What do you think?
Rate this book
DCS Fran Harman #3
In Harm's Way
Please note, this book was previously published as Still Waters
A suicide or the perfect murder? Fran’s handed a case in which nothing is as it seems.
Fran isn’t afraid of heights. But the sight of the fifth-floor balcony at the Mondiale, Hythe’s most luxurious seaside hotel, still makes her shudder. Ten days ago, a guest plummeted to his death over this very rail, for reasons no one can fathom.
Alec Minton couldn’t wait to retire to the seaside. Fran can’t believe he’d check into the Mondiale — under a false name — just to end it all.
Not without someone there to give him a push.
The deeper Fran digs, the more she thinks Alec was onto something — and it all links back to an old cold case. Two men sent down for a murder they swore they didn’t do.
What secret dragged Alec down to his watery grave?
Fran must uncover the truth, before she gets caught up in the same deadly undercurrent.
A suicide or the perfect murder? Fran’s handed a case in which nothing is as it seems.
Fran isn’t afraid of heights. But the sight of the fifth-floor balcony at the Mondiale, Hythe’s most luxurious seaside hotel, still makes her shudder. Ten days ago, a guest plummeted to his death over this very rail, for reasons no one can fathom.
Alec Minton couldn’t wait to retire to the seaside. Fran can’t believe he’d check into the Mondiale — under a false name — just to end it all.
Not without someone there to give him a push.
The deeper Fran digs, the more she thinks Alec was onto something — and it all links back to an old cold case. Two men sent down for a murder they swore they didn’t do.
What secret dragged Alec down to his watery grave?
Fran must uncover the truth, before she gets caught up in the same deadly undercurrent.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 15, 2008
434 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Judith Cutler
86 books93 followersJudith Cutler was born and bred in the Midlands, and revels in using her birthplace, with its rich cultural life, as a background for her novels. After a long stint as an English lecturer at a run-down college of further education, Judith, a prize-winning short-story writer, has taught Creative Writing at Birmingham University, has run occasional writing course elsewhere (from a maximum security prison to an idyltic Greek island) and ministered to needy colleagues in her role as Secretary of the Crime Writers' Association.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
October 19, 2020
Fran Harman and Mark Turner have problems both at home at work. Mark has moved into Fran's cottage allowing his daughter to move into his house temporarily with her two children while she sorts out her marital problems. Mark is convinced there is something wrong with the water supply in Fran's cottage and it seems other villagers agree.
ran and Mark need to sort out a firm to renovate and restore their newly purchased Georgian former rectory and Simon Gates - former protégé of Fran's and now her boss - suggests a firm he knows. That's all ignoring the crime side of things. Fran is tasked with reviewing a case which is coming up for appeal and she soon finds that even though two men were found guilty of murdering the wife of one of them there was very little evidence. She's also curious about an apparent suicide.
Definitely more than enough for both Fran and Mark to be going on with and things can only get worse before they get better. This is a fast paced and well written crime story with plenty of interweaving strands and themes and an interesting background. I enjoyed reading it even though I read it completely out of the published order of the series. This is number three in the series. Clearly the books can be read out of order but I think they are best read in order of publication as this one leads straight into the next one which is 'Burying the Past.'
ran and Mark need to sort out a firm to renovate and restore their newly purchased Georgian former rectory and Simon Gates - former protégé of Fran's and now her boss - suggests a firm he knows. That's all ignoring the crime side of things. Fran is tasked with reviewing a case which is coming up for appeal and she soon finds that even though two men were found guilty of murdering the wife of one of them there was very little evidence. She's also curious about an apparent suicide.
Definitely more than enough for both Fran and Mark to be going on with and things can only get worse before they get better. This is a fast paced and well written crime story with plenty of interweaving strands and themes and an interesting background. I enjoyed reading it even though I read it completely out of the published order of the series. This is number three in the series. Clearly the books can be read out of order but I think they are best read in order of publication as this one leads straight into the next one which is 'Burying the Past.'
