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In December 1978, around four in the morning, in the middle of a heavy snowstorm, a group of graduate students leave their favorite pub. They're singing and arguing and horsing around when Alex loses his footing. His fall however is broken by something soft. When his vision clears and he has his wits about him, he realizes he has just fallen on top of a woman's body.
Ziggy, the pre-med student, sobers up immediately as he recognizes the bleeding woman. She is Rosie Duff, the barmaid, who has been a friendly comfort to the boys for as long as they have known her. She is still alive, but barely. The group is in the middle of snow-covered landscape with no signs of life anywhere. Alex sets out to find help and eventually comes across a young cop, who listens to Alex's fantastic story with suspicion and skepticism.
But by the time they reach the scene, Rosie is dead. The four students are the most likely suspects in her brutal killing. Over the next few days the police subject each of them to intense interrogations. None of them are prepared for the force of prejudgment and personal attacks inflicted by the townspeople. Finally, they are released; they go home for the holidays, but their ordeal is far from over.
No charges are ever brought against the four friends. They get their degrees and move on with their lives, but each of them is haunted by the events of that winter night twenty-five years ago. Then in November 2003, a decision is made to open old cold case files and Rosie Duff's is one of the most troubling. Things have changed for the detectives who originally investigated her murder. Some have retired, some have died and some have gone on to promotion after promotion. Most of the current force, old enough to remember Rosie, feel that they have a second chance to get the fractious four. One in particular has them in his sights and is determined to bring them to justice.
Then Ziggy, who has made his home in America, dies in an arson fire. Alex and only one of the "four" attend the funeral; there they both admit that they are uneasy about the circumstances under which their friend died. They promise to stay in touch. Soon, they learn that another member of their group has been murdered. Suddenly the two who are left realize that they and their families are targets of a killer.
THE DISTANT ECHO is Val McDermid's best book to date. She has written a mystery that is a full-blown whodunit with believable characters and a chilling eeriness. Each bit of information, each new clue, each new idea fits together with perfect symmetry. Readers will be hooked immediately to the complexities of the murder investigation, the impact it has on everyone attached to the case, and how corrupt officials have the power to twist the truth while contaminating the evidence. In her own inimitable style, McDermid has written a masterful novel that will haunt readers long after the crimes are solved.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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