THE RISING TIDE

Indomitable Inspector Vera Stanhope, whose lonely youth with a lawless father has given her a unique approach to crime and punishment, returns in a heartbreaking case.

On the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast of England, the past drives the present. A small group of old school friends have been meeting there, at Pilgrims’ House, every five years for half a century. They first came to the island on a school trip organized by a young teacher hoping to "challenge their preconceptions" on "a kind of secular retreat." They bonded on that first trip, but what may have really brought them together was the death of Isobel, one of their number, at their first reunion five years later. At that time, Annie and Daniel were married and mourning the loss of a baby. Since then, Lou and Ken have also married, and now Ken has dementia. Rick has become a famous television personality, and Philip, a priest. Now, after a night of drinking and reliving the past, Annie, long divorced from Daniel, finds Rick’s body hanging in his room. The fact that Rick was recently fired from his job over allegations of sexual impropriety does not convince Annie that her notably vain friend would commit suicide and leave himself to be found naked. Soon after Vera and her crew are called in, she confirms that Rick was smothered and hanged. The Holy Island is an island only when the tide covers the causeway; indeed, trying to drive through the water caused Isobel’s death all those years ago. Although there are certainly present-day reasons why someone might have killed Rick, Vera and her team do a deep dive into the past and find an unexpected motive.

A character-driven puzzler that ends in a painful denouement.