DI Wesley Peterson is trying to track down a bogus taxi-driver (dubbed the barber) who tricks blonde women into his car and cuts off their hair. Both he and DCI Heffanan are keen to catch the chap before he does more than cut off his victims’ hair.
A man saying he is Marcus Fallbrook turns up, and Wesley unearths the case of a young boy with that name who was kidnapped in September 1976 – although a ransom was requested, Marcus was never returned. Is this really him? But more urgent is the disappearance of singing star Leah Wakefield. Despite the long gap in time, DI Wesley Peterson, looking at the information on the kidnapping of Marcus Fallbrook thirty years earlier, suspects that the same kidnapper could be responsible.
Meanwhile archaeologist Neil Watson has the gruesome task of moving the graves from an old graveyard to make way for an extension to the church. Only fifteen burials will be disturbed and the relatives have been informed. The removal of the graves is causing Neil some disquiet as the coffins keep disintegrating. He discovers that the symbol on the graves indicates that the occupants were members of a sect called ‘The Shining One’. However, he gets a surprise when he finds that he has one corpse too many. The Shining One, Neil discovers, is that of Blessed Joan Shiner who had many disciples and quite a hold over her followers. Joan Shiner came form a poor family, went into service and became a housekeeper. Claimed to be pure, she said that it was prophesised she would give birth to a shining child.
The two mysteries, one current and one set in the past, yet curiously linked, provide an amazingly interesting mystery.
I am delighted to report that DCI Heffanan has a love interest – Joyce Barnes. But nothing is free from complication, Joyce’s mother has Alzheimers and he accompanies Joyce as she searches for a care home for her mother – which he is finding depressing. In addition to his depression he still hasn’t told his daughter Rosie that he has a new woman in his life.
Told from the points of view of Wesley and Marcus, the Barber, and Leah Wakefield this is a complex and interesting story with some marvellous final twists.
Peter Wickham is excellent. He brings Wesley to life for me and I so enjoy his DCI Heffanan, I feel that he has a real infinity with Heffanan. Highly recommended.
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Lizzie Hayes