Unreasonable Doubt

December 7, 2015
Why would the recently exonerated Walter Desmond, who spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, even consider going back to the scene of the crime, his hometown of Trafalgar, British Columbia? The truth is that he wants to know why he was framed—but then again truth isn’t easy to come by after all this time, as shown in Delany’s absorbing eighth Constable Molly Smith mystery (after 2014’s Cold Stone). One of his two arresting officers is dead under what becomes a suspicious circumstance, and the other, a retired curmudgeon, wants nothing to do with the police now that this cold murder case has been reopened. Walter’s enjoyment of his newly free life is short-lived with the onset of a series of violent attacks on local women. Though the conclusion is a bit lightweight, Delaney does a good job providing an unsavory view of old-boy small-town cop cliques, reminding us that some people don’t get what they deserve.

October 15, 2015
A man cleared of murder charges returns to his British Columbia hometown to get some answers. Walter Desmond spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It seems clear that the police in Trafalgar hid evidence that would have exonerated him. Desmond just wants to know why. His lawyer is suing the province for $5 million, and the Trafalgar force, most of whom weren't there when the murder occurred, are instructed to treat Desmond as any ordinary citizen. Sgt. John Winters is given the cold case. When he and Chief Constable Paul Keller pay a visit to the family of the victim, Sophia D'Angelo, they find them embittered and still convinced that Desmond is guilty despite all the evidence to the contrary. The town is deeply divided, and the one remaining police officer from that time--another is retired and lives nearby--won't believe that his friends railroaded Desmond. Constable Molly Smith, whose mother, Lucky, still retains her 1960s ideals even though she's the unlikely partner of Paul Keller, must confront at least one fellow officer who's hassling Desmond. Helped in part by a sympathetic woman staying at his B&B who's visiting the popular tourist town with her dragon boat crew, Desmond stoically puts up with the verbal abuse. As Winters delves into the past, cracks appear both in the evidence and in the perception of Sophia, who was not the quiet, obedient young woman her family and friends described but a sneaky hell-raiser who tormented her younger brother and pulled the wool over her doting parents' eyes. Winters and Smith face hostility, and Desmond receives threats as well, as they work to find the truth. Delany's excellent new procedural (Under Cold Stone, 2014, etc.) is a real page-turner, ratcheting up the tension as each secret from the past is painfully revealed.

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February 1, 2016

Walt Desmond spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. No one understands why he would return to the town in British Columbia that betrayed him. And then the attacks begin again. Delany's eighth series title (after Under Cold Stone) is a taut, well-written whodunit.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2015
After serving 25 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, Walter Desmond is exonerated and returns home to Trafalgar, British Columbia, scene of the crime. Townspeople are wary of him; the aging parents of the victim are furious that he's free; and some police officers defy orders not to take sides on the issue. When Sergeant John Winters' wife is assaulted on the same day Desmond returns to town, with a similar attack made soon after on a woman at the bed-and-breakfast where Desmond is staying, suspicion points his way, eyewitness accounts to the contrary. Constable Molly Smith, remaining neutral regarding Desmond, protects him against two of her colleagues and then joins Winters as he ferrets out the truth about the killer. Delany's tenth Molly Smith mystery is another solid procedural that gains depth from its portrayal of mass psychology. The advance in the relationship of Chief Constable Paul Keller and Lucky Smith, Molly's mother, provides a lovely coda to this engrossing addition to a fine series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)