Kit Fielding’s Under Vixens Mere takes the closed-circle trope to a whole new setting: a collection of houseboats and their residents near the village of Broome in the English countryside. On the surface, Vixen’s Mere is a peaceful community of people whose lives have grown intertwined over many years. Under the surface, it’s a different story.
Harry Jones, a war veteran with both physical and psychological scars, has spent half his life living and half of it dying. When he eventually decides to put an end to it, his suicide brings up a secret that two of Vixen’s Mere’s dearest inhabitants kept for 15 years. A police diving team enters the mere to retrieve Harry’s body but discovers another corpse – that of an unidentified woman. How long has she been lying at the bottom of Vixen’s Mere? The discovery of her body not only prompts an investigation but also forces characters to confront the past and their mutual secrets.
Early on, we are given insight into the events that led to the woman’s death. Consequently, this isn’t your usual whodunnit or procedural crime novel. Instead, what keeps us reading is the dynamics of this unique and eccentric community. The web of relationships, long-kept secrets, guilt and the loyalty of the close-knit community is the focus.
The community’s story is told from the different perspectives of the permanent and temporary inhabitants of the marina. Each character has their own secret, but they also provide a backstory linking to present-day events. Secrets can’t stay buried forever, and they have a tendency to come to the surface at the most inopportune times.
Karen Jones was a full-time carer for her husband, Harry, but 15 years earlier, a charming Scotsman, Brodie Thomson, drifted into Vixen’s Mere. Feeling the pressure of caring for a man intent on dying, she’s driven into his arms. For one night, she forgets about Harry, but it’s a decision that impacts the rest of her life. Now Brodie is back, Harry is dead, and Karen can tell him the truth.
Jed Rawlins is a 19-year-old drug dealer who inherited his boat from his father, Mark. Jed’s mother disappeared when he was four years old, and he still vaguely remembers what happened on the night he last saw her. Mark Rawlins is long dead and can’t provide any answers, but can Jed trust his early memories? One evening while selling at the local club, Jed runs into Anna, an addict. His good nature compels him to give her a place to stay for the night. Anna never leaves, but her presence puts them both in danger. Anna’s ex-dealer, Carl Thomson, “six-foot-three of skinny meanness,” wants his pound of flesh, and Anna and Jed have to find a way to either get away from him or make him disappear.
Other characters adding colour to the Vixen’s Mere community are Big Ed and Millie the Mystic, eccentric elderly hippies, and their adopted son, Moses. Ed and Millie are at the core of the community and have a lot to lose when their secrets come out.
The strength of Fielding’s novel is the characterisation, and this is what keeps Under Vixen’s Mere afloat. It’s not the mystery of an unsolved crime that maintains our interest, but rather the stories of the characters who happened to find themselves in desperate situations. The boat dwellers reminded me of the river gypsies in Joanne Harris’ Chocolat. Here, there’s also an ominous feeling that something bad is bound to happen.
This isn’t a crime novel with heaps of tension and a nail-biting plot. But if you enjoy immersing yourself in the eventful lives of a uniquely diverse community with some crime elements, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy this.
Also read our interview with Kit Fielding.
Inkspot Publishing
Print/Kindle/iBook
£12.99
CFL Rating: 3 Stars
