It’s good to read locally when one can. This said, Lesley Crewe’s novel is almost relentlessly set in Halifax, with landmark after neighbourhood, after local famous person taking up line after line in the narrative.

It is, however, an interesting family portrait, even if some of the characters are painted with very broad strokes. And it’s unusual to have a murder mystery where the corpse doesn’t appear on scene til chapter nine.

It’s a quick read, though, and entertaining enough, with an ending that’s about the perfect mix of surprising and guessable.