"When the Dead Speak" by Sheila Bugler

Eastbourne pier, a location in this whodunnit

A murder mystery that ticks all the boxes.

A young woman is found dead on the altar of St Mary's church in a scene that parallels an unsolved murder from sixty years previously. Freelance journalist Dee sets out to investigate but her police detective boyfriend Ed is off the case because his now-dead uncle was accused of the earlier crime. Cue repeated lies and failures of communication between the two of them as Ed goes maverick to try to clear his uncle's name and Dee has trust issues. Characters include sleazy hoteliers, dying doctors and self-righteous Christians. In the end, after the principal ladies encounter life-threatening violence, the convoluted plot is unravelled.

It was a quick, easy read. I found it a little difficult to keep on top of who was who among the suspects, especially as there were two sets, from the past and from the present. The narrative was regularly broken by flashbacks using the device of diary entries from the 1960s which lacked verisimilitude; it just didn't sound like a diary. On the other hand, the use of real places in and around Eastbourne (the Hydro hotel, the pier, St Mary's Church, the Lamb Inn, Seasons cafe at the Harbour) added credibility for someone like myself, who lives there. 

I think my biggest problem lay with Dee and Ed's relationship. They repeatedly failed to communicate either by omission or the use of falsehoods. This created lots and lots of conflict but it seemed artificial. They fell out with monotonous regularity, as if they sensed when the plot needed another twist to maintain the tension. Ed, who had been quite a believable character in the first of this series, I Could Be You, was reduced to a stereotypical male while Dee was eternally ready to see the worst in him while giving herself a blanket pardon for the same sins. His obstinacy was her strength of character ("if other people felt differently that was their problem, not hers"; Ch 15). She made everything about her, from the fact that her neighbour had other friends and might move away from the substandard caravan she rented from her to the fact that her cousin was having an affair; Dee was always the centre of her youniverse.

But the pacing was spot on, with the turning points coming at all the right places, the book was easy to read and the pages quick to be turned.

Selected quotes:

• "Unlike her husband, who was flashy to the point of trashy, everything about Karen's appearance seemed designed to make her as invisible as possible." (Ch 12)

August 2024; 348 pages

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