The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves

I like police procedurals and I had rather thought this would be something like DCI Banks by Peter Robinson. It isn’t,  however I found myself very interested in the plot, character development as well as the descriptive writing style.

In the first few pages there is a body discovered, the police are called and then the women get on with their work.

Rachael is the leader of an impact assessment study for an environmental agency, her area of expertise is birds. Anne Preece is the botanist and Grace Fullwell is the mammal expert/zoologist. The impact study is underway as a quarry may be put in and obviously destroy important fauna and flora.  The results of their research may well cancel plans for the quarry business.

The book is divided into segments focusing on each woman’s point of view and their perceptions regarding the others. At times they are completely off the mark, not being privy to the otter women’s background.

It surprised me that Detective Vera Stanhope was introduced so late in the story. It also surprised me that we are looking at the investigation/detective work from the perspective of these three women researchers for the majority of the book.

D.I.  Stanhope shares much more information than you would expect in a murder investigation. There seem to be a lot of sideline amateur investigations from several of the women. As I said, it wasn’t what I expected but I enjoyed the book very much.

The way Vera is introduced seemed brusque. As she was telling about her past, her father the naturalist, she established she had understanding of the conservation research and what they were doing they are doing.

This was one of the books selected for a group read at the Kindle English Mystery Bookclub. Join in on Goodreads if you like British mysteries.

Sharing with Joy for British Isles Friday and the Kindle English Mystery BookClub on Goodreads