Changelings

Castlemere #7

by Jo Bannister

The town of Castlemere is under siege. Someone is making very dangerous-and convincing-threats to destroy the city if it doesn't come up with a ransom of one million pounds. Now time is Castlemere's enemy-it seems the town's bells are tolling not for the passage of time but of people.

With the casualty rate rising, the pressure is on Detective Superintendent Frank Shapiro to catch the blackmailing killer. But the mastermind slips through his fingers just as these precious hours slip through Castlemere's. Along with her professional troubles, Detective Inspector Liz Graham finds she has problems of her own. Panic in the town is at the boiling point when someone suggests her gentle art teacher husband is to blame, and her world begins to crumble. To make matters worse, her sergeant, Cal Donovan, disappears from his autumnal cruise into the watery wastes of the Castlemere Levels. Cal's deserted boat has been located near the tine village of East Beekham, a flyspeck on the map where no one is quite what he seems.

Then again, since the gentle have turned violent and the peaceful turned accusatory, nothing in the entire region is what it seems...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Procedural, British Literature

374 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2000

About the author

Jo Bannister lives in Northern Ireland, where she worked as a journalist and editor on local newspapers. Since giving up the day job, her books have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Most of her spare time is spent with her horse and dog, or clambering over archaeological sites. She is currently working on a new series of psychological crime/thrillers.

Reviews

[Watchdogg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Changelings (Castlemere #7) by Jo Bannister
First published in 2000

GR blurb -
While investigating a series of anonymous threats to contaminate Castlemere's food, medicine, and water supply, the Castlemere detective team is thrown into turmoil by the disappearance of Cal Donovan, and his partners, Liz Graham and Frank Shapiro, begin to fear for his safety as they search for a dangerous and elusive madman.

My thoughts -
Another from my shelves that has lingered there for about two decades. Through the first two-thirds of the book I was quite impressed and intrigued by the dual unique story lines. But as the novel proceeded to what should have been dual heart pounding climaxes, my efforts at suspension of disbelief snapped and I wound up thinking that each of these story lines were simply preposterous. The author painted herself into dual corners and had to resort to unbelievable circumstances and endings to wrap up what I have to rate as only a two-star rating - meaning (in accordance with my rating system) near good - less than average. What a disappointment!

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to rate this mystery. Two mysteries entirely unrelated and both far fetched. It was a good enough read on a Sunday afternoon though.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not presented as a series finale, but the last of the Castlemere books. Two twisty narratives running parallel; one of them was pretty unbelievable. Also, the dog dies. (More accurately, is poisoned.) *sad face*

I will retain my fond memories of this series but do not think I will read it a third time.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

(Holiday reading so my comments are a bit minimal)

Latest in the Castlemere series, I think it's the seventh. Very moving and Bannister is taking her characters to new levels.

[Judy]

I love the trio of Detective Superintendent Frank Shapiro, Detective Inspector Liz Graham, and Sergeant Cal Donovan so much that I have begun to visit them for the second time because Bannister abandoned them in favor of the Brodie Farrell series. This time out Donovan is ostensibly on vacation but his boat is found abandoned and no one has a clue where he is; even his unruly dog Brian Baru is missing. In the meantime the town of Castlemere is panicking because an unknown person is leaving potentially lethal clues claiming items on the shelves of local stores have been tampered with. Eventually asking the terrified residents to pay a million dollar ransom to get him to stop. The hunt for the blackmailer goes on while, in a parallel story, Donovan has been taken prisoner in an ingrown, small village with a large secret, at the heart of which is a small, mentally disabled girl.