This is the first one I have read in this series, and it sounds like earlier ones should be better -- I am was not terribly impressed by this one: cold case detective and history professor get drawn into local suicide/20-year-old murder -- this could have been richer in Lake District history, but instead it just becomes rather gruesome and rather predictable. ( )

Greg Wharf's evolution is one of the many reasons why I enjoy this Lake District series so much. Edwards' characterizations are layered and as you're drawn into the stories, you come to realize how much you care for these people. Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett are made for each other, but they're taking their sweet time in getting together, partly due in fact to Hannah's difficulty in ending her old relationship with bookseller Marc Amos. And Wharf? In so many other series, he would remain forever a "Jack the Lad," but in Edwards' hands-- although he still remains a wolf-- he's a wolf with surprising depth to his character. Methinks he's going to play a larger part in books to come, and I'm looking forward to the developments.

The Hanging Wood is a bit of a locked room mystery even though nothing of import actually takes place behind a closed door. It's the entire location that's locked down to outsiders. St. Herbert's Library, Mockbeggar Hall, the Hanging Wood, Lane End Farm, and the upscale caravan park all seem to form a little world, and when one of the characters states that not even poachers would go into the Hanging Wood, it was my clue that outsiders were not involved. The problem was in ferreting out which insider was responsible.

When Hannah and Greg begin investigating, they find an almost incestuous knot of people living there. Niamh Hinds divorces the farmer to marry someone working at the caravan park. Her son Callum stays with his father while Orla goes with her mother. The farmer's brother lives in the Hanging Wood. The daughter of the man who owned Mockbeggar Hall marries the owner of the caravan park. And so it goes. I actually deduced the identity of the killer before the reveal, but there was no way I could've understood the why of it all. This leads to one of my favorite scenes in the book in which Hannah is interrogating one person of interest in one place while Daniel is doing the very same thing at another location. On the surface, the scene is a comparison of interviewing styles, but it reveals so much more about the characters of Hannah and Daniel. Daniel's father was a police officer and Hannah's superior at one time. It's obvious that Daniel is familiar with police procedure. The scene also shows how very good these two are at what they do and that they belong together. A little romantic tension when those two aren't even in the same building. Good, isn't it?

That's just one scene. The Hanging Wood is an excellent entry in a superior series. Yes, you can walk right into the action in this book and not really miss anything, but I'd suggest that you start at the beginning so you can savor every little bit of the atmosphere of England's beautiful Lake District and the wonderful stories and characters that Martin Edwards has created. ( )

The fifth instalment of Martin Edwards Lake District series sees historian Daniel Kind direct a case towards Hannah Scarlett’s cold case review team. In preparation for his next book Daniel is undertaking some research at a residential library. One of the people working at the aforementioned library is a woman called Orla Payne who is obsessed with the unexplained disappearance of her brother Callum 20 years earlier, when he was a teenager. Their Uncle Phillip was interviewed regarding Callum’s disappearance but before any formal charges could be laid Phillip’s body was found in the Hanging Wood. Everyone in the community assumed it was a suicide and took this as evidence of Phillip’s guilt in Callum’s disappearance and probable death, although the boy’s body was never found. All these years later Orla tells Daniel she believes Callum to still be alive though her reasons for thinking this way are unclear, clouded by her alcohol induced fog. Unsuccessful in her attempts to make Hannah Scarlett reopen the case Orla then dies in grim circumstances herself, an event which does prompt a somewhat reluctant review of the case of Callum’s disappearance.

One of Edwards’ strengths as a writer is his ability to quickly draw the reader in to the worlds he creates, making you feel as if you are part of the things and observing the shenanigans from a close vantage point. He achieves this through thoughtful character depictions and just the right amount of detail about the local environment, events and people. Each time I return to Martin Edwards’ Lake District (this is my fourth visit) I feel like I’m coming back to a place I know (helped along in this instance by the inclusion of a small map which I very much appreciated and would like to see more of).

Another of the enjoyable features of this series is that there’s a nice balance between old and new characters. Of course there are the two long-running series protagonists in DCI Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind but there are always lots of new characters to meet in depth for each new story. Most of the players in this particular drama belong to one of two prominent families in the area and the reader is soon gripped by their various connections and shared histories. Because Hannah and Daniel don’t have to carry the entire narrative Edwards has been able to tease out their personalities and foibles over time. Even here, five books into the series, we learn new things about each one which is a boon for fans of the series (for those wondering about the hint of romance between the two glimpsed in previous novels you’ll have to read for yourselves to find out if there is any progress).

The story here is first rate too, both intriguing and credible. It relies on a careful unravelling of the layers of small (and not-so-small) deceits that the characters have told about themselves (or to themselves) over time. Of course all the characters have engaged in this behaviour, not just the criminally inclined, because it’s natural for humans to re-invent themselves via the stories and events from their pasts that they choose to share in their present. Sometimes it’s nothing more than cutting out the boring bits of one’s life story and sometimes it’s a little more sinister but we all do it and Edwards has depicted it very intelligently and believably here. There were several points at which I had that smug ‘oh I’ve worked this bit out’ feeling only to realise it was a minor tangent to the main story or, worse, to have an unpredicted twist foil my puzzle solving attempts.

