Dreams of Fear

December 1, 2019
Is the hanging of a young mother suicide or murder? Late one night, Gerry and Anne Barham nearly run over their 6-year-old neighbor, Joanna Ferguson, as they pull into their driveway in the English seaside village of Instow. Anne takes the girl home to discover a horrific scene. The story flashes back almost three weeks to depict Jane Ferguson's recent neurotic behavior, her apparent descent into mental illness, and Felix Ferguson's distress. When Jane's body is found hanged back in the present, DI David Vogel (Wheel of Fire, 2018, etc.) is roused from sleep to undertake the investigation. Felix is not at home. Gerry Barham reports that Felix, commodore of the local yacht club, has been drinking heavily lately. Vogel questions Jane's mother-in-law, Amelia, who assumes it was suicide, as Jane was "never happy," and freely admits that their relationship was not close. Felix appears in the middle of this interview, disheveled and drowsy after celebrating the anniversary of his position at the yacht club and intending to crash at his parents' home. Felix tells Vogel about his wife's struggles; Vogel in turn informs Felix that he's a suspect. The arrival of Felix's blunt father, Sam, who's as disdainful of Jane as Amelia, completes one part of the picture. Medical examiner Karen Crow can't determine whether Jane's death was murder or suicide, and several bruises on her body arouse Vogel's suspicions. When Vogel approaches Miriam Thorpe, Jane's therapist, for insights, she confirms much of Felix's account. But Vogel keeps coming back to those bruises. Will they lead him to a killer? A crisply written crime novel that methodically reveals the pieces of a complex puzzle, effectively challenging armchair sleuths.

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December 9, 2019
Bonner’s serviceable third outing for Det. Insp. David Vogel of the Major Crime Investigations Team of the Avon and Somerset Police (after 2018’s Wheel of Fire) takes the “mild-mannered and courteous” Vogel to Devon, where his former boss, Det. Insp. Nobby Clarke, “a copper with heart and integrity,” wants him to investigate a suspicious death. Vogel and his colleague, Dawn Saslow, arrive at the affluent town of Instow to find young wife and mother Jane Ferguson hanging in the stairwell of her home, “suspended by a rope fastened tightly around her neck.” Was her death suicide or murder? Vogel and Saslow descend into a morass of secrets and lies that stretch back decades and reach to the highest echelons of British society. Will Vogel be able to bring the murderer to justice, despite the odds stacked against him? Vogel’s well-developed relationships with his coworkers and family keep the reader on board, even as the plot takes some improbable turns. Fans of character-driven British police procedurals will be satisfied. Agent: Toby Peake, Peake Assoc. (U.K.).

December 1, 2019
Gerry and Anne Barham are returning home late one night when a small child darts into the path of their car. Braking just in time, Gerry realizes that the six-year-old girl, Joanna Ferguson, lives next door. Still shocked from having nearly run over the child, Gerry and Anne take her back to her house, only to find a scene of nearly unimaginable horror inside?Joanna's mother is hanging from the bannister. DI David Vogel and his team are called on to investigate what initially appears to be an open-and-shut case of suicide, but Vogel's intuition tells him there's more to it. His boss pressures him to close this investigation quickly, and Vogel is puzzled by the DCI's insistence that he stop trying to uncover the truth. He's convinced the victim was murdered, and he wants to find out why. In a series of astonishing twists, Vogel eventually finds that his superiors don't want the case pursued further because it could reveal sinister secrets reaching to the highest levels of British government. A cracking read, tautly suspenseful, and starring a notably engaging copper hero.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)