1985 police procedural, first in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries
series. In Toronto, someone is raping and murdering joggers; but
Detective Inspector John Sanders thinks the latest victim doesn't
completely fit the pattern.
Although the series is known as Sanders/Jeffries, in this first
volume Jeffries makes no appearance. Rather, Sanders and his partner
Dubinsky are the heroes here, and while Sanders has an ex-wife and a
new girlfriend they don't play a great part in the story (though the
girlfriend is briefly kidnapped).
While I don't know Toronto at all well, the descriptions seem
atmospheric, and the ravine system makes up an important element of
the story. The people work well too… but there are an awful lot of
them, many of whom get narrative time, and this includes the murderer,
which is a pattern I don't favour; as a mystery reader I'd rather have
the same information the police have. There's a great deal going on,
and unravelling one particular victim's complicated life seems as
though it wouldn't be the sort of thing there'd be time for in a
high-profile serial murder investigation, but Sale manages to make it
fit together even if there's a bit too much coincidence towards the
end. There isn't much crime-solving for the reader to do, and I only
realised one particular question was meant to be a challenge to the
reader – rather than just another "anyone in the city could have done
it" in the manner of McBain's Cop Hater – when Sanders explained how
he'd worked it out.
It's distinctly less cosy than the short story in Christmas
Stalkings that introduced me to the series, and filled with
unpleasant people, but well-written and highly enjoyable nonetheless.
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