Customer Reviews

Close Her Eyes (Inspector Thanet)

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A teenage girl from a family that belongs to a strict non-Christian biblical religious sect meets a violent death in an alley not far from her home. Inspector Luke Thanet uncovers the shocking incident in her childhood that ultimately led to her death. Dorothy Simpson not only gives us an excellent British police procedural, but also illustrates how extreme parental repressiveness can push a child toward a life of deceitfulness. One of the best of the series.

This is the fourth entry in the Luke Thanet series, a police inspector in Kent, England. Simpson's books are classic British murder mysteries. Thanet and his partner Sgt. Lineham work on one case per book with a finite number of suspects whom the reader meets as our heroes go about crime-solving. There is little violence and everyone is usually well mannered. When the stories drift to the domestic side of our protagonists' lives I find them a tad hollow and stilted but these meanderings are kept to a minimum so as not to interfere with the story.

In Close Her Eyes a teenage girl goes missing and is then found murdered. Her family belongs to a very strict and austere religious sect, The Children of Jerusalem, and it comes to pass that Charity, the victim, was not the good little girl she appeared to be. With this "discovery" the story becomes predictable but the suspects and investigation are engaging enough to keep one reading.

Simpson's books are solid mysteries so if you enjoy this genre you won't go wrong here.

British police procedural featuring Inspector Luke Thanet. This is the fourth book in the series, but it's not necessary to read them in order.

15 year old Charity Pritchard is found dead in an alley near her home. When Thanet and his less than confident assistant Sergeant Lineham begin to investigate they find quite an unusual cast of characters. Charity and her family belong to a very strict fundamentalist religious group who deny their members things such as jeans and make-up. Well, Charity being a bit rebellious decides to venture into this teen world. Thant sets out to find out of this form of extreme parental repressiveness is what lead to Charity's death.

This book kept me drawn in until the end. Thanet's character thinks outloud so you are brought along through his thought process and not left with an unlikely surprise. Thought I had it figured out early, and then began to question myself. Good use of characters and quirky personalities. Very much in the Agatha Christie realm.

This is a good buy for the low cost. The pages are yellowed, but otherwise it's very readable.