REFLECTIONS OF DEVIANCE

A criminologist faces down his own trauma as he helps police solve a months-old murder.

DCI Bernard Watts is skeptical when his new boss asks him to look into the death of Marion Cane, a successful businesswoman who retired to the Midlands several years back and lived quietly until she died of heart failure at age 59. It doesn’t make sense that six months after Marion’s passing, an anonymous tipster would send a letter to the West Midlands Police suggesting that they look into what her physician certified as a death by natural causes. As Watts follows Superintendent John Heritage’s order, however, he finds that nothing about the Cane case makes sense. Descriptions of the late Marion Cane are all over the place. Her record in business casts her as strong and self-possessed. Colleagues describe her as kind and caring. Her sister thinks she’s selfish and hypersexual. And her doctor describes her as anxious and frightened. As his investigative team struggles to reconcile these pictures of the deceased, Watts is more pleased than not when his boss brings in Will Traynor, a criminology professor skilled in profiling both victims and criminals. Traynor is ambivalent about the assignment since he’s just learned that the body of his wife, Claire, who disappeared years ago, has finally been found. But he plunges forward, hoping that work will provide a welcome distraction from grief. As he builds a clearer picture of a sometimes steady, sometimes rocky victim, his own functioning becomes more fragile. In the end, he must race to put together all the pieces before he falls apart himself.

Cross builds tension while keeping a diverse cast of characters sharp and sympathetic.