The "black dog" is depression, but readers are more likely to be disappointed. Everyone seems hot and sweaty in this tale of the murder of a teenage girl in the Peak District. Using dark deeds in a rural setting with rival policemen gives it a soap-like quality: "Inspector Morse reads Mrs Dales Diary at Peak Practice". It lacks an unusual or new feature to get it out of cliché town. As it is, the plot seems very contrived and too full of holes to float. Over description clutters the pages: the dog does not just lie on a paper but on the Eden Valley Times, Sports Section. The trainer is not just on another piece of newspaper but on the Buxton Advertiser, on pages advertising a Cantonese restaurant and the births, weddings and deaths!
When the characters are not biblical-like, saints or whores, they are stereotypes. PC Diane Fry is such an eager careerist that she not only moves from the town to the country, where outlets are fewer, but seems to view every occasion as a promotion opportunity. Worst of all is the lame dialogue. Famous writers are often quoted because their words are pregnant with meaning and subtext. Throughout this book people are only saying what they mean to say and answer what is asked. The result is flat and lacks pace, conflict and development.
Most will find the ending disappointing with a hefty bit of "one thing I still don't understand inspector" thrown in after the villain is discovered. But even if this were properly foreshadowed it
would still not convince.
