I got this fair-condition ex-library hardcover at the Book Cellar. (The series begins with the eerie, wonderful In the Woods, and continues as a cycle of loosely-connected novels, though each one can be read on its own.)

This book picks up after the events of The Secret Place, with detective Stephen Moran now working with Antoinette Conway, who's trying to forge her own path in the very much "Old Boys" network of the Murder Squad. Moran was a bit hesitant to team up with her because of this, but as of this book they seem to be a good team - although they've been given a lot of boring-for-detectives domestic-violence cases, and are really hoping for something more intricate. When an apparently open-and-shut case shows hints of something deeper, they dig in - at the cost of increasing hazing and outright destructive actions on the part of someone in the squad...

I love the way these books bring us into the heads of characters whose jobs involve reading other people accurately and quickly, and learning to manipulate them. The descriptions of a good (for them) interrogation of a witness or suspect feel like an awesome spectator sport - and then, once in a while, the cops (and we) are reminded that these are people's deepest feelings and future lives they're juggling.

The paranoia of poor Conway is all too justified, with important bits of paperwork going missing, of irksome journalists being tipped off about her cases so they can get there in time to interfere, and other things that are beyond hazing and into obstruction - but she's stuck, as reporting such problems without evidence as to who's behind it would finish off any lingering chances she has of making it in the Murder Squad. She's tough, but all this is wearing on her...

I had some trepidation about this book, mainly because of the setup, with that awful feeling of knowing that many, if not most, one's co-workers were gleefully plotting one's fall. And there is a lot of that in the book, painful and infuriating. Luckily, this book wraps up in a more upbeat way than some of the others - oh, there are dark moments and there are big changes in the offing, but there might just be hope for the future careers of Moran and Conway!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the series, with some entertaining tidbits.]

I left this book in the Little Free Library inside the dealership; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes release challenge. ***