The Distant Echo by Val McDermid is her first novel in the Karen Pirie series.. Detective Perie is not the central character in this book. As I remember, she does not even make her first appearance until the second half of The Distant Echo. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself so I’ll just begin at the beginning.
I had read Val McDermit’s Broken Ground a few months ago. It was the 5th and most recent book in her Karen Pirie series. I liked the book and thought it might be interesting to read the series from the beginning. The first in the series was available in my local public library.
Part 1 begins in St Andrews, Scotland in 1978 with 4 male university students on their way home after a night of partying and drinking. They stumble across the body of a bleeding young woman who dies before medical help arrives. The boys are covered in blood from their attempts to save her. With no real suspects for this murder, the students quickly become suspects in the eyes of the public and especially the family of the victim.
Fast-forward 25 years and these former students are still considered likely murderers by many. Then the Scottish police decide to re-examine old unsolved cases with newer forensic methods. At that point we meet DC Karen Pirie as the investigator of the 1978 St Andrews murder.
Two of the four former students die under suspicious circumstances which the other 2 think is murder but the police think is merely coincidence. The story progresses through many twists and turns and really makes for good reading.
DC Pirie plays an important role but not the central role in this second part of the story. I was a bit disappointed by that but I didn’t mind too much as the book was so well done. I highly recommend this book.