Stephen Booth One Last Breath

One Last Breath

Stephen Booth

Bantam, Aug 2006, $25.00

ISBN: 0385339054

In 1990 Castleton, Derbyshire, a drunken Mansell Quinn comes home from the pub only to hear the woman's last breath as she dies. He confesses and is arrested him for the brutal murder of his lover. However, he recants his declaration of guilt, but is still convicted and goes to prison.

Now over thirteen years later, Quinn is released from prison. Already known as a violent man before the homicide, he is a raging violent man with a grudge against those who sent him away. He almost immediately violates the conditions of his release, but the Peak District police cannot find him to pick him up. Instead the first person connected to Quinn, Rebecca Lowe, is murdered. While the police assume Quinn has begun avenging his "affront", Detective Constable Ben Cooper wonders if someone framed Quinn. Ben begins to look back at the case that his father solved thirteen years ago when he arrested Quinn and wonders if perhaps the culprit could be someone else then and now. As he obstinately digs for clues and tries to persuade Detective Sergeant Diane Fry that he is right and their superior DI Paul Hitchens is wrong, Ben comes to the attention of someone who wants him out of the way while Quinn hides in the caves near the tourist attractions.

The latest Peak District police procedural (see BLIND TO THE BONES) is a solid tale that starts off with a deep look at the potential antagonist and establishes who the key police participants are. The story line slows down a bit in the middle even though more die and the delightful English Peak District is vividly described, but then takes off again for an exhilarating climax. Throughout readers will wonder if Ben is right as the evidence points heavily towards Quinn in Stephen Booth's fine whodunit.

Harriet Klausner