Eleven liars by Robert Gold

Ben Harper works for an online news organisation writing true crime podcasts. He lives in a sleepy village in outer West London called Haddley Common. Walking home one evening, taking a shortcut through the local churchyard, he notices the derelict community centre near the church is on fire. When he sees a figure inside the building he races to the door and, finding it locked, breaks it down. The person inside appears to be looking for something but as the fire takes hold, they race past him and away from the building. The story shifts to PC Dani Cash at the local police station. She is the daughter of the legendary detective Jack Cash, her hero, who had been Chief Inspector at Haddley Police Station. She has just been told her promotion to CID has been approved when she is called out to help with investigations about the fire. It seems nobody was hurt in the fire and the figure Ben saw is long gone. Dani meets the vicar, Adrian Withers who claims to have not noticed the fire until the fire engines had put it out and he hurries away to check on his wife who she sees peering out of an upstairs window. Ben sees Dani and is reminded of the time earlier in the year when they worked closely together. Meanwhile Ben’s journalist instincts lead him to sneak away from the interviewing officer, PC Karen Cooke and into the burned-out building to see what the figure had been searching for. He just has time to see a knife before it disappears as debris crashes down and he retreats to safety. As he leaves the scene he finds a broken bottle with traces of accelerant, evidence the fire was deliberately lit. PC Cooke, annoyed at his interference, assures him that the fire investigation team will find any evidence in the morning. They don’t find the knife in the morning but what they do find is much more serious and leads to a web of intrigue with interweaving plots as lies going back decades are brought to light and the fragile veneer of this small town is permanently shattered.

The story switches between the first-person narrative of Ben Harper and the third person stories from the point of view of other characters, including the eleven liars. The book is divided up into eleven numbered parts and has days of the week breaks as well. The result is a 430 page book with 90 numbered chapters some as short as one page, separated by numerous page breaks, this fragments the storyline and it never gains momentum. The plot would have fitted well into an episode of Midsomer Murders and several of the characters like the vicar and the 75 year old widow, would have been quite at home there. In all a workmanlike, entertaining read if you can suspend disbelief.

Themes: Murder, Drug addiction.

Sue Speck