The Murder Wall opens with the horrific double murder of a young nun and her priest in a Northumberland church, a crime which goes unsolved and is still dogging Kate Daniels one year later when the action jumps ahead to the fatal shooting of a prominent local businessman in a swanky dockside development in Newcastle.

Alan Stephens was a man with enemies, even within his family. As Daniels’ team delve deeper into the case they find his grown-up sons are happy to see the back of him and his young trophy wife is hardly the weeping wreck you’d expect. Ambivalent and with a dubious alibi she seems just the type to shoot him in the chest. But his ex-wife is the real problem. Jo Soulsby is already known to the police. A colleague and a friend, she is also one of their best profilers and when Daniels sees the connection between Jo and the murder she is forced to make a decision which could ultimately wreck the promising career for which she has sacrificed so much.

The Murder Wall is a police procedural par excellence and one of the most assured debuts we’ve reviewed. Mari Hannah is a skilled plotter with a great eye for character and a wealth of personal experience in the field to draw on. Make no mistake, she is going to be huge.