The Long Call is the beginning of a new series about Detective Matthew Venn called The Two Rivers Series. The series takes place in North Devon, somewhere in the UK where two rivers meet.
A body is found on the beach. A man has been stabbed to death. As Matthew and his team get to work interviewing and investigating, we learn about Matthew's past. His estrangement from a strict evangelical community, which has also caused an estrangement from his parents. His father has just passed away, so Matthew is dealing with his grief. And this investigation will include his old pastor as well as his mother. Matthew is also married to Jonathan and they live near the beach where the body was found. Jonathan manages the Woodyard, a sort of community center that includes programming for disabled people as well as other programs. The Woodyard also becomes part of the investigation.
So Matthew's life gets deeply involved in the case, as he struggles with personal issues and tries to keep a separation between those issues and his case. There are many characters who play a part, and I had a bit of trouble remembering who everyone was. The Long Call is a police procedural that doesn't contain any nifty Sherlock Holmes deductions, but we get a straight-forward unfolding of the case as the police do.
I didn't have a clue who the "bad guy" was until it was revealed, which is always a positive. The officers are effective at their jobs, and we get a glimpse of their personal lives as well. I enjoyed seeing what made them tick.
I didn't get bored; the plot moved at an acceptable pace. I wanted to figure out what happened and enjoyed the revelations as they kept my attention. An interesting case with interesting characters which I recommend.
Published by Minotaur, September 3, 2019
eARC obtained from NetGalley
382 pages
Rating: 4/5
This sounds like a good detective novel. I think I like that style better than all the thrillers I've been reading.
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