Having read the earlier FOLLY set in the snowy Cotswolds, I was interested to see what happens next in the Alex Duggins series. Pamela Gibbon disappears one cold night. She'd been going to meet a casual boyfriend at a ruined building, but in the remote setting nobody hears her cries for help when she's trapped at the bottom of a well. OUT COMES THE EVIL gets off to a chilling start as Alex the pub owner and her friend Tony Harrison the village vet find Pamela - and evidence that someone trapped her deliberately.

The village of Folly is populated by characters who know and gossip about everyone, but I find the talk comes across as malicious or speculative more often than not. Pamela, who married in, is still considered a newcomer after ten years and the death of her husband. Maybe this was why she chose to meet a younger man in a site better suited to teenagers, instead of having an open relationship. Alex, a divorced newcomer, has to face down remarks about her friendship with Tony. Then a would-be Lothario makes a move on her, accusing her of branding him a killer when she declines. Cosy it's not. Nor are the crimes gentle.

Vivian Seabrook kept horses with Pamela and the ladies rode together, so she's an obvious starting point for Tony to chat about the death. Alex meanwhile meets other village ladies at a women's interests meeting. There is speculation the death could be linked to the earlier death in the village - nothing much happens here, and it seems too much of a coincidence.

I'm glad Alex, who rashly tries to investigate the death, admits she made mistakes and paid for it. Too many mysteries give the impression that it's okay to resolve matters by poking around regardless of what the police say. Violence against women is at the forefront of the suspenseful OUT COMES THE EVIL. Detectives and reporters alike crowd the public house, the Black Dog, and if the notoriety gives Alex trade, it's an event she could have done without. While Stella Cameron doesn't give us a comfortable read, she does follow ordinary people rather than police procedures so if you want a change from British procedurals, set in the same lovely countryside you may find OUT COMES THE EVIL a riveting read.

Book Summary

Second in the traditional British mystery series featuring rural inn owner and amateur sleuth Alex Duggins: an intriguing departure for bestselling romantic suspense author Stella Cameron.

Once again Alex Duggins and her veterinarian friend Tony Harrison are thrown into a major murder investigation. An almost fresh body is discovered in a disused well among the ruins of a 14th-century manor house … the motive for the killing a baffling mystery. The victim was a widow who had lived quietly in the picturesque Cotswolds village of Folly-on-Weir for the past ten years. Who on earth could want her dead, and by such brutal means?

As rumour and speculation engulf the town, another woman is attacked – and Alex discovers that behind a tranquil face lurks a cunning and vengeful mind. Despite warnings from the police to stop interfering, she finds herself in the sights of a ruthless killer who has decided she knows too much …