Prime Suspect lovers are in for a treat for this once again gives us a large slice in the development of Jane Tennison. In the eponymous book published last year we followed Jane as a probationer with the Met in Hackney in the 70s. Now in this (which is actually Tennison 2) we see her promoted and moved to Bow Street which is the result of commendation for bravery when used as a decoy in a rather nasty rape case. She now has CID status but is still fighting the bigoted, chauvinistic world of a force dominated by men. Her next major case involves a bath drowning which seems on the surface to be a tragic accident but she thinks otherwise. Through these two seemingly unexpected cases and a couple of other incidents she is led to spot evidence ignored by her superiors and does begin to wonder about their agenda. I suspect we will have another slice of Jane’s development as we travel slowly to 1991 and Prime Suspect. This Tennison series would make great TV. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
November 2016 Book of the Month and eBook of the Month.
Jane Tennison, a young, inexperienced WPC, learns the hard way never to take anyone, or anything, at face value, whether in her dealings with her police colleagues or when confronted by seemingly innocent suspects. Hidden Killers sees Jane acting as a 'decoy' prostitute, with the hope of capturing a suspect wanted for numerous sexual assaults. The attacker is drawn in and put under arrest. Commended for bravery in the case, Jane is given CID status and moves from Hackney to Bow Street Station as Detective. Her first call-out is to a non-suspicious death. The victim is a young mother, drowned tragically in her bath, leaving a bereft and doting husband and a young child. The two storylines interweave as Jane begins to doubt the evidence against her assailant in East London, and becomes certain that the young woman in the bath did not drown in tragic circumstances. Two entirely different cases but one common thread - the lingering doubt in Jane's mind around the evidence, and around her colleagues...
Lynda La Plante is the author of over forty bestselling novels. She trained for the stage at RADA and worked with the National theatre and RSC before becoming an actress. She then turned to writing - and made her breakthrough with the phenomenally successful TV series Widows. Lynda's original script for the much-acclaimed Prime Suspect won awards from BAFTA, Emmys, British Broadcasting and Royal Television Society as well as the 1993 Edgar Allan Poe Award. Lynda is an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Best Writer's Award in 2000. In 2008, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to Literature, Drama and Charity. Lynda La Plante is the first lay person to be awarded an honorary fellowship to the Forensic Science Society. In 2020 she launched the acclaimed Listening to the Dead podcast with former CSI Cass Sutherland, exploring forensic science and its impact on solving crimes.