November 3, 2025
Plenty of Twists and Turns
After completely sorting out his life, Alec Minton checks into a hotel and jumps from the balcony killing himself. It is treated as a suicide, but Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman isn't so sure. It is not her case, and she has her own case to deal with. Two men were gaoled for murder, although there was no body and now their case is up for appeal and Fran must be sure they were guilty, if not she must prove their innocence. There are plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing.
After completely sorting out his life, Alec Minton checks into a hotel and jumps from the balcony killing himself. It is treated as a suicide, but Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman isn't so sure. It is not her case, and she has her own case to deal with. Two men were gaoled for murder, although there was no body and now their case is up for appeal and Fran must be sure they were guilty, if not she must prove their innocence. There are plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing.
May 12, 2015
Still Waters follows DCS Fran Harman, as she investigates both a suicide that doesn’t make sense and a three year old murder case that’s up for review, the body having never been found and the two men sent to prison for the crime being possibly innocent all along. However her new boss, DCC Simon Gates has another agenda for her including possible retirement unless she does as he wants.
Still Waters was a steady paced, light crime novel that kept your interest yet was still nice and gentle.
Fran is extremely likeable as are many of the other characters however there are some extremely unlikeable characters as well that made my blood boil. It also annoyed me how weak Mark was went it came to his daughter.
The plot wasn’t predictable per se however I had a feeling where it was all headed. There were a few surprises throughout that I didn’t see coming and I soon realised that even some of the most trivial details were in fact essential parts to the plot.
The only major gripe I have with the book is that I felt that not a lot was actually resolved in the end. I get the very end scene however I’m more talking about the crimes that Fran was trying to solve. They weren’t really wrapped up and even though I understand some questions can’t be answered, it would have been nice to have the ones that could.
Overall the book was a light, enjoyable read that I would recommend to those like a steady paced mystery/crime fiction.
www.readingforthemasses.wordpress.com
Still Waters was a steady paced, light crime novel that kept your interest yet was still nice and gentle.
Fran is extremely likeable as are many of the other characters however there are some extremely unlikeable characters as well that made my blood boil. It also annoyed me how weak Mark was went it came to his daughter.
The plot wasn’t predictable per se however I had a feeling where it was all headed. There were a few surprises throughout that I didn’t see coming and I soon realised that even some of the most trivial details were in fact essential parts to the plot.
The only major gripe I have with the book is that I felt that not a lot was actually resolved in the end. I get the very end scene however I’m more talking about the crimes that Fran was trying to solve. They weren’t really wrapped up and even though I understand some questions can’t be answered, it would have been nice to have the ones that could.
Overall the book was a light, enjoyable read that I would recommend to those like a steady paced mystery/crime fiction.
www.readingforthemasses.wordpress.com
November 14, 2022
A lot of police procedural stories fail for one of a number of reasons. A lot suffer from the sensationalist approach of maikng sure that the investigating officer's life is placed in jeopardy, or by making the murders so outlandishly gruesome as to defy belief. Such novels have their place, but it's easy to tire of them. Other books attempt to mix the protagonist's work and home life and fail to get the balance right - either we discover that their character flaws are too big for us to really identify with them, or one aspect of their life overshadows the other. Cutler has managed to get the balance perfect. Her characters are believable and their situations are too. If anything, the case at the heart of the story is perhaps a little too mundane, but there is enough intrigue to keep the story rolling forward.
Where the author has not succeeded, however, is in the blatant "wait until the next volume" approach of the ending. So many ends are left dangling that the last short chapter is almost an advertisement for the next novel. This would be fine if the book was clearly marked as part of a trilogy or similar, but - while it is listed as novel in the Fran Harman series - there is no indication that is is anything other than a stand-alone novel. Because the writing style is so good, I will hunt out the next book in the series, but I definitely feel cheated by the obvious "what happens next?" dangling threads.
