Insidious Intent

We never want to talk about the difficult things. But if we don’t they poison the good things in our lives.

Grief is individual. Some like it public, some like it private. For some, it’s complicated because their relationship with the dead was complicated.

To come up against someone who appeared not to give a damn about exerting petty power almost restored his faith in the public.

It wasn't enough but it was a start. It might keep him going...

What it had done, however, was to give him a feeling of power and control that had taken him back to how he used to feel every day.

But I do sometimes wonder whether the technology has de-skilled us as detectives.

Which translated, Stacey thought cynically, to ‘If you’re going to break the law – what I don’t know can’t hurt me.

give it your best shot. And if you fail? What is it they say? “Try again. Fail better.

And of course Tom’s dad lives there, in Eyam, so he could kill two birds with one stone.

Thank you, ma’am.’ Carol ended the call and

That’d be me, ma’am.’ Tony winced. She hated that form of address and despised officers like DSI Henderson who cleaved to it as a marker of respect. ‘It’s old-fashioned misogyny,

With his stubbled jaw, he resembled a bull seal who’d been washed up by the tide.

His face seemed to be in retreat from a sharp nose, as if he’d been caught in the teeth of a gale at birth.

Her fight with alcohol had made for contentious exchanges and, if that were possible, even more contentious silences. Tony, empathetic to the point of self-harming, felt the pain of her abstinence as powerfully as anything he'd ever endured personally.

′You're a very unusual man, Mark,′ she'd said. ′That's nice of you to say so,′ he said. You have no idea.

I've read the stories. Teenagers committing suicide because all they can see ahead of them is shame and disgrace. Kids running away from home because they feel like they've list their future. Well, I'm not having that happen to Torin.

kill. He’s a man obsessed and he’s determined to