Some crime fiction always feels like fiction but with The Hanging Wood I wouldn’t have taken much convincing this was a true story unfolding. There’s not a single thing that couldn’t easily happen in the real world, from Orla’s grim death (my parents used to scare us with stories of just such a death when we visited our farming relatives each summer) to the events which were ultimately uncovered in connection with Callum’s disappearance. The Hanging Wood maintains the high standard of its predecessors in offering a classy, thoughtful and engaging story that is clearly a cut above the average in the crowded space of British police procedurals. ( )

I always look forward with some anticipation to reading the next instalment in Martin Edwards' Lake District series with DCI Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind, and THE HANGING WOOD did not disappoint.

While part of a continuing series THE HANGING WOOD works quite well as a stand alone if this is your first opportunity to read a title by this accomplished British author. I'm sure it will however send you looking for earlier titles.

Orla Payne's phone calls to Hannah Scarlett, DCI of the Cold Case Review unit at the Cumbria Constabulary, triggers the reaction Orla had hoped for - the re-opening of the case of her brother Callum who disappeared twenty years earlier - but too late for Orla herself.

THE HANGING WOOD has a nice balance of cold case investigation and other issues such as Hannah Scarlett breaking in a new "right hand."

He’d arrived in the Cold Case Review Team with a very dodgy reputation, but she was glad she’d given him the benefit of the doubt

and Hannah's personal relationship with one-time partner Marc, and the nature of her relationship with historian Daniel Kind. Daniel brings a historian's mindset to the interpretation of evidence, asking questions about the past, which nicely complement those Hannah herself is asking.

.. to understand the present you have to understand the past..

A satisfying read that explores both whodunnit and whydunnit issues ( )

THE HANGING WOOD is the fifth book in the series by Martin Edwards which is set in the Lake District of England. This is a story about families and how any number of commandments can be broken in 264 pages.

Orla Payne has returned to the Lake District, the place where she grew up and where her family has very strong ties. Twenty years before, when Orla was seven years old, her fourteen year-old brother, Callum Hines, disappeared without a trace. An extensive search was mounted but there was never a trace of the boy who was a tease and something of a snoop. The tragedy of Callum’s disappearance was compounded when his uncle Philip, a learning disabled man, was identified as the prime suspect. Unable to deal with the accusations that he was a likely pedophile who abused his nephew and then killed him, Philip hangs himself in the Hanging Wood, an area of thick forest that the locals avoid. Was Philip guilty? If so, where did he hide Callum’s body and how was he able to do it so quickly?

Orla is convinced that her brother is alive and that Philip was hounded to his death for a reason not connected with Callum’s disappearance. When she returns, Orla gets a job at St. Herbert’s Residential Library and this is where she meets Daniel Kind, a celebrity author whose popular histories of the district made him a household name. Daniel has walked away from his television program and is happy to live quietly and get on with the writing of his books. Daniel befriends Orla and when he learns of her determination to prove that her brother is still alive, he suggests that she get in touch with Hannah Scarlett, the detective chief inspector who leads the cold case unit. Orla calls Hannah but when she does she is drunk and Hannah can’t make sense out of her ramblings. The second time Orla calls, she tells the constable who answers the phone, “I must talk to Hannah Scarlett, it’s a matter of life and death.” But Hannah is unavailable. The constable asks if she can be of help but Orla replies, “Too late….It’s just ancient history to everyone else. Nobody cares about justice.” It is not long before Orla, too, is dead.

The author writes that the open spaces of the countryside are actually claustrophobic, that everyone knows everyone else’s business, that there are no secrets that can’t haunt generations. The cast of characters forms a tight nucleus in the community. Niamh is the mother of Callum and Orla; their father is Michael Hines, a farmer, and the brother of Philip. Niamh left Michael and married Kit Payne; Orla took his name, Callum did not. Most of the land in the area had been the property of the family that owned the Mockbeggar Estate and the stately Mockbeggar Hall. Loss of money and social standing forced the family to sell. It was purchased by the Madsen family. Brothers Bryan and Gareth are now the directors of the upscale caravan holiday site which was started by their father. Fleur is married to Bryan and Sally is married to Gareth (Sally has only a bit part). Fleur’s family used to own Mockbeggar’s Hall but then the Madsen’s bought it and Fleur is living there while ignoring that the Hall is actually the center of the business that sells caravans (trailers to us US folks) that are, in some cases, more expensive than a small home.

Also wandering in and out of the story is Aslan Sheikh, a volunteer at St Herbert’s Residential Library (it takes far too long before someone makes a connection between that name and Orla’s love of fairy tales).

Hannah and her sergeant, Greg, Daniel and his sister, Louise, and Marc, the man Hannah used to live with, are all, to greater and lesser degrees trying to figure out who killed Callum and Orla. They are seemingly not distracted by adultery, lies, greed. lust, and the coveting of people and things. All in all, THE HANGING WOOD is a book well worth reading. The entire series, THE COFFIN TRAIL, THE CYPHER GARDEN, THE ARSENIC LABRYNTH, THE SERPENT POOL, and THE HANGING WOOD, is another that should get more attention than it does. All the books are recommended and, although the characters develop as the series does, it isn’t absolutely necessary to read them in order.

If I was not already a fan I would have become one after seeing the author’s reference to that old and wonderful British TV series, The Prisoner. ( )