Where the author has not succeeded, however, is in the blatant "wait until the next volume" approach of the ending. So many ends are left dangling that the last short chapter is almost an advertisement for the next novel. This would be fine if the book was clearly marked as part of a trilogy or similar, but - while it is listed as novel in the Fran Harman series - there is no indication that is is anything other than a stand-alone novel. Because the writing style is so good, I will hunt out the next book in the series, but I definitely feel cheated by the obvious "what happens next?" dangling threads.
May 14, 2021
This book comes full circle and ends as it began. Throughout the book we have been led to believe certain things but was the author exploring our reasoning ability? At the end we have no more certainty than we did at the beginning but perhaps we believe something different.
This was not a turn of events which I have come across in a crime novel before but it has certainly left me yearning to know more. Clever trick Ms Cutler!
There are additional unresolved barbs in the storyline which get under the skin and hold on. I’m now going to HAVE to read the next in the series
This was not a turn of events which I have come across in a crime novel before but it has certainly left me yearning to know more. Clever trick Ms Cutler!
There are additional unresolved barbs in the storyline which get under the skin and hold on. I’m now going to HAVE to read the next in the series
November 18, 2024
Simon Gates has recently taken up the post of Deputy Chief Constable in the Kent County Constabulary. Deputy Chief Superintendent Fran Harman not only knows him but was also his line manager before he left Kent some twenty-five years earlier. Gates has enjoyed a stellar career, and Fran is ambivalent about his return; he was and still is a closed book, and Fran wonders what the “new broom” plans to do to make his mark in his current role.
An altogether different personality is Sergeant Jim Champion. Jim had been Fran’s supervisor and mentor when she first moved into the Criminal Investigation Department. He eschewed the greasy pole of promotion while those he had trained, like Fran, moved up the ranks. She still respects and admires her old teacher, though, and when Jim shares his concerns about a recent violent death, she takes notice. Ten days earlier, a man called Alec Minton fell from the fifth floor of an upmarket hotel in the seaside resort of Hythe. Investigators have decided that he committed suicide, but Jim isn’t convinced and his concerns prompt Fran to make a few discreet enquiries of her own. Then she comes across a case of murder dating back several years. The victim’s body has never been found but two men are currently serving prison sentences for the crime. As she continues her scrutiny of the cold case, some of Fran’s colleagues become rattled. The question is, why? And just how far will they go to stop her from finding out the truth?
The novel’s tight plot and sub plots weave together to produce a multi-layered and unpredictable thriller populated by characters who are colourful, credible and sometimes inscrutable. No one could accuse Fran Harman of being a shrinking violet, yet even she, now older and menopausal, is judged on received orthodoxies that write off women of a certain age. The novel treats such issues seriously but with a commendably light touch alongside the intriguing and sometimes shocking investigation into Minton’s unexplained death. The book also explores the domestic circumstances that concern Fran when she is off duty. Her relationship with fiancée Mark is relatively new and they are still flitting between their respective homes. This delicate arrangement is threatened when Sammie, Mark’s daughter, asks for her father’s help and he finds himself dealing with conflicting responsibilities. These transitions and overlaps between home life and professional duty are deftly balanced and add to the tension as well as the realism of the book.
In Harm’s Way, explores themes that are as relevant today as they were in 2009 when the novel was first published as Cold Pursuit. This, the third of the Fran Harman Mysteries, can be read perfectly well as a stand-alone novel.
Carefully crafted characterisation within a complex, often chilling, narrative make In Harm’s Way a fascinating and highly enjoyable read.
------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)
An altogether different personality is Sergeant Jim Champion. Jim had been Fran’s supervisor and mentor when she first moved into the Criminal Investigation Department. He eschewed the greasy pole of promotion while those he had trained, like Fran, moved up the ranks. She still respects and admires her old teacher, though, and when Jim shares his concerns about a recent violent death, she takes notice. Ten days earlier, a man called Alec Minton fell from the fifth floor of an upmarket hotel in the seaside resort of Hythe. Investigators have decided that he committed suicide, but Jim isn’t convinced and his concerns prompt Fran to make a few discreet enquiries of her own. Then she comes across a case of murder dating back several years. The victim’s body has never been found but two men are currently serving prison sentences for the crime. As she continues her scrutiny of the cold case, some of Fran’s colleagues become rattled. The question is, why? And just how far will they go to stop her from finding out the truth?
