With Mrs Carmichael in danger of losing her baby she has to stand down from directing the Leighford High School’s version of Little Shop Of Horror. Mad Max, head of Sixth form at Leighford High, is not very happy to find himself drafted in to assist, owing tohis new partner Jackie (Policewoman Jackie Carpenter) expecting their first child. However, ex-student Deena Harrison, she notorious for setting fire to the toilet block, is down from Oxford and being well able to act the skin off a rice pudding, comes to help.
The first death is put down to an accident, the second raises questions and the third…..
DCI Henry Hall is investigating, but as ever Mad Max is frequently ahead of him. Consulting a clairvoyant is not really Max’s bag but the Police Constable thinks it’s a good idea and so Max finds himself even attending a séance. There is a definite element of woo woo in this story, some of it rather uncomfortable for Jackie Carpenter’s replacement, whose encounter with the clairvoyant is so unnerving, that she is unable to continue, and Henry Hall pressgangs the heavily pregnant Jackie Carpenter into interviewing the clairvoyant - now how does she explain that to Mad Max?
Whilst the mysteries of this series are as usual utterly fascinating, much of the enjoyment comes from the frequent reference to movies and television past. Indeed every time DCI Henry Hall is mentioned I think of ‘Henry Hall’s Guest Night’ And in this book we even have an Ashley Wilkes!
As ever Peter Wickham is a wonderful Mad Max and an excellent DCI Henry Hall.
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Lizzie Hayes