Katherine Hayton

The third book in the Ngaire Blakes series, THE ONLY SECRET LEFT TO KEEP finds Blakes back in the police force (see my review of the second book: THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF for more), confronted by a very unusual case. The skeleton of a murder victim, found on a fireground, is eventually identified as a young African American, Sam Andie, who went missing around the time of the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand.

In the first two novels in this series a fair amount of time has gone into setting up the character of Ngaire Blakes. A cop who suffers from PTSD she's been assaulted, left the force, solved a case that she was being framed in, and is now back on the force, with a baffling historical crime to solve. In this outing the concentration has moved away from the character back story and more towards the investigation - a promising sign that this series is going to continue to evolve and improve from the potential heralded in the first two novels.

The plot here is nicely complicated by a series of factors - the Springbok Tours in New Zealand (and Australia) were fraught times, accompanied by many protests, strong opinions for and against, and the potential for a protest to have been a catalyst for murder is highly feasible. As is the possibility that a young African American man, transplated from the States to New Zealand by his family, could have met with racial prejudice and violence. Further complicated by the double homicide conviction handed down to Sam's girlfriend in the same week that he disappeared.

Because there has been so much concentration of Ngaire Blakes in the earlier books there is always the possibility that this is a series that would work better if you started at the very beginning, although you can step into it at THE ONLY SECRET LEFT TO KEEP, accept that Blakes has some hefty baggage, and enjoy the novel as a police procedural / investigation in its own right. There's plenty to this plot, to Sam Andie himself, and to events around the time that he was murdered to keep a reader involved and occupied. Knowing a lot more about Blakes certainly means that you can see exactly how this series is progressing, and get a feeling for the way it keeps moving forward, adjusting the focus, and heading into very interesting territory indeed.

This is an embarrassingly overdue mention of the second novel in a series which is going from strength to strength. Apologies to the author, the delay is all my fault.

If you're not aware of the Ngaire Blakes series from New Zealand author Katherine Hayton then this is one that needs to go on the to be read pile. Starting out with THE THREE DEATHS OF MAGDALENE LYNTON, then this novel, THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF onto the third, which was longlisted in this year's Ngaio Marsh Awards, THE ONLY SECRET LEFT TO KEEP, this is a police procedural which is improving in leaps and bounds with every outing.

Centred around Ngaire Blakes, a Police Detective who in this novel has resigned from the force after a brutal assault has left her suffering from PTSD, Blake is a terrific character. Flawed and complex without being tediously complicated, Blakes is strong enough to take on the world on her own in THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF, after isolating herself from friends and colleagues, and running to her estranged father's remote hometown to hide. Only hiding never works, and somehow Blakes finds herself in the position of having to find a killer before a frame up gets her.

The procedural elements of these books work pretty well, and the plots are nicely twisty and tricky, but at the heart of it all is a great character study. Blakes is one of those characters that you can't help but like, even though you'd probably want to shake sense into her if it was real life. She's troubled, she's flawed, she's suffering and she's extremely real and absolutely believable. Setting or sense of place is slightly less important, and in THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF if nothing else, Blakes fleeing to her father's place gives the author an opportunity to give the reader a sense of the remoteness and rural nature of the areas that she's moving through.

There was potential in the first book that's been continued in this second outing. There are obvious hints here that Blakes police career is far from over though, and the third book deservedly won a place on the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards longlist. More on that next up.

THE THREE DEATHS OF MAGDALENE LYNTON is the first in a new series from New Zealand author Katherine Hayton, followed by THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF and THE ONLY SECRET SHE KEEPS. The last of these, THE ONLY SECRET SHE KEEPS, has been long listed in the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards which will come as no surprise if you've been lucky enough to follow the evolving story of Ngaire Blakes.