The novel’s tight plot and sub plots weave together to produce a multi-layered and unpredictable thriller populated by characters who are colourful, credible and sometimes inscrutable. No one could accuse Fran Harman of being a shrinking violet, yet even she, now older and menopausal, is judged on received orthodoxies that write off women of a certain age. The novel treats such issues seriously but with a commendably light touch alongside the intriguing and sometimes shocking investigation into Minton’s unexplained death. The book also explores the domestic circumstances that concern Fran when she is off duty. Her relationship with fiancée Mark is relatively new and they are still flitting between their respective homes. This delicate arrangement is threatened when Sammie, Mark’s daughter, asks for her father’s help and he finds himself dealing with conflicting responsibilities. These transitions and overlaps between home life and professional duty are deftly balanced and add to the tension as well as the realism of the book.
In Harm’s Way, explores themes that are as relevant today as they were in 2009 when the novel was first published as Cold Pursuit. This, the third of the Fran Harman Mysteries, can be read perfectly well as a stand-alone novel.
Carefully crafted characterisation within a complex, often chilling, narrative make In Harm’s Way a fascinating and highly enjoyable read.
------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group)
Read
December 15, 2020 3.87 · Rating details · 109 ratings · 19 reviews
One cold, wet evening in an otherwise unusually dry April, a man falls from the fifth floor window of a hotel in Hythe. Did he jump or was he pushed? Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is already struggling to juggle her work and private life: she is having difficulties finding a company willing to restore her and her boyfriend's new home and has to put Mark up in her own cottage while the work is completed. And now, w.hy did this man jump from a hotel balcony when he had a perfectly good balcony at home? A glitch with the water system and her boyfriend's troublesome daughter add more problems to Fran's lot. Can she find the time to discover what it is that appears not quite right about Alec Minton's death?
Great
One cold, wet evening in an otherwise unusually dry April, a man falls from the fifth floor window of a hotel in Hythe. Did he jump or was he pushed? Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is already struggling to juggle her work and private life: she is having difficulties finding a company willing to restore her and her boyfriend's new home and has to put Mark up in her own cottage while the work is completed. And now, w.hy did this man jump from a hotel balcony when he had a perfectly good balcony at home? A glitch with the water system and her boyfriend's troublesome daughter add more problems to Fran's lot. Can she find the time to discover what it is that appears not quite right about Alec Minton's death?
Great
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2017
This one has a bit of a slow start, but once opened it is very entertaining.
Fran really turns into Columbo on this one as she will not accept the suicide ruling despite no abundance of facts to back her premise. That it tied in with another investigation was a bit suspicious.
The threats to put Fran back in uniform were ludicrous - if that had happened I might abandon this series.
I enjoyed the bits about Mark's daughter. It will be interesting to see how that pans out in future books.
I wish I could find a crew of female home repair people too!
I bought a copy of this since my public library did not have any copies.
Fran really turns into Columbo on this one as she will not accept the suicide ruling despite no abundance of facts to back her premise. That it tied in with another investigation was a bit suspicious.
The threats to put Fran back in uniform were ludicrous - if that had happened I might abandon this series.
I enjoyed the bits about Mark's daughter. It will be interesting to see how that pans out in future books.
I wish I could find a crew of female home repair people too!
I bought a copy of this since my public library did not have any copies.
December 31, 2022
I'm reading my way through this series and am getting to know Fran & Mark quite well. It may be because I'm older that I rather enjoy reading stories with older protagonists (Though F&M have had way more successful careers than I did) Their relationship seems real & the many competing pressures on their time sounds very familiar. Heading onto the next book now, though I am a bit concerned about what will happen with Mark's truly dreadful daughter.
February 17, 2018
One of the Fran Harmon books, it is filled with problems. Detective Chief Superintendent Harmer has to contend with a new DCC whom she once trained. Her partner ACC Mark Turner has a problem daughter. On top of which there mysterious deaths and disappearances. Beautifully written - a not-put-downable book.
