Death on Demand

Why would anyone want to kill Ruby Bright, a resident at the Marsh House Rest Home, who was just about to celebrate her 100th birthday? That question is but one of the intriguing challenges that Kelly gives his two appealing West Norfolk policemen, Det. Insp. Peter Shaw and his partner, Det. Sgt., George Valentine, in their outstanding sixth outing (after 2014’s At Death’s Window). Someone took Ruby, in her wheelchair, to an area overlooking the coast, before suffocating her with a plastic bag. Apart from the lack of an obvious motive, Shaw and Valentine are stymied by the apparently impossible nature of the crime: all the facility’s exits are covered by surveillance cameras, yet none shows any sign of Ruby or her killer leaving the building. Meanwhile, their superior’s concern with security arrangements for an upcoming annual pilgrimage to a shrine of the Virgin Mary hampers their investigation. The plot takes some highly unusual detours en route to the surprising solution. Agent: Faith Evans, Faith Evans Associates (U.K.). (Nov.)