Lost River

In this, the tenth book in the series featuring CID officers DS Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper of the Derbyshire Constabulary based in Edendale, the tale opens with Ben trying to rescue an eight-year-old, out on a bank holiday in Dovedale with her family, from drowning in a few inches of water. His efforts, however, are to no avail. Neither Diane's nor Ben's primary story line deals with any formally assigned case. Ben is dealing with the aftermath of the little girl's death, and his conviction that it may not have been an accident, while Diane's has to do with an equally personal but perhaps more traumatic event: When a hit on the National Database opens an enquiry into the rape years ago in which she was the victim, she must finally try to come to terms with the assault. Diane is granted an indefinite leave of absence so that she can work with the officers working the cold case, and Ben is appointed Acting DS. Ben thinks of himself as "the officer who failed to save Emily Nield's life." He becomes involved with the dead girl's family, and is soon viewed by his colleagues as "a police officer who'd become obsessed and was trying too hard to make a case out of nothing." As to Diane, she is described by colleagues as "Straight as an arrow . . . always going by the book." This time, not so much. She sees herself as "no different from all the washed-up people everywhere, all the fools who'd ever messed up their lives or destroyed their relationships. Work was safe ground, a place where personal feelings could be put aside, shrugged off with her coat at the door of the office. The trouble was, right now she could feel the safe ground shifting under her feet. She was still as dedicated to the job as she'd ever been. But she had a suspicion the job wasn't quite so loyal to her any more." In the end, both Ben and Diane find that the only one they can completely trust is each other. Detailed descriptions [almost - but only almost - to a fault] are provided of the towns and the countryside, bringing the Peak District, among other areas, to life for the reader. The book deals most of all with memories, and the distortion thereof For readers familiar with this wonderful series and its protagonists, "Lost River" provides in-depth character studies of both, and makes them that much more human, and both those readers and others only now being introduced to them will look forward to their return. I must admit that a certain ambiguity in the final pages made me question whether or not that will happen; I am sure I am not alone in hoping that they will reappear in Mr. Booth's future novels. This one is, obviously, recommended.