“Death Walks Behind You” by Scott Hunter

Detective Chief Inspector Brendan Moran of the Thames Valley Police is doing something unusual – he’s taking a holiday. He’s rented a cottage near a small town in Devon, and he’s already discovered the local pub. He’s having a pint with the pub owner and an attractive local woman, when they’re interrupted by a loud and upset American who’s looking for a friend. She leaves almost immediately, and not too long afterward the local woman leaves as well – and quickly returns. The American is dead in her rented car. Moran’s holiday is turning into a busman’s holiday. 

Before the local police can investigate, the body and the car have disappeared. The policeman responsible for the area is loath to investigate. The owner of the area’s big du Courcy manor (the manor goes back to the days of William the Conqueror) seems involved in some way. Then come the reports of earlier deaths and missing persons.

Scott Hunter

Back at Thames Valley police headquarters, one of Moran’s top team members has been found strangled with a wire in his bed It wouldn’t be a Brendan Moran story without at least one police officer being killed). And the high-flying investigating officer seems utterly determined to pin the murder on Moran’s trusted #2, with a lot of circumstantial evidence.

Death Walks Behind You by Scott Hunter is the third in the Irish Detective series, featuring DCI Brendan Moran. And it’s a riveting tale, action-packed and creative tension on every page.

The “Irish Detective” series includes Black December, Creatures of Dust, Death Walks Behind You, A Crime for All Seasons (short stories), Silent as the Dead, and Gone Too Soon. Hunter has also published the novels The Trespass, The Ley Lines of Lushbury, Long Goodbyes, and The Serpent & the Slave, and the memoir Rattle and Drum.  In addition to writing fiction, Hunter is an IT consultant and musician. He lives with his family in England.

Death Walks Behind You is a tense, tautly-woven story, making you want to do something violent to the bad guys while you’re yelling at the good guys to do something. Hunter has done a fine job with these first three Brendan Moran mysteries.

Related:

My review of Black December by Scott Hunter.

My review of Creatures of Dust by Scott Hunter.