Still Waters: A Mystery.

New York, NY Random House: Pantheon Books, 2007. Hardcover First Ed; First Printing indicated. First Ed; First Printing indicated. Fine in Very Near Fine DJ: Book shows binding square and secure; text clean. DJ shows a very faint wrinkle at the inside corner of the lower front flap; else flawless; price unclipped. As New. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 275pp. Hardback with DJ. It takes a lot for a new writer to break into the crowded genre of British police procedurals. Even a good story may not be enough. But a good story with a badly damaged-but-redeemable Detective Chief Inspector might just do the trick. In this case, the damage is a doozie! DCI Mark Lapslie has just been called back from "indefinite sick leave" because he has a form of synaesthesia that causes him to taste sounds, e.g., his sergeant's voice tastes to him like lemon with a hint of grapefruit, but the voices of his children made him sick. And the voices of his colleagues at the busy station house taste like uncooked meat. Thus, he lives alone in as much silence as he can manage. He is called back to work in a last-ditch attempt to see if there is any way to create a useful place for him on the force before putting him on permanent leave. And he lands in the middle of a strange series of deaths of lonely old women. Coincidence? Murder? Serial killer? One leads to another and Lapslie and his sergeant always seem to be just a step behind. And the question nags: "Could a woman really visit so many horrors on these sweet, abandoned souls?" It makes you want to call up your elderly aunts and grandmothers to make sure they're OK and haven't been befriended by any overly solicitous do-gooders! I really like Lapslie and Co. and the writing is crisp, with a fine pace. Make no mistakes, though. This is also a tough murder mystery and not-so-nice things happen to presumably undeserving people. This is a good first mystery in what looks like a promising series.