Book review: Forensic eye cast over two mysteries

Jane Casey once again keeps the reader engaged and entertained with her usual aplomb in 'A Stranger in the Family'

Jane Casey manages to walk the tightrope between ensuring readers stay invested in the relationship between Kerrigan and Derwent while keeping the curse of happy every after at bay.

• A Stranger in the Family 
• Jane Casey 
• Harper Collins, €19.60

Celtic Noir or Emerald Noir — whatever name you want to give it, there is no doubt that Irish crime fiction is flourishing.

Female writers are very much in the driving seat of the genre, and one of the most successful among them is Dubliner Jane Casey.

The London-based author has gained a steadfast following of readers with her series of novels featuring Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan — a highly capable investigator who is an appealing blend of sharp, tough, and vulnerable.

One of Kerrigan’s weak spots is her colleague, the handsome and infuriating Josh Derwent, who vacillates between emotional tormentor and white knight. 

In Casey’s previous book, The Close, released last year, the pair went undercover as a couple in a suburban housing estate in a bid to capture a dangerous killer.

The Close was a high point in the long-running series, as Casey expertly kept the levels of suspense purring along nicely, while also ramping up the sexual tension between Kerrigan and Derwent to tantalising new heights.

Casey has been kind to the many readers itching to discover what’s next for the couple, quickly delivering the follow-up, A Stranger in the Family.

When Helena and Bruce Marshall are found dead in their bed in an apparent murder-suicide, all is not as it initially appears.

Kerrigan and Derwent soon discover that the couple’s deaths are linked to the disappearance of their adopted daughter Rosalie 16 years previously.

As well as attempting to solve two mysteries in tandem, their personal issues are also leading to professional strife with concerned colleagues and boss on their case.

Rosalie’s adopted brothers, former nanny, and a podcaster with ulterior motives are all thrown into the mix.

A sense of sinister menace builds, as the dark secrets of the Marshall family’s past rise to the surface in a series of flashbacks.

Casey is a polished and intelligent writer, adept at plotting and characterisation, and with a fittingly forensic eye for detail.

However, this time around, it feels as if the crime plot — past and present — is at times unnecessarily convoluted and not as coherently woven into the overall fabric of the story as previous books, becoming something of a side dish to the main course of the increasingly fraught romantic dynamic between Kerrigan and Derwent.

Some of the red herrings and plot points are also more obviously signposted, and one of the “twists” is melodramatically sentimental.

However, these are minor gripes in the overall context of what is a gripping and absorbing read, as Casey once again keeps the reader engaged and entertained with her usual aplomb.

This is the 11th book in the Kerrigan series, and it is to Casey’s great credit that she has successfully managed to walk the tightrope between ensuring readers stay invested in the relationship between Kerrigan and Derwent while keeping the curse of happy every after at bay.

It will be interesting to see how she continues to maintain the suspense.

However, with a dramatic epilogue once again leaving readers on the metaphorical cliff edge, Casey has again ensured that readers will be hungry for more.