The Unquiet Dead (Jessie Driver)

By Gay Longworth

Book Overview

Years ago, the historical Marshall Street Baths in the heart of Soho were full of kids taking swimming lessons and playing in the water. Today they're crowded with addicts, homeless people and, DI Jessie Driver's new boss thinks, a teenage runaway they're trying to track. But when CID searches the decaying building, they don't find Anna Maria Klein--but they do find a man's mummified body buried in the ground in the rat-infested basement. Who was he? How long has he been there? And what happened to him? Jessie, on the outs with her by-the-book new boss, tackles this mystery from the bowels of the Marshall Street Baths instead of the higher-profile runaway case. She's got the eccentric caretaker of the building to help her, but he seems fixated on the day a young boy drowned at the baths, many years ago. Plus, a local priest seems intent on giving his opinions, which are decidedly more otherworldly than Jessie would like. All in all, The Unquiet Dead is a fresh and pulse-pounding second novel in this streetwise procedural series from up-and-coming suspense talent Gay Longworth.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312310633
• ISBN13: 9780312310639
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 339 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

intriguing British police procedural

West End Central Detective Inspector Jessie Driver believes actress Sarah Klein has pulled a publicity stunt claiming a missing-daughter to gain media attention to her new show. However, Detective Inspector Mark Ward and their new boss Detective Chief Inspector Moore harshly disagree. Meanwhile her personal life seems in chaos. Having returned from Africa, her brother Bill has flopped in her place and her romance with rock star P.J. Dean is tabloid food frenzy. Jessie makes inquiries into the missing girl case that leads her to the derelict Marshall Street Baths where instead of a child she finds a mummy of someone who apparently died in 1989. That twist takes Jessie to Anglican Church exorcist Father Forrester who insists that those caught between the moral realm and the great beyond need solace and forgiveness to enable them to move on. His ranting shakes Jessie who still mourns for her mother, but does not take her any closer to solving the missing child's case; it does lead her to ponder how far a person will go to help those "in-between". THE UNQUIET DEAD is an intriguing British police procedural that grips the reader with the insightful look at illogical rationalizing via faith to condone any action. The story line moves forward rather quickly though there are many twists and turns. Jessie is terrific as she struggles with her personal life and finds her professional life as a token estrogen in a sea of resentful testosterone turned worse with her new female boss being a Queen Bee. Still the investigation makes the tale as Jessie finds her value system challenged every step of the way. Harriet Klausner