Keeping bad company is the second novel by Ann Granger that is based on an investigation by character - Fran Varady. A passing casual conversation with a tramp on a railway station, leads Fran on a search for a missing girl. This is fired up by a sense of achieving justice for the tramp after he is found drowned in a canal, which Fran believes is not co-incidence. The dialogue weaves in and out of the main characters personalities, whom the author describes in an engaging and detailed fashion which make up for the lack of realism in how the plot unfolds. The plot appears unlikely not only in how Fran miraculosly escapes danger on several occasions but, also, in how she gains the information necessary to make her deductions. Saying this, I did enjoy reading the book which has enough twists and counter plots to ensure that interest is maintained. Part of my diappointment could have been the comparism with the Mitchell/ Markaby series by the same
author, which had seemed more believable. If the idea from the author had been to identify with a younger target reader group, by using an unemployed, young investigator/ heroine, I am not sure that this was achieved. Although Fran comes over as a dynamic, outward going personality, her lifestyle does not match this, leaving me as the reader to doubt the authenicity.