The Close by Jane Casey

 

DS Maeve Kerrigan is investigating the murder of a surgeon when politics intervene and she has to go undercover to discover why a vulnerable adult disappeared from care and turned up dead in a boarded up house. Meave has to work with her boss, DI Josh Derwent, pretending to be a couple in a tight-knit community, the last known whereabouts of the possible murder victim. 

I came across Jane Casey in 2021 when I read The Killing Kind. I enjoyed it so much that I jumped at the chance to read The Close. What I didn't realise was that The Close was book ten in a series. Thankfully the story was so engrossing that it really didn't matter that I hadn't read the previous books.

As the book opens we are straight into the murder of a surgeon. This story alone would have been great as a police procedural but the introduction of a new story-line really does take the whole thing up a notch. Alongside this are hints to what happened in previous books that mean that Maeve isn't functioning as well as she normally does.

The undercover aspect of the case results in Maeve and Josh having to pet sit, pretending to be a couple. The writing is so good that you can feel the attraction between them, there's a frisson of excitement as you constantly wonder "will they, wont they"? I was on the edge of my seat fascinated by where the relationship was going to go.

The setting, a close in the small town of West Idleford, sounds very charming. All the neighbours know each other and are very friendly. I found the majority of the characters quite creepy, particularly the men. This was further cemented when we suddenly switched narrator, someone who was creeping around, watching through windows, lurking in undergrowth. This new voice gave a very sinister feel to the whole story. It was impossible to figure who the new narrator was, you just knew that danger could be lurking around any corner.

As we reached the conclusion my heart was racing as the tension increased. I've thoroughly enjoyed this introduction to the Maeve Kerrigan series, I now want to read the rest of the books. I want to know more about how Maeve and Josh's relationship developed. I also want to know where it's headed.

The Close by Jane Casey will be published on 2nd March 2023 in hardback and ebook format. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a review copy.