It’s no surprise that the majority of crime fiction books have a dead person in them – but not many feature a protagonist who has a special affinity with the recently deceased. Step forward Cassie Raven, the star of her own series of which Dead Fall is book four. She’s an anatomical pathology technician… and her ‘guests’ in Camden mortuary talk to her.
With her dyed black hair, multiple tattoos and assorted body piercings Cassie might not seem like the most likely of empaths but don’t let appearances fool you. She cares deeply about the people who, for one reason or another, have checked in to her place of work – and perhaps that’s why some of them respond to her kindnesses.
The latest arrival is Sophia Angelopoulos, better known as rising music star Bronte, and she and Cassie have history. They were in the same year group at school and Cassie looks back on those days with shame over the way she treated her classmate. All the more reason to look after Sophia now.
There’s a media circus surrounding the apparent suicide of a young woman who had already made the headlines many times, often for the wrong reasons. She was a well-known party girl and there are myriad paparazzi images of Bronte drunk, drugged or both, staggering out of clubs and into taxis.
There are echoes of another Camden resident, Amy Winehouse, in all this – with Turner skilfully turning the spotlight on how the media, the keyboard warriors and the would-be detectives looking for their own slice of notoriety play their devastating part in creating the big picture. One TikTok influencer in particular is making waves, alleging that the police aren’t up to the job and that Bronte’s suicide could well have been murder.
It’s the first part of that hypothesis that bring Phyllida Flyte back into the equation. Fans of this series know her well as a strait-laced Met detective who is averse to breaking the rules. She and Cassie share a complicated relationship. Now Flyte has left the police force and is working for the Independent Office for Police Conduct she is called in to take a closer look at how officers handled Bronte’s case.
As to the second part of the hypothesis? Cassie’s little chats with her dead former schoolmate tell her something is amiss – and soon she has found evidence that Bronte didn’t kill herself; she was murdered.
AK Turner’s books hit a perfect line between police procedural and off-kilter thriller writing. Cassie and Flyte are the yin and yang at the heart of the story, and the scenes when they are together are a highlight of this narrative. The London Borough of Camden acts as a fully-fledged member of a cast that includes another two wonderful creations – Cassie’s grandmother, Babcia, and DI Alvin ‘Streaky’ Bacon. Both have vital roles to play and I really hope to see newcomer Streaky again!
There are much-appreciated light moments, but Dead Fall has serious messages to share about unfettered social media and the darker side of the music business, and both are handled well – getting the facts across without seeming too preachy. Turner also succeeds in sharing some of the lesser known aspects of mortuary work without bombarding the reader with unnecessarily gruesome detail and putting you off your beans on toast.
I’ve followed Cassie Raven from the outset, and with Dead Fall I think AK Turner has really hit the sweet spot. This is a well constructed, neatly plotted book that holds the attention while offering some clever surprises along the way. I really didn’t want it to end. Can we have more please?
Where the Devil Can’t Go, written by Anya Lipska – the pen name of AK Turner – is also set in London. It’s the first in a series of books featuring Janusz Kiszka, a fixer to the capital’s Polish community.
Zaffre
Print/Kindle/iBook
£5.99
CFL Rating: 5 Stars
