"The Other Path" by Jon Neal

A private investigator is hired by an unknown client to investigate a suspicious death in a remote and (at the time of the death) completely cut-off village on the South Downs. 

This murder mystery conforms perfectly to the genre. It's bang up to date (one of the characters has been bereaved in the Covid-19 pandemic) and yet it is classic: there are only eight possible suspects and many of them have secret back-stories that give them motives. The author is very good at offering tantalising hints and the plotting works so that the final solution is the only possible answer and yet a surprise: both the final twists caught me out, and the penultimate twist was brilliant. This makes it a thoroughly satisfying read. 

The story is told in the past tense, and in a multi-person third person PoV, but is principally narrated by the investigator. There are suggestions that this main character might be developed.

The book, like most whodunnits, is primarily driven by the plot. The pacing is fast (the major turning points at exactly the right moments) and the writing economical. Despite this, the characters drawn are convincing (particularly the relationships between Joyce and Bridget, and between Ursula and Quentin) and the setting clearly drawn. These aspects make this novel one of the better in its genre.

Selected quotes:

• "A community trapped in its very own snow globe." (Ch 1)
• "So much today could be purchased on credit. It made it difficult to differentiate between those who were truly well off and those whose lives were a facade built on debt." (Ch 5)
• "Other people's opinions can be so loud." (Ch 9)
• "Stanley reflected that crimes are often the consequence of love rather than hate." (Ch 18)
• "Funny, she thought, how lying to someone made one self-conscious. It felt as if she'd slipped into somebody else's skin, acutely aware of the way she spoke and the manner in which she moved." (Ch 19)
• "Identities and dreams can be fluid. Things can shift and change based on circumstance. The various seasons of life ... could see a person playing very different roles." (Ch 21)
• "Never in her career had she sat waiting for the elusive muse to arrive. That was the way of amateurs. No, to have written all those books upon the bookshelf required self-discipline." (Ch 23)

January 2023; 210 pages

Jon Neal has also written a charming little novel called A Twin Room. 

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God