This is the fifth adventure of Luke Thanet, a police inspector in Kent, England. When Alicia Parnell is found murdered in the town's Swan Hotel, Luke not only has a crime to solve but takes a short trip down Memory Lane. Alicia was a popular girl in Luke's youth who left Kent 20 years earlier. Now with Alicia's return and murder, Luke finds himself investigating the past, the reason for her sudden reappearance in Kent, and tracking the killer in this whodunit.
Simpson's books are classic British "cozys" - with little violence, a single case and a well developed set of characters and suspects. I find the portrayal of Thanet's domestic life a tad stilted which detracts from the mystery at times - this book's `family emergency" is drug use among his young son's peers - but overall this, and the previous books in the series, are very good British mysteries/police procedurals, and if that's your cup of tea, you won't be disappointed with this author.
