THE GOOD WIFE

London copper DCI Henry Johnstone (The Clockmaker, 2019, etc.) brings his famous murder bag to the country to investigate a grisly killing.

In 1929, there’s no better place for the citizens of Newark-on-Trent to spend the spring bank holiday than Southwell Races. In addition to a chance to see the magnificent thoroughbreds put through their paces, there’s betting for the punters, rides for little ones, and a place to have a picnic lunch in the open air. It’s little wonder that Dr. Ephraim Phillips and his wife, Nora, make for the fairgrounds with their three small children or that their close friends Dr. Clive and Martha Mason go with them. Even though the Masons have not been blessed with children, their friendship with the Phillipses gives outgoing Martha the chance to exercise her charm on Nora’s unruly brood. Unfortunately, of the four friends who venture out to the fairgrounds, only three are destined to return, and the brutal death of the fourth sends shock waves through the village. And once he views the body stashed away in the empty horsebox, head bashed in by a blunt object, Sgt. Emory knows that this is no job for the local police. He calls the Central Office of the Metropolitan Police to have DCI Johnstone and Sgt. Mickey Hitchens sent up to help. Johnstone is no paragon of tact: His blunt interrogations have ruffled more than one witness. But his reliance on data and scientific methods, including the equipment in his murder bag, make him the ideal detective to crack a case that brings a new twist almost daily. It takes an investigator who takes nothing for granted to solve a murder where nothing is as it seems.

Fast-paced fun.