Does Your Mother Know? Book

Coffin Road, the Peter May book I read before this one was set in the Outer Hebrides, same islands as Jennings book, so I was familiar with the landscape and the local residents. However, Jennings was not nearly as descriptive as May, of the setting and her main character, Christine Morris, not nearly as fleshed out. Her locals were pretty spot on and I liked them far better especially Gillies in the police and Lisa, the housekeeper in the murdered fellow's house, Tomrod. Let me start over here. Christine Morris, in her 40's and single, is a cop at a conference in Edinburgh. She's started a new job with the RCMP as a profiler and as far as I can gather at the onset is fleeing from nearly 20 years as a beat cop and a last call gone badly compounded with a tumultuous relationship with her mother Joan. And she carries a boulder not a chip on her shoulder because of her mother. I find her most unlikeable and want to give her a good shake for her smug tones, bossiness and over the top feminist sensitivities. She ends up in Harris because of Joan. Seems she is in Scotland, too, and has been involved in fleeing the scene of an accident! One thing leads to another and Chris gets mired in the case and works in tandem as an incomer, mind, with Gillies. The story line is solid and good, and Chris comes across at times like a female Inspector Murdoch, not all bad but not too comely for a woman. She 'tells' too much and too often. As the book progresses we can sense her thawing, thanks to Gillies, Lisa, Mairi and even Joan herself once she surfaces. Hurt feelings are being mended, Chris tracks down the killer and even helps expose a plot to undo a visit by Wills, the Royal Prince! Quite a fun bit of writing there. By the time the book winds down, we like Chris but it takes a long while to get on her side. There's a great bit watching border collies herd sheep and do tricks and another with Chris sending her mother into a trance, something she learned at a Quantico course, to get at the truth about the accident. More thawing for Chris when she discovers via Joan that she has family on the island. I did enjoy this overall and would read another in the series.