THE SINS OF THE CHILDREN

A mysterious incident at a posh English public school has murderous consequences.

A routine school trip to the Scottish Highlands goes terribly wrong when a teacher plunges to his death. An accident? Thirty years later, young Alison Glasby, crime reporter for the London-based Sunday Herald, can’t be sure. And being sure matters because much hangs in the balance: her standing with her bosses; her relationship to sources in Scotland Yard; the status of a once torrid love affair she might like to see rekindled. Most importantly, the future of ambitious Ali’s career has come to depend on digging the truth out of that long-ago schoolboy story. Central to it is Chief Superintendent Henry Dunne, who all these years later heads a task force nicknamed “the Godsquad” that’s charged with investigating police corruption. What if he himself doesn’t bear investigating? Warned, admonished, even threatened about the dire consequences if she persists in venturing where angels fear to tread, tenacious Ali nevertheless asks every hard question, chases every glimmer of a lead. After all, who ever mistook her for an angel?

Since this is only her second trip across the pond (A Picture of Guilt, 2008), Ali is still a relative stranger here, but if you like your heroines bright and ballsy, she’s your cuppa.