When the body of a young woman washes up in a flooded marsh
outside of Cambridge, England, Detective Inspector Chloe Frohmann and her
partner, Morris Keene—just back from medical leave after being knifed in the
gut and hand—must first figure out who she is, before they can try to solve the
question of who killed her.
Meanwhile, a number of letters addressed only to Katja, in
care of the university, arrive in the mailroom, where Mathilde Oliver has the
job of sending misdirected mail to the proper recipient. Mattie, whose father
is an astronomy professor at the university, has some pretty major issues. She
reads the letters and learns that someone named Stephen is pining for this Katja.
Problem is, there doesn’t seem to be anyone at the university with that name.
Could it be that Katja is the young woman in the swamp?
Well, maybe. The parallel plot lines would certainly lead one to that
conclusion. But that would be too easy. Instead, Emily Winslow, an American
living in Cambridge, muddies the plot with people sharing the same name; a
pivotal character who gets two other pivotal characters confused and calls them
by the wrong names; confusing switches between the past and present: and
finally, the lamest plot device of all time: an evil twin who doesn’t surface
until near the end of the book.
It’s a shame Emily Winslow’s plot wasn’t up to her setting. Cambridge shouldn’t be
wasted on such drivel. This book was a
sloppy mess.
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