Death Wore White

by: Jim Kelly

Published by: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by C. L. Rossman

Eight cars have been trapped on a detour road along the British coast, on a night when a blizzard strikes. The pickup in front is stopped by a fallen tree, and the cars pile up behind it. When police arrive, they discover that the pickup’s driver is dead, murdered, but the killer left no trace in the snow. Detective Inspector Peter Shaw and his older partner, George Valentine, soon find there is more going on here with the “stranded” motorists, and more bodies start to accumulate as the investigation goes on.

Family history problems also assault the two detectives: Shaw’s father and Det. Valentine once worked as partners, and were disgraced under allegations of evidence fixing in the case of a murdered boy. This led to Shaw’s father’s death and Valentine’s reduction in rank, and until now, the veteran is subordinate to the son, Peter Shaw, a fact which he hates. Of the two of them, Valentine is the more fully-realized character—he has identifiable traits (he can’t stand the sight of blood; he has allergies) and is the more sympathetic of the two.

Author Jim Kelly is the son of a Scotland Yard detective and he’s drawn on this background for his British countryside mysteries. The book was highly praised by major critics.

That must leave me the odd one out, for although I love mysteries, the longer the better, somehow I couldn’t get involved with this one. Something felt off and kept distracting me. It may have been that the type is light compared to the page color, which makes it a little harder to read. Or it may be that, though set in Britain, there are enough elements here that scream “USA” to rattle my sense of place…a pickup truck, a blizzard (much more frequent in the U. S.) and a road named the “Siberia Belt.” Certainly the story is well-plotted and engaging—it must be just me who couldn’t settle to it.

The New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly et al, gave it a rousing welcome. So I would go with their viewpoints if I wanted to read a new mystery. This is the book’s first publication in the United States, and the author has six highly praised crime novels to his credit.

Kelly has also written The Water Clock, Fire Baby and The Coldest Blood.

Armchair Interviews says: The reviewer found this book didn’t keep her attention.