John Moss’ STILL WATERS is the start of a new procedural police series, this one focusing on Toronto detectives David Morgan and Miranda Quin. What starts out as an investigation of a dead body being found in (of all things) a koi pond takes a dark turn with slowly revealed connections to Quin’s past.
The scene of the crime looks as if it might have been an accident, but it becomes apparent it’s murder. With no help from any of the neighbors, this case seems like a dead end for our detectives, until the history of the victim is discovered to be Robert Griffin, who made Quin the executrix of his will, leading her to recall some repressed memories.
But as they dig into Griffin’s history, they find out about a mystery woman who has no history of her own whatsoever. That she is tied to Griffin makes this case harder to figure out, until another body turns up: a woman who may have lived a double life. What is made to look like murder might be a suicide, and the daughter of this woman shows up to explain her past and the connection to Griffin. This is where the secrets really start to come out, including Quin’s.
The story is a slow burn of a mystery. Moss takes his time mapping out the case. It’s not like most police procedures, where it builds up to the final climax. He lays out the plot clever enough in that he gives the readers the clues, but never makes it obvious how it’s all connected. He gives readers an idea of how cases are really investigated, even when the story moves into some seriously dark material. But Moss still has a few secrets that are not revealed until the final pages, when things are as clear as an empty pool. STILL WATERS is for mystery readers who like to take things slow, which is a great change-up from most new releases. —Bruce Grossman
