A Great Crime Novel…
I found crime novel/murder mystery The Frozen Shroud to be a fast-paced, action-packed read. In The Frozen Shroud, the reader’s journey starts five years earlier on a cold Halloween night. Shenagh Moss and Miriam Park are gossiping about a young woman who was brutally murdered several years prior to the start of the First World War. While that murder was conveniently ‘solved’ shortly thereafter by a suicide and its subsequent note, there are still the occasional speculations that someone else had done it. Of course, every old town has its own intrigue, and Ravenbank is no different. Gertrude Smith aka ‘The Faceless Woman,’ victim of this horrific murder, is said to wander the eerily quiet streets of the town every Halloween in search of justice.
Shenagh, being newly moved to the Ravenbank/Ullswater area, is intrigued by the legend of this ghost; hence the conversation between her and Miriam on that Halloween night. Unfortunately for Shenagh, she winds up dead by morning; her beautiful face battered and covered by a shroud. An exact replica of the Gertrude Smith murder so many decades ago… This latest murder mirrors the previous one so closely that the obvious murderer, a Craig Meeks whom Shenagh had briefly dated, wraps his car around a tree while attempting to flee the scene of the crime. He does not live through his injuries.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately as the case may be) the technology of forensics and crime investigations is much farther along today than yesteryear. While there are suspicions that Meeks isn’t the responsible party, the case is eventually closed. That is, until a third murder, matching the previous two happens. The only difference (other than the victims) is that this time the prime suspect happens to get away alive. His freedom doesn’t last long, and what follows is an intensive, and extensive, examination of all three murders and the compiled evidence.
I won’t provide any additional story, but I will state that the book’s author, Martin Edwards, is an experienced crime novel writer and it shows in his work. The history and facts provided throughout The Frozen Shroud are completely believable. Character emotions and interactions make sense with regard to the tale as it happens. I did have a pretty good idea of ‘who dunnit,’ but then don’t we, as mystery readers/solvers, always speculate?
My only complaint with this title (and one that is easily rectified) is that the book’s ‘about’ blurb lists the second murder victim as Katya Moss versus Shenagh Moss.
All in all, The Frozen Shroud was a great read and anyone who enjoys crime novels/murder mysteries should enjoy this title. And, I very much appreciated the fact that Edwards made all the murder scenes ‘PG.’