Ripe for Revenge

Bolitho chronicles the rippling effect of a young girl's murder as the crime dredges up village secrets in the second case, after Kindness Can Kill, for Detective Chief Inspector Ian Roper. When eight-year-old Sharon Vickers is found, Jacko Penhaligon, once convicted for child molestation, is suspected, even though he's served his time and now works as a handyman for a local landowner. But the police become unsure of Jacko's guilt as they find out more about the citizens of Britain's Little Endesley than they wish to know. Confiscating a stash of pornographic videos to see if a child porn ring may operate out of the village, they discover the wife of an officer starring in a soft porn film. As Roper tries to keep his men on track while coping with the investigation's nasty turns, Jacko's somewhat retarded son confesses, inconclusively, to the murder. The police finally break the child pornography ring, but the young girl's death is solved only when connected to other recent crimes in town. Bolitho convincingly demonstrates the far-reaching ramifications of crime and its investigation in a small, close community. (Feb.)