In the Shadow of Evil: A DCI Neil Paget Mystery

Det. Chief Insp. Neil Paget investigates the murder of Antonia “Toni” Halliday, the willful 23-year-old stepdaughter of Charles Bromley of Bromley Manor, and a near-fatal accident involving Maj. Adrian Farnsworth, a Bromley neighbor, in Smith’s well-constructed ninth procedural featuring the Shropshire policeman (after 2010’s A Killing Resurrected). Chief Supt. Morgan Brock, who’s eager to avoid upsetting Charles, believes plumber George Nash was the one who nearly decapitated Toni with a sickle in the Bromley barn. Nash earlier threatened Toni after she lost control of her car and hit his five-year-old daughter, seriously injuring the girl. Not one to jump to conclusions, Paget soon discovers that practically everyone at the manor is telling lies, and that the small office at the back of the barn was a love nest for someone. Despite uncooperative witnesses and suspects, Paget and his crew doggedly pursue their quarry, who emerges as a most subtle killer. (July)