Cambridge Blue: A DC Gary Goodhew Mystery Set in Cambridge, England

Alison's Bruce's Cambridge Blue, which was released in the U.S. in January of this year, was first published in the UK in 2008. This means, I hope, that in the last year the author's been hard at work on the second book in the series, because when it comes out, I want it. Cambridge Blue is a police procedural set in Cambridge and featuring DC Gary Goodhew, the youngest officer to ever make detective in Cambridge's Parkside Police Station. It's not that Goodhew is brilliant in a Sherlock Holmes sort of way, though he is very intelligent. It's more that he has a genius for noticing things, and a single-minded interest in his job, and a tendency to go off on his own and follow leads no one else has noticed. And besides he doesn't sleep very much. He is an enigmatic figure, living a sort of double life which, one is surprised to discover, he shares the details of with the only significant woman in his life, his grandmother. Goodhew is an intriguing character who's more than up to the task of anchoring this series. The secondary characters also show promise: Goodhew's exasperated superior DI Marks, his deeply unpleasant colleague Michael Kincaide, Mel from the admin department, who plays the sax and likes the wrong kind of men. Not one of them is superficially drawn. In this installment Cambridge is rocked by a perplexing series of murders by strangulation, all of them seemingly related to one another. It's not clear until the very end what's going on, and even then, when the details come spewing forth on the page, the story is a bit of a head-scratcher. One has to rethink the various clues to get things straight in one's mind. (I'm still not sure why one of the deaths had to happen.) Delightfully complex, then, both in its plot and its characters: none of them are what they seem to be; most everyone seems to be hiding something. You'll spend much of your time with the book wondering what this character or that is up to, from the prologue on. A very, very promising debut. -- Debra Hamel

In Cambridge, England, although only twenty-five year old, Gary Goodhew is proud of his promotion to detective constable; however some of the veterans at Parkside Station think the still untainted kid is too young. Gary may be an optimist but he also is a realist; he knows he will need to prove himself to his peers, who expect him to fall on his youthful face. His chance arrives when a female corpse is found on top of garbage bags in Midsummer Common. He is assigned the lead. After sifting through garbage, he begins to follow clues into the victim's life and family seeking to learn why she was murdered and especially the reason of dumping her as if the killer threw out the garbage. Although very typical of the British police procedural, CAMBRIDGE BLUE is an entertaining whodunit starring a likable dedicated cop with a need to prove he belongs. Goodhew keeps the tale brisk especially in the latter half as he methodically follows every lead. Fans will enjoy his efforts to solve the complex case even as readers will try to beat him to the punch as Alison Bruce provides all the clues in plain sight. Harriet Klausner

In Alison's Bridge's "Cambridge Blue," a star is born: twenty-five year old Detective Constable Gary Goodhew. Unfortunately, his boss, Detective Inspector Marks, is not exactly besotted with Gary, who is the newest member of the force at Parkside Police Station in Cambridge. Goodhew is a loner with a strong sense of morality and a reputation for brains and determination, but he may too independent for his own good. When he should be busy working a case with his partner, DC Michael Kincaide, Gary often goes his own way, following his hunches and conducting unauthorized inquiries without consulting his superior. Marks growls, "You irritate me.... You fire off like a bullet when an investigation starts and ricochet around the case until you hit a target." His boss is furious that Gary refuses to follow protocol. On the other hand, he recognizes that Gary has "a gift for people and truth and logic that [doesn't] come with any amount of training." Goodhew is devoted to his job and has no personal life to speak of. His closest confidante is his youthful and energetic grandmother. He is definitely not your run-of-the-mill policeman. When a boy finds the body of twenty-three year old woman with a plastic bag over her head, Gary is part of the team called in to investigate. Her death is followed by another similar crime, and the authorities are stymied in their search for the killer. As Goodhew says, "It's too random, just a fog of possibilities.... It was like a Rubik's cube, coming together in one place only to be jumbled up somewhere else." For better or worse, Gary is not content to follow orders or wait for instructions. He interviews witnesses and examines crime scenes without informing Marks. What frustrates Marks to no end is the fact that Gary is extremely clever, intuitive, and persistent. He will not rest until the puzzle is solved and the perpetrator apprehended. Should Marks give him enough rope to hang himself or just send him packing? Goodhew is a refreshingly original and appealing character and the author makes fine use of the book's colorful and historic Cambridge setting. The secondary characters are mostly predatory people who destroy others for sport or personal gain. Although the beginning of "Cambridge Blue" is engrossing, in the second half of the novel it becomes apparent that there are some seriously weird things going on. When the murderer's identity and the convoluted circumstances surrounding the crimes are revealed, the reader's credulity is strained to the breaking point. In her debut novel, Alison Bruce shows as much promise as her lively protagonist. Perhaps the next installment in this series will give DC Goodhew, a man whose "inspired chaos" leads to brilliant deductions, a mystery that is more worthy of his considerable talents.