Detective Chief Inspector Craig Gillard starts in fine style by spotting an injured walker from halfway up a Lake District mountain and descending to help her reach safety. She is Samantha Phillips, who is new in his police station. As THE BODY IN THE MARSH implies, not all situations end so well. I enjoy British police procedurals, especially those based in open countryside.

DI Gillard actually works in Guildford in milder Surrey, but the landscape here was just as bleak for a teen girl, Girl F, who threw herself in front of a train in 2009 after her reports of abuse were ignored. Now that case is re- opened. Separately, community police officer Samantha Phillips takes a call about a missing woman from a friend and co-worker; the lady's husband doesn't seem concerned and thinks she is at their holiday cottage. This doesn't explain why she hasn't been in contact. Samantha passes on the details to Gillard, who knows the missing woman, then calls upon him later when her ex-boyfriend breaks in to her home.

The official cases coincide as the husband of the missing woman is a professor of criminology who was openly critical of the police investigation of Girl F. Unexpectedly, the professor vanishes too from his job at the London School of Economics. DI Gillard needs to find out what is happening in this well-off, respected family. The detailed investigation seems well researched and computers, DNA, mobile phone calls and whereabouts as well as motorway cameras are all called upon, along with family members and other connections. Among other details we learn that the police use an ACESO kiosk, a laptop-sized gadget to grab all the information off a mobile phone. But the gory truth starts to emerge at the country cottage, by the edge of famous bird haunt Romney Marsh.

I was cheering for Samantha when she finally gets her own back on creeps and stalkers. More of that please! I also appreciated the details about what the police computer analysts actually look for and how they find it. Another good point is that data dumps create information overload today. Mainly what I take from this is what I think author Nick Louth hoped to convey; time passes, lives change, loves come and go, and nothing works out as we expected. The details, misdirections, and twists in this splendid, chilling crime tale of murder, money and jealousy gripped me from the first page. THE BODY IN THE MARSH by former Reuters journalist Nick Louth deserves your undivided attention.

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