When the Dead Cry Out

By Hilary Bonner

Book Overview

From a former Fleet Street journalist and an accomplished British suspense writer comes a complex puzzle wrapped in a plot that could almost be ripped from contemporary U.S. headlines. Imagine what would happen if a vanished woman's body lay underwater for almost three decades, the police unable to charge her guilty-as-sin husband until her remains are finally discovered by pure chance... 27 years ago, Clara Marshall and her two young children vanished without a trace. In the face of intense scrutiny, her estranged husband claimed she was having an affair and had left him, taking the children and destroying the family forever. Though police and the community remain suspicious, no evidence ever surfaces to prove he's lying, and his wife and children are never found-alive or dead. Until now, that is-when some unidentified skeletal remains are discovered wrapped in a tarp on the bottom of the ocean, reporter John Kelly and Detective Inspector Karen Meadows, each intimately connected to the events of so long ago, suspect that the final resting place of Clara Marshall has finally been found. But many questions are left to be answered-just what happened to the children?-and the decades-old evidence trail is growing colder by the minute. Overflowing with page-turning suspense and an engrossing plot inspired by a terrifying true story, When the Dead Cry Out is the triumphant American debut of talented crime writer Hilary Bonner.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312339461
• ISBN13: 9780312339463
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

intriguing British police procedural

In 1975, Clara Marshall and her two young daughters, Lorraine and Janine, vanished without a trace. The Devon and Cornwall Constabulary like all the locals suspect the husband and father Richard of killing his family. Clara's father Sean MacDonald especially believes his son-in-law murdered his daughter and grandchildren. He insists that she dumped him for another man. After failing to find any evidence of foul play the missing person's investigation was finally filed cold case. Almost three decades later, divers exploring a sunken Nazi E-boat find parts of a skeleton wrapped in tarp and chains inside. Detective Superintendent Karen Meadows believes they have found part of the remains Clara, but what happened to the children. The missing person's case is reopened as a murder investigation with Karen, who lived next door to the Marshalls when the three females disappeared, leading the inquiries. As he has been for twenty-eight years ago, Richard remains the prime suspect WHEN THE DEAD CRY OUT is an intriguing British police procedural that is excellent when the story line concentrates on the investigation; the plot bogs down a bit when Karen's personal woes is the focus. The case is cleverly designed so that the audience will detest Richard, who readers will want proven as the killer when he seems unfazed by the skeletal recovery of a family member. Karen is much more volatile than the seemingly serene prime suspect. Hilary Bonner writes a solid who-done-it starring a fine protagonist who uses humorous self deprecation to handle life's setbacks. Harriet Klausner