"A Forgotten Shadow" by H L Marsay

For once, a crime calls Detective Chief Inspector John Shadow and his sergeant Jimmy Chang out of the city of York, into the Yorkshire countryside. A member of the local duke’s shooting party had been killed, but not apparently, by anyone the man was hunting with. A co-owner (with his wife of the stables that manage the duke’s racehorses, there seems to be no apparent motive. 

Then another man, a stable yard worker, is killed. He’s struck by a policeman, Shadow’s closest friend on the force, in what looks like an accident – the man had too much to drink, fell down in the road by the pub, and was struck when the policeman drove by. But as the autopsy shows, the victim had already been hot on the back of the head. 

 

And it’s a sensitive case, as Shadow’s chief constable keeps reminding him. Wealthy and titled people are involved, not to mention the local member of Parliament who was part of the hunting party. The Chief constable would prefer a nice, clean solution that doesn’t involved the duke or his extended family. 

 

H L Marsay

But Shadow will do the job he faces. And the fact that his own policeman father as killed in the same area and with something like the same weapon more than 50 years before complicates the case for the DCI.

 

A Forgotten Shadow is the fifth DCI John Shadow mystery novel by British author H L Marsay. It’s a story filled with an unsolved crime, the Irish troubles of the 1980s and 1990s, horse racing, old (but not forgotten) tunnels, and a case that looks almost unsolvable. It’s a fast, entertaining read, with even a hint of possible romance for our detective.

 

Marsay is the author of six mystery novels in the DCI John Shadow series. Set in York, the characteristic features of each of the stories are a curmudgeonly DCI, his irrepressibly cheerful sergeant, a culinary tour of the city restaurants, café, and pubs (some of which actually exist), and an introduction to York’s colorful history and present. A member of the Crime Writers Association, she lives with her family in the city of York in England.

 

Related: 

 

A Long Shadow by H L Marsay.

 

A Viking’s Shadow by H L Marsay.

 

A Ghostly Shadow by H L Marsay.

 

A Roman Shadow by H.L. Marsay.