HOPE WILL ANSWER

Newly elevated to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector, Hopbridge CID, Nick Trevellyan (Time of Hope, etc.) must now find the village rapist who targets youngsters the age of Girl Guides, and he must do so with an ambitious new partner, Sheila Walpoke, while his usual sergeant is in hospital and his lady-love, computer-whiz Alison Hope, is off in London trying to find the hacker who's menacing her pal Philip's computer firm. In their separate cases, Nick and Alison each overlook alibi glitches, leading on the one hand to another rape attempt, and on the other to the murder of Philip's Technical Support Manager, the cantankerous and brilliant Zac. Nick will go hand-to-hand with the rapist and Alison will witness the suicide of the murderer before their cases conclude and they reunite. Not much spark here: Nick and Alison are nice enough, if a tad dull—but as before, their ever-so-civilized conversation and mundane insights make for only mildly diverting fare.