014
• available from Amazon
• File Size: 1029 KB
• Print Length: 235 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Digital (August 1, 2014)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00L37DKS8
• #11 in the Andy Horton series

Synopsis (Net Galley)

Rugged Detective Inspector Horton investigates a missing person in a case that has personal ramifications which could end his career...When a private investigator goes missing, Detective Inspector Horton of Portsmouth CID believes he's probably run off with a woman. But when the man's car turns up, and a shocking discovery is made, things turn serious, and Horton himself embroiled in an investigation that has major personal ramifications, and could potentially end his career.

from Amazon (extra detail)
Detective Inspector Horton of Portsmouth CID is assigned the case of a missing person: Jasper Kenton, a private investigator. Eunice Swallows, Kenton’s partner, seems reluctant to help them, and Horton concludes that she is probably relieved to be rid of him. He instructs Sergeant Cantelli and DC Walters to put out the usual alerts, believing Kenton has probably run off with another woman.

But when Kenton’s car turns up, and a shocking discovery is made, things turn serious. Immediately, Horton finds himself embroiled in an investigation that has major personal ramifications and one in which he has no choice but to withhold vital information. As he struggles to crack the case, he knows it is only a question of time before someone discovers he’s kept silent and when that’s revealed, his part in hindering a major investigation will end his career . . .

My Take

I have been a fan of Pauline Rowson's Andy Horton series for some time now and this one did not disappoint. The book will really work best if you have read earlier titles in the series, but even so, there are plenty of hints about details from earlier novels.

The story follows the pattern of earlier ones: a police investigation into a local case, in this case a missing person involving Portsmouth CID and progress in Andy Horton's personal investigation into what happened to his mother nearly three decades earlier.

Once again it is meticulously plotted and the central characters are well drawn. Horton is a maverick, and the tensions between himself and his superiors puts his actions on a knife edge. By the end of the book, you can't help feeling that knowledge of what happened to Andy's mother is just around the corner.

My rating 4.6

I have also reviewed
DEADLY WATERS
THE SUFFOCATING SEA
4.4, DEAD MAN'S WHARF
4.3, A KILLING COAST
4.6, DEATH LIES BENEATH
4.5, DEATH SURGE