The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid
The Wire in the Blood is the second Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel by Val McDermid, published in 1997. It is the sequel to The Mermaids Singing, which I read earlier this year. Val McDermid is a prolific crime writer, but she is a new author to me. I’ve been reading and enjoying a lot of her books, since seeing her at Cheltenham Literature Festival last year.
The Wire in the Blood was also a TV show in the noughties. I didn’t watch it, but the name was very familiar to me. I had no idea it was based on a book or that the book was written by Val McDermid.
In The Wire in the Blood, psychologist Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan both have new jobs and new teams. Tony is heading up a fledgling unit to profile the criminals behind major cases. He sets a training exercise to look for the links in a number of unsolved cases of missing girls. One of the team, DC Shaz Bowman, spots some strong links which everyone else has missed. She even identifies the person she thinks is responsible for the disappearances.
But her suspect is a much loved and respected celebrity and nobody will listen to her. Not even, initially, Tony Hill. But tragic circumstances suggest Shaz was right all along, while the local police continue to believe the celebrity is innocent – and that one of Shaz’s own colleagues is a killer…
Meanwhile, Tony helps Carol’s new team find an arsonist, but nobody believes his hypothesis and the powers that be won’t give Carol the resources she needs.
Can Tony, Carol and their teams track down a sadistic killer and an arsonist without the support of the local police?
The Wire in the Blood is a pretty scary read, with definite shades of the Jimmy Saville case, although it was written long before his crimes came to light.
I love Val McDermid’s writing style. Her books are very readable (as long as you don’t mind some pretty gruesome murders) and they are real page turners. I’m looking forward to working my way through the rest of the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series now (as well as the Karen Pirie series and the Allie Burns series!).
