Jane Casey (1) (1977–)

Wow!

How is it that Jane Casey gets better and better?

This is the 11th book in the series, and it should by all rights be getting a bit predictable, but nope.

This starts with the death of an older couple which may link back to the disappearance of their adopted 9 year old girl Rosalie many years before.

Maeve and Josh are still struggling about working together and their feelings. Neither is perfect, and it does feel very real, and that ending! Going to take me a while to process. Need to read show more the next one as soon as I can.

I have seen it said that you can read this without reading the rest of the series, and yes you probably could, but I think it's much better if you have the back story, and the build up to where things stand.

Great, highly recommended series. show less

I like these books, but oy, Maeve just never learns. About anything. About being a cop. About relationships. About men. About Georgia. About Derwent. It was completely obvious from the beginning that Seth was a dangerous person, but Maeve saw nothing in his patronizing and controlling behavior. It was hard to read about what he did to her, but the thought of Derwent giving payback kept me going.

Aside from that, I found the plot a bit too convoluted and involved too many suspects and guilty show more parties. It was a stretch and kind of hard to keep track of everyone after a while. No one was distinctive enough to stand out. But I hope the series continues. show less

This novel showcases Rob Langton, DS Maeve Kerrigan’s ex, who was on his third major investigation as an undercover policeman, currently identifying as Mark Howell and reporting to Opal Gilroy.

His job was to infiltrate the Carter crime family, which he was able to do after serendipitously saving patriarch Geraint Carter’s life following a heart attack. Geraint then offered him a job as a right-hand man, which was a great way to get on the inside, but extremely dangerous for Mark; he knew show more the slightest slip-up or lapse of trust could cause him to lose his life.

Mark quickly discovered that Geraint was up to more than just the “usual” crimes of money laundering, protection rackets, and murder; he was a committed white nationalist. Geraint had a plan to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment by staging a false flag operation that he could blame on Muslims and foment popular support for discriminatory measures or better yet, forced eviction from the country.

To Geraint and the three like-minded very wealthy men who are conspiring with him, any deaths they caused would be immaterial; they believed the only way to defeat Muslims was ‘to use their own violence against them.” [The irony of who was actually employing violence was lost on Geraint and his pals.]

Geraint’s group had been building up to this moment by funding right-wing politicians across the UK and Europe, as well as buying up regional newspapers and radio and television stations that would bruit their agenda. In addition, they were setting up online discussion sites that operated as “safe spaces to say and hear the unthinkable,” as Mark’s boss Opal put it. She averred, “. . . it’s a tried and tested way of shifting public opinion.” They magnified low-level annoyances into major grievances, creating a community that could speak up without being censured but rather, be lauded as “honest” and “patriotic.”

Opal told Mark:

“Sadly, there are quite a lot of racist people out there. And there are more people who are just disappointed in their lives and wish things were different. They’re sitting ducks. You sell them a dream where all the money stops draining away from them and starts filling their pockets instead. It’s impossible to counter a dream with reality. The truth doesn’t seem like a very appealing alternative to being told your problems aren’t your fault.”

Geraint made Mark a central part of his plans for causing carnage, and Mark had to stop it somehow. But he was watched constantly, he had no way to warn Opal, and time was running out.

Discussion: Maeve and Josh Derwent both make an appearance in this novel, and their interactions with Rob/Mark are a welcome relief from the horror of Geraint and his agenda. But Casey was not limning anything unrealistic or that is not a real problem in the West. Indeed, the Trump campaign embraced and is now enacting the Project 2025 agenda led by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which calls for “purifying” the country by deporting undocumented immigrants and possibly even legal immigrants of color who are documented. Trump himself, citing completely false data about immigrant-driven crime, made the promise if elected to deport or incarcerate 20 million people. He has now set up quotas to do just that. Trump and Vance have also expressed their admiration for Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who champions “illiberal democracy,” or “Christian democracy,” promising a return to a white-dominated, religiously based society. [The descriptor of “Christian” is not really applicable given the attitudes and behaviors of those espousing these policies, but is regularly employed nonetheless.]

I suspect Casey wanted to help, through her story, to alert people to the real dangers facing us.

Evaluation: This novel will be welcome on at least one level to fans of DC Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent. The story not only explains a lot about what happened to Maeve and Rob, but provides insight into the partnership of Maeve and Josh. As for the crime portion of the story, it is sufficiently full of tension to keep readers turning the pages. show less

This is the 11th novel in the Maeve Kerrigan crime series, which is one of my favorites. Jane Casey’s writing is a cut above the usual offerings in this genre.

It begins with the disappearance, 16 years earlier, of nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall. The case was never solved, but becomes relevant again when Rosalie’s parents, Helena and Bruce, are found dead in what at first glance seemed to be a murder-suicide. Upon closer inspection by DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent, the double show more death looked more like a double murder. Maeve believed that figuring out what happened to Rosalie was key to solving the new case.

While they are working on leads, the two are also battling the attraction that has always simmered beneath the surface between them. But it was complicated: Josh lived with a partner, Melissa, and her son, Thomas, to whom Josh was devoted; it was what was keeping him with Melissa in spite of his feelings for Maeve.

The push and pull between Maeve and Josh doesn’t help them in dealing with all the possible suspects for the murders and the secrets that someone badly wants to suppress, enough to kill again to make sure they don’t come out.

Evaluation: There is less emphasis on police procedures in this book. A lot of the narrative centers around the horrific things done to Rosalie, which raises questions about differentiating between how one deals with the challenges of parenting versus actual abuse. The details also affect Josh personally, with his newfound love of fatherhood. But foremost in the story is the Josh and Maeve dynamic. The ending will have readers anxiously awaiting the next installment. show less