As I was reading up on mysterious theatre following my trip to London last summer, I realized that in addition to writing the long-running play “The Woman in Black,” Susan Hill has also written a crime series featuring British chief inspector Simon Serrailler. I finally read the first in the series, The Various Haunts of Men (2004).
Although the subtitle tells us that it’s a “Simon Serrailler Mystery,” the first part of the book is about pretty much everyone except Simon — his sister, Cat Deerbon, and her family; his new DS, Freya Graffham; various townspeople, like Angela Randall and Debbie Parker, who’ve gotten caught up in the alternative medicine community in the next town; and the criminal, who’s leaving a record of his life. Simon appears only momentarily and isn’t any more important than any of the other characters.
The story involves several people, primarily women, who go missing from the town. DS Graffham, new to Lafferton and looking to make her mark, suspects the disappearances are connected, and her investigation begins to uncover information but no obvious motive or clues to the whereabouts of the missing people. Meanwhile, Cat grows concerned about the alternative medicine being practiced nearby, particularly a new surgeon who operates psychically, and Simon and most of the rest of the police force concentrate on a drug operation.
There’s as much about the town and characters as there is about the mystery, and it reminded me of Camilla Läckberg’s Fjallbacka in terms of developing and presenting an entire town rather than just a few characters; in style the book is in the tradition of P.D. James or Deborah Crombie. Only at the very end does the book focus on Simon and his internal life, when events force him to consider his decisions, with regret.
I’m adding the rest of this series to my reading list and look forward to finding out where Simon goes from here.
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Book #1 in the Thriller and Suspense Challenge
Sigh. I loved this book and its successor but then I discovered (via her opinion columns in a UK newspaper) that Susan Hill is barking mad and stands for all sorts of things I abhor so I vowed and declared I wouldn’t give her another penny of my money by reading her books. I figured if I was going to make such a stand it would be unprincipled to borrow them from the library too
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Oh, now this makes me curious… will do my research on this one! And, by the way, I hate when that happens!!
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I can’t remember which paper she has a column in but I came across it online when she had a rant about how Oxfam shops are taking money from all the noble second hand book sellers in the country and then went on to make a load of unsubstantiated claims about Oxfam’s business practices. Then I read some of her previous columns and realised that was her schtick – nasty, unsubstantiated claims about all sorts of things – environmental issues being one I recall. What annoyed me most was her superior tone and the way everything she said reminded me of those people who start out their insults by saying “I’m not a racist but…”
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I found her column in the Spectator — didn’t see anything as annoying as you’re talking about. Oxfam, what??? That’s off the wall.
Now I’ll have to decide if I’m going to read the rest. I have a feeling I’ll read the library version, which is cheating, of course.
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