JUNE THOMSON – Sound Evidence. Doubleday Crime Club, US, hardcover, 1985. UK edition: Constable, hc, 1984.

   Detective Chief Inspector Jack Rudd is back looking into the puzzling case of the murder of an unidentified young man who has been camping in a house due for demolition. Rudd is also struggling with his attraction to the locum for the police surgeon, Marion Greave, a compassionate woman who is ready to be his friend.

   Thomson draws her people with care. There’s young, handsome Ray Chivers, amoral and out for what he can get. There’s lonely old Stanley Aspinell, whose one recreation is chess, and one interest a vacant house, Holly Lodge.

   There’s Hugo Bannister, well-to-do civil servant with a fatal weakness for young, attractive men. There’s Sergeant Munroe, fresh from London, who’s sharp and knowing it, and who raises the hackles of Rudd’s more pedestrian Sergeant Boyce.

   The story is built with quiet care: the homosexual affair, the robbery and murder, the missing money, the brutal murders. The suspense is spoiled by an early telegraphing of the murderer’s identity, and Thomson’s low-key approach keeps the excitement down.

   Still, a good read.

Editorial Comment:   Previously reviewed by Maryell Cleary on this blog was June Thomson’s Not One of Us, the first book in the “Inspector Rudd” series.