The central character in this series, Detective Ngaire Blakes, really works. A flawed, grumpy, complicated woman, frustrated at being stuck behind the police station reception desk recuperating from nasty injuries received in an earlier case. She's a good combination of knowns and unknowns, as there is much to Blakes and her background that you'll have to take on face value. This first book doesn't waste a lot of time on backstory for her or her colleagues, it assumes that you'll work out this is a policewoman with a past and roll with it. It's also a location with a past history, and some of the classic elements of small-town connectedness and combined past histories, again a fair bit of which you'll just have to take as given. Overall this creates an extra level of mystery, and makes sure that things don't bog down in the personal past, keeping the pace of the revelations - past and present - tight, fast and flowing freely.

The blurb gives readers a pretty good idea where the title for this novel comes from. Magdalene Lynton died 40 years ago drowned in a farm slurry. Or in a dirty shed. Or did she? The plot device of three possible deaths of the one woman is an interesting idea to start out with, but add the complication of 40 years ago and things get very twisty indeed. There's a lot of red herrings for Blakes and the reader to sort through, there's a heap of confusion and doubt everywhere, and at the centre of the mess there's an investigator that's determined, flawed, pig-headed, and extremely real. It's one of those pleasing confluences of good characters, good plot and interesting sidelines. About the only downside is a slightly unclear sense of place with the incorporation of American spelling and terminology muddying the waters (pun sort of intended - what with farm slurry and the whole thing...).

Despite that minor niggle, the main aim of THE THREE DEATHS OF MAGDALENE LYNTON: introducing a new, intriguing and interesting character in New Zealand Crime fiction delivers in spades. Enough to make this reader pick up the second book in the series, THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF, pretty well straight away.

It’s no longer surprising that certain “scenarios” seem to be duplicated in a rush of books - and amnesia and/or dementia causing memory loss is the one that has been showing up a lot recently. 

BREATHE AND RELEASE is by New Zealand based Katherine Hayton, and in this case, the memory loss is as a result of a car accident, and there’s a complication. Another woman is trapped in an underground hell, unable to escape, barely alive. Readers would be forgiven for assuming that there’s going to be a connection between Elisabet and Lillian, although what the connection is might not be quite as obvious.

The narrative moves backwards and forwards between both women, each of whom seems to be reacting to their situation in similar ways. Elisabet awakens in hospital with very flawed memory and finds herself placed in the care of her ex-husband and step-daughter. It quickly becomes apparent that all is not well with this scenario so a large part of whether or not this book works for you, revolves around whether you’re comfortable with the whole setup. Somehow, something didn’t quite feel right for this reader with a little too much predictability in some areas, way too much convenience in others and some odd sidebars, such as the bad-tempered sulky step-daughter that just seemed to lead nowhere.

Meanwhile Lillian in the cellar is obviously in extremis when the reader first comes to understand her capture. The way she is hogtied, the physical extremity of her situation, the sheer terror that result starts out believable and frightening, and yet somehow Lillian manages to show through that with a surprisingly calm and almost low key delivery. It might be that there’s something slightly tongue-in-cheek about much of the dialogue (internal and external) from both women that will again be something that different readers have a particular reaction towards.

As the story revolves around the character of Elisabet her behaviour, reactions, voice and reasons are the main viewpoint through which the reader has to understand her situation. Even allowing for initial memory loss, as recollection starts to return to Elisabet, her reactions are somehow slowed or dulled. Even to the point of physical attack and threat, she seems somehow oddly glib and dismissive, her voice remains strangely upbeat and ever so slightly light and silly on occasions. Even allowing for something not quite right about her personality, and the scenario of the woman in the cellar, there’s something here that might be seen by some readers as sinister, although it can easily be mistaken for very peculiar detachment.

There are certainly red-herrings aplenty in the plot of BREATHE AND RELEASE, and with books of this style there will be readers who love this, and those for whom it’s less successful. Certainly the idea of victims under extreme threat, and the knowledge that safety is in the hands of somebody who has no idea they are in that position is an interesting aspect to explore. BREATHE AND RELEASE has a go at that exploration in a unique manner and tone.