January 8, 2020
A decent crime novel set in England. I took it from the share shelf at work, so haven't read any others in the series. It was easy enough to discover the main characters and their motivations. The plot was solid. The ending leads into another book and leaves a lot of plot points hanging for the next novel which bothered me as I didn't realise it was part of a series.
May 15, 2025
Book three in the box set I have sees Fran puzzled over an apparent suicide...yet things run far deeper.
There's a cold case to solve and a battle with family.
So much stress for both Fran and Mark. Their relationship seems solid though I like Fran best because she is strong while Mark is weak.
A well-written British crime drama; engaging and enjoyable.
Recommended.
There's a cold case to solve and a battle with family.
So much stress for both Fran and Mark. Their relationship seems solid though I like Fran best because she is strong while Mark is weak.
A well-written British crime drama; engaging and enjoyable.
Recommended.
June 19, 2025
Oh, I did enjoy that.
Proper police procedural, Home office directives, budget constraints, and lots and lots of paperwork.
Great characters, with normal problems and a few not so normal.
A bit of light reading with a twist.
Proper police procedural, Home office directives, budget constraints, and lots and lots of paperwork.
Great characters, with normal problems and a few not so normal.
A bit of light reading with a twist.
June 10, 2019
Good read, bit annoying end, few loose ends
August 27, 2024
Excellent
Riveting read, twists and turns, full of emotions, with a cliff hanger ending. I can't waIt for the next volume
Riveting read, twists and turns, full of emotions, with a cliff hanger ending. I can't waIt for the next volume
December 1, 2024
brilliant novel series
The characters are life like, the plots suspenseful and fun. The seriesis well worththe time it takes to read them. Enjoy!
The characters are life like, the plots suspenseful and fun. The seriesis well worththe time it takes to read them. Enjoy!
December 15, 2024
The story moved along, and was entertaining. I did have trouble keeping track of the various minor characters.
April 23, 2009
The second DCS Fran Harmon book I've read, there is such a lot that that you'd think would make these books unlikeable. Fran is almost too cheerful and nice, she's the sort of person that it's not hard to fantasise about as a victim of brutal crime. Mind you, she's also refreshingly not like your stereotypical angst ridden, difficult boss - she actively supports and encourages her subordinates, both in a day to day work sense, and as part of her ongoing police policy work. She's got her own boss problems though, and she handles them (mostly) with aplomb. There's a big concentration on Fran (and Mark's) personal life - which whilst not totally idyllic, is love's young dream enough to drive you mildly nuts, especially if you're slightly allergic to that level of the personal in the middle of your police procedural. And finally, in STILL WATERS, there is the classic multiple unconnected threads that end up converging.
But for some strange reason STILL WATERS (and the other book I've read in this series) are quite entertaining reads. On the less than confrontational side, there's something very engaging about Fran and Mark, their ongoing love story, their investigation methods, the station in which they work, and in all their colleagues. Sure things are a bit busy in places, who is who and where they fit in the police structure can be hard to follow at points, and Fran - as you'd expect from somebody of her personality type - has a tendency to talk way too much, but the basic plot of the investigation was nicely done, and cleverly drawn out - right to the end of the book.
STILL WATERS is the latest in the Fran Harmon series, and reading the earlier books will give you a total view of who she is, where she came from, although you could also pick this book up on its own without any problem. There is enough back story filled in, without it being tedious if you have read earlier books.
There's some really entertaining storytelling in STILL WATERS, despite all the things that you'd think would drive you slightly bats, Fran is the sort of overly cheerful character that even this grumpy reader can happily spend some time with.
But for some strange reason STILL WATERS (and the other book I've read in this series) are quite entertaining reads. On the less than confrontational side, there's something very engaging about Fran and Mark, their ongoing love story, their investigation methods, the station in which they work, and in all their colleagues. Sure things are a bit busy in places, who is who and where they fit in the police structure can be hard to follow at points, and Fran - as you'd expect from somebody of her personality type - has a tendency to talk way too much, but the basic plot of the investigation was nicely done, and cleverly drawn out - right to the end of the book.
