DI Nyree Bradshaw and her team have their work cut out for them once again. Local woman Lizzy Bean has been found dead, garrotted with a piece of wire. Lizzy's property, a 1970s beach house overlooking a pristine Northland bay, is overflowing with rubbish. Inside, the house is even worse.
As Nyree and her team delve into the case, clues begin to reveal an intricate web of connections involving a local crime syndicate, a kidnapped woman, and a group of ex-foster children haunted by the past.
Meanwhile, Nyree's own past is catching up with her. Forever racked by guilt that she has failed her son who is currently in prison for murder, Nyree might finally get a chance to redeem herself in his eyes . . . but it comes at a steep cost.
Better Left Dead, Catherine Lea
TRIGGER WARNING: Addresses foster and orphaned children and child abuse, as well as animal abuse - see expansion below.
The second DI Nyree Bradshaw novel from Catherine Lea, this is a police procedural styled series that is strong on character and sense of place, and no slouch when it comes to plotting and personal complications for its characters.
BETTER LEFT DEAD is an interesting tale based around the death of an eccentric hoarder Lizzy Bean. Lizzy seems to an bit of an unknown in her local area, although there are a lot of people who have a problem with the build up of rubbish and junk around her house. A house which is located in a pristine, sought after area, with views overlooking Northland Bay. Needless to say how she ended up in this house, in this place, is something that Bradshaw's team have to dig to discover, and along the way, they find an intricate series of connections to the past, a dangerous crime syndicate and a kidnapped woman, and, particularly sadly, a group of ex-foster children haunted by their pasts.
That last aspect is haunting for the reader as well, although it's very carefully and respectfully handled, but it is there, hence the earlier warning. It's also balanced up against Bradshaw dealing with the discovery of a previously unknown granddaughter, her fractious relationship with her son who is in jail, and the decisions around ongoing care for the child. With a lovely touch out of the tragedy that made this reader sniffle ever so slightly.
The animal abuse aspect is also carefully handled but it's there and this reader, who particularly struggles with such references, found it discomforting without being so overt as to be confronting.
The hassle for authors who are tackling these sorts of subjects is that they are extremely worthy of exploration and outing. What happens to people in their childhoods has ramifications for lifetimes to come, and despite the fact that these subjects are incredibly difficult for some readers, the avoidance of gratuitousness helps immensely. Bradshaw is one of those characters who can lead her team, and the reader, through a minefield like this, as she struggles to process the outcomes, deals with a messy personal life and battles away on all fronts. Well supported by a good cast of surrounding team members, she's a good character, who is developing into an engaging, and nicely "imperfect" perfect sort of a woman. Up to her elbows in work, battling the mess that became her personal life, harassed, vaguely pissed off, peddling hard.