Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2008
288 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
When the badly decayed body of an elderly woman is unearthed, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and his sergeant, Emma Bradbury, are called in on the case. The body provides only two mysterious clues to the identity of the murderer: someone with a deadly knowledge of household plants used shears to clip the fingertips off the corpse's right hand. But this dearth of evidence is not Lapslie's only problem. He's just returned to the force after a year of relative isolation, trying to avoid the worst symptoms of his synasethsia, a neurological condition that causes him to "taste" sound and that makes his life as complicated as any crime he's been charged with solving.
Now he's flooded again--not only with the convolution of senses that can drive him nearly mad but also with the increasing convolutions of the case. The murder appears to be the work of a serial killer, and the investigation is leading in a direction that could be extremely detrimental to Lapslie's career--if not to his very life.
"Starred Review. It's not often that a book's prologue makes this reviewer gasp out loud. And then it happened again in the first chapter, so it's safe to say that former police officer McCrery knows how to hook a reader positively and absolutely." - Library Journal.
"Starred Review. Alternate chapters are written from the viewpoint of the murderer, leaving no doubt who's guilty. But Lapslie's quest and the mystery behind it are reason enough to make this chiller from McCrery a must read." - Kirkus Reviews.
"[T]epid thriller ... Most readers will solve the mystery long before Lapslie puts together the pieces." - Publishers Weekly.
"Extremely creepy ... Compelling." - Booklist
"McCrery introduces an excellent new detective ... Highly original." - Daily Mail (UK).
"Arresting ... Few readers will put the book down." - Daily Express (UK).
This information about Still Waters was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nigel McCrery worked as a police officer before entering Cambridge University as an undergraduate. He is the creator of the acclaimed television series Silent Witness, and his screenwriting credits include several other programs for the BBC. He is also the author of many novels, including the Dr. Samantha Ryan mysteries. He lives in London.
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