Let Darkness Bury the Dead

October 1, 2017
After a 10-year hiatus from print, during which he was seen only on television (in The Artful Detective), Detective William Murdoch resurfaces, older, wiser, and sadder, in 1917 Toronto, amid the fear and losses of World War I.Murdoch's beloved wife, Amy, was lost in childbirth years ago, but he still has his son, Jack, now 21 and back from the war in one piece, or so it seems. Jack's physical ailments are no worse than a lingering cough from the gas, but he's silent and withdrawn, spending all his time with his comrade in arms Percy McKinnon. Unbeknownst to Murdoch, Jack and Percy are gambling, drinking illicit hooch, and smoking opium in the back of a Chinese laundry and anywhere else they can get into trouble. Murdoch is distracted from the reunion with his troubled son by the apparently random murder of a young man while the city is buffeted by the pacifists who decry the violence of the war and those who shame the cowardice of young men not in uniform. Meanwhile, though a part of Murdoch will always mourn Amy, he does begin to notice how the clever work and kindness of Constable Madge Curnoe brighten his days. But when two more young men, both civilians, are found dead, a horrible pattern emerges. Can Murdoch prevent battlefield carnage from coming to the homefront?Jennings (Dead Ground in Between, 2016, etc.) provides a melancholy and nuanced meditation on the war and a welcome return for fans of this long-dormant series.

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November 1, 2017

The first book in the "Murdoch" series in a decade (since A Journeyman to Grief ) opens in 1915 with the execution of a Canadian soldier accused of cowardice, and the themes of war and fear run throughout this historical mystery. Det. William Murdoch's son, Jack, returns in 1917 from the Great War as a troubled, wounded veteran in the company of his physically and emotionally scarred friend Trevor. The two find some solace in nightly carousing, and Jack distances himself from his father. Soon several men who had been exempted from conscription are murdered, and Jack and Trevor become suspects. While the earlier series titles featured a younger Murdoch, Jennings, acknowledging the success of the TV adaptation, The Artful Detective, which diverged from her original story lines, sets her eighth book during World War I with an older Murdoch savoring a promotion and still mourning his wife's death. VERDICT Murdoch fans will welcome the long-awaited return of the Canadian sleuth, and historical mystery buffs will relish the evocative details--poetry, excerpts from military manuals--that add poignancy and context to a straightforward mystery plot.--ACT

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2017
Ten years after the last installment of the critically acclaimed Murdoch series (A Journeyman to Grief, 2007), Jennings propels the Toronto detective's story forward to 1917, capturing Canada's WWI effort at its height. Senior Detective William Murdoch breathes a sigh of relief when his son, Jack, returns home from the front, but the trenches have taken a deep toll. Jack suffers from insomnia and avoids his father, preferring the company of his disturbed platoon mate, Percy McKinnon. Murdoch is concerned, of course, but is distracted with solving the murder of a young man at one of the speakeasies that have popped up in response to Toronto's blue laws. As Murdoch closes in on a group of gamblers who brawled outside the establishment the night of the murder, more attacks on men granted exemptions from service shift the investigation toward the increasingly violent confrontations between a group of war supporters and the exempted. In a troubling turn, evidence pointing to Jack and Percy is found at each crime scene, leading readers and Murdoch to fear the worst. Jennings skillfully re-creates Toronto during one of its most pivotal periods, with richly detailed portrayals of the city's gritty underbelly; the haunting atmosphere is enhanced by selections from Jack's poetry, which evokes the brutality of trench warfare. An excellent period procedural recommended for fans of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)