A World Full of Weeping

"A World Full of Weeping," by Keith McCarthy, features forensic pathologist John Eisenmenger and his lover, Helena Flemming. For seven months, Helena has been battling breast cancer, and she is physically drained from the surgery and chemo-radiotherapy. In an attempt to raise Helena's spirits, John has arranged a visit with her old friends, Tristan and Theresa Hickman, who live in a castle in Westerham. Tristan is a prominent plastic surgeon, and the Hickmans' son, Hugo, is following in his father's footsteps. Hugo's sister, twenty-three-year-old Nell, has been emotionally fragile since she bore a baby at the age of fifteen. The boy, Tom, receives more affection from his nanny than he does from Nell, who has very little to do with the child's day-to-day care. Tristan's eighty-two year mother, Eleanor, is the formidable matriarch of the family. She has become physically fragile and somewhat forgetful over the years. Malcolm Groshong has been the estate manager for decades, and he is a trusted and faithful employee. Just as John and Helena are arriving at Westerham, a brutal murder occurs on a private road leading to the estate. A man is set on fire in his car and left to die in agony. Investigating the case are Detective Inspector Andrew Sauerwine and Detective Constable Sally Felty. In the days that follow, there are other deaths and startling revelations, some of which relate to the slaying of Claude and Penelope Flemming, Helena's parents, eight years earlier. "A World Full of Weeping" is an intricately constructed character study of overprivileged and underprincipled people who will do anything to protect their reputations. The author's central theme is a staple of British mysteries: secrets and lies from the past never remain dormant. They invariably have a way of surfacing years later and wreaking havoc. Although John and Helena do not play a central role as sleuths in this novel, they figure prominently in the book's melodramatic denouement. "A World Full of Weeping" is a bit too long and meandering, the ending can be spotted a mile away, and the plot relies a bit too much on coincidences and cliches. However, McCarthy's descriptive writing and dialogue are effective, and his depiction of police procedure and forensics lend authenticity to the narrative. In addition, the subplots dealing with the romantic and professional lives of the detectives are engrossing and realistically handled. Although this is far from a perfect murder mystery, "A World Full of Weeping" held my interest and made me eager to read the next installment in the series.