STILL WATERS is the latest in the Fran Harmon series, and reading the earlier books will give you a total view of who she is, where she came from, although you could also pick this book up on its own without any problem. There is enough back story filled in, without it being tedious if you have read earlier books.
There's some really entertaining storytelling in STILL WATERS, despite all the things that you'd think would drive you slightly bats, Fran is the sort of overly cheerful character that even this grumpy reader can happily spend some time with.
October 2, 2011
Ah now this is more like it! The second installment of Chief Superintendent Fran Harman was nothing like as powerful as the first, but engaging enough that I wanted to get straight onto this third, which I really could get my teeth into. Again, for the reader many strands which weave together and for Fran much plate spinning - in this volume we get more of a picture of the usual roles of senior police management and some thoughtful stuff about cuts.
There were a few clunky bits - would Fran be using nil illegitami carborundum as though it was new to junior colleagues and providing a translation? I wasn't entirely convinced by the alternative uses for chocolate and high heels, and I know she had a lot on her mind but Fran was surely a bit slow pursuing the link between events in Hythe and her own village and rather incurious about her troublesome former protegé's builder recommendation.
The scene is now set for plenty more but where are they?!
There were a few clunky bits - would Fran be using nil illegitami carborundum as though it was new to junior colleagues and providing a translation? I wasn't entirely convinced by the alternative uses for chocolate and high heels, and I know she had a lot on her mind but Fran was surely a bit slow pursuing the link between events in Hythe and her own village and rather incurious about her troublesome former protegé's builder recommendation.
The scene is now set for plenty more but where are they?!
October 20, 2011
A fairly bog-standard and somewhat predictable whodunnit, but the quality of the prose is above average and the central character, Detective Superintendent Fran Harman, is well drawn and likeable. In fact, some readers might find the emphasis on her personal life, rather than the crime, a bit too much, although I liked it.
Annoying ending, though, which seems to be deliberately enigmatic and/or hinting at the sequel, rather than tying up the loose ends in this book.
Annoying ending, though, which seems to be deliberately enigmatic and/or hinting at the sequel, rather than tying up the loose ends in this book.
December 23, 2011
A very neat trick to have a first and last chapter almost word for word but pertaining to a different character in the book - a full stop at the end of an unravelling life. Fran Harmer is a very likeable Detective Chief Superintendant striving for a work/life balance - and a real work/desk work balance in an increasingly bureaucratic Police force.
March 9, 2015
A police procedural that was a bit too much about administrative procedures. The beginning and the end were both very weird and it was very hard to tell what was really going on. I like the character of Fran Harman that Judith Cutler has created but I was about as frustrated as Fran with what all was going on behind the criminal investigations. A disappointment.
June 16, 2015
Fran adds oomph to the staid image of an aging detective. She and her amour, Mark, show how age cannot deter the determined. The complications of home repairs and the deceitfulness of a daughter round out the complications of their lives. An especially pleasant read for ladies of a certain age--affirming.
October 11, 2009
Yeah! A new author to enjoy. Really liked this well written book about DCS Fran Harman, a woman of a certain age with lots of experience in a happy relationship. COuld have done without all the office politics and with more of the mystery, but this was very good. Looking forward to more of Fran!
February 6, 2012
A good mystery set in England in the Fran Harman series. The author blends in the difficulties of women in the police force together with the pressures on private life as well as a good plot. A good quick read.
August 31, 2013
I can only presume that the author, by setting up three major new plot points in the last few pages, is convinced that this will tempt the reader into buying the next in the series. This particular reader will definitely NOT!
April 6, 2016
Another enjoyable if somewhat unresolved mystery with a middle aged female detective as hero. Hurray.
May 18, 2013
A fast read and an enterttaining one. My only issue is her sometimes abrupt scene changes.
January 15, 2016
Not the best crime book I've ever had the joy of reading, but still a great little page-turner!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews