What do you think?
Rate this book
DI Marjory Fleming #5
Dead in the Water
When secrets come to the surface...
The young victim had been pregnant, her body washed up on the rocks. Twenty years on the murder remains unsolved; her father is now dead, and her mother won't talk about what went on all those years ago.
Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming is called in to reopen the case that her late father, a policeman, was unable to put to rest. As Fleming digs deeper it becomes clear that her father had struggled to keep secret some of the shameful details around the young girl's death.
Can Fleming handle the truth she will unearth, not just about her father but about herself?
The young victim had been pregnant, her body washed up on the rocks. Twenty years on the murder remains unsolved; her father is now dead, and her mother won't talk about what went on all those years ago.
Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming is called in to reopen the case that her late father, a policeman, was unable to put to rest. As Fleming digs deeper it becomes clear that her father had struggled to keep secret some of the shameful details around the young girl's death.
Can Fleming handle the truth she will unearth, not just about her father but about herself?
372 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2009
68 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Aline Templeton
32 books120 followersAline Templeton grew up in the East Neuk of Fife and was educated at St Leonards School, St Andrews and Cambridge University. She has worked in education and broadcasting and has written numerous stories and articles for national newspapers and magazines. Templeton was a bench Justice of the Peace for ten years and is a former Chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland, now living in Edinburgh. She is married with a grown up family.
She has written nine crime novels, published by Hodder & Stoughton in Britain, and has also been published in the United States and several European countries. After writing seven stand-alone books, she started a series set in Galloway and featuring DI Marjory Fleming, the first of which – Cold In The Earth – was an Ottakar's Crime Novel of the Month and an Independent Best Summer Read. The second, The Darkness and the Deep, was published in July 2006, and there are now six books in the DI Fleming series.
She has written nine crime novels, published by Hodder & Stoughton in Britain, and has also been published in the United States and several European countries. After writing seven stand-alone books, she started a series set in Galloway and featuring DI Marjory Fleming, the first of which – Cold In The Earth – was an Ottakar's Crime Novel of the Month and an Independent Best Summer Read. The second, The Darkness and the Deep, was published in July 2006, and there are now six books in the DI Fleming series.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
May 5, 2014
Dead in the Water by Aline Templeton is a 2014 Witness Impulse publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Edelwiess in exchange for an honest review.
Marjory is asked to take on a cold case that her father once worked. The young woman was found dead in the water and it was presumed she committed suicide. However, it comes to light she was actually murdered. There were several theories during the original investigation, but nothing was ever proven and the case went cold.
Now working back through the evidence, Marjory discovers that her father broke procedure for the first and only time in his career and it nags at her through out the investigation. Marjory is also puzzled by the fact that the victim's former boyfriend , Marcus, was never questioned throughly and his alibi was never checked . The ex-boyfriend is rumored to be the father of victim's unborn child. Marcus in now filming a TV show at his home which give Marjory and her team the opportunity to question him.
Marjory also faces the age old problems of trying to balance her home life with her career and of course it is never perfectly balanced. One will always wins out over the other.
This Scottish mystery is the first novel I have read by this author and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The complex relationships that everyone in the book had added a layer of depth that many crime dramas never achieve. I loved Marjory's character. She is so human and feels things very deeply, but she doesn't always make the correct choices in her career or where her family is concerned and of course that comes back to haunt her.
The mystery really had me puzzled. I couldn't fiqure out why some of the details and situations were in the book because they just didn't fit in with anything else that was happening. Well, believe it or not all these things are somehow connected. I would never have figured out the mystery no matter how hard I tried. I am now a Marjory Fleming fan and will be looking for more of her releases with William Morrow and Witness Impulse. This one gets a 4.5 rounded to 5 stars.
Marjory is asked to take on a cold case that her father once worked. The young woman was found dead in the water and it was presumed she committed suicide. However, it comes to light she was actually murdered. There were several theories during the original investigation, but nothing was ever proven and the case went cold.
Now working back through the evidence, Marjory discovers that her father broke procedure for the first and only time in his career and it nags at her through out the investigation. Marjory is also puzzled by the fact that the victim's former boyfriend , Marcus, was never questioned throughly and his alibi was never checked . The ex-boyfriend is rumored to be the father of victim's unborn child. Marcus in now filming a TV show at his home which give Marjory and her team the opportunity to question him.
Marjory also faces the age old problems of trying to balance her home life with her career and of course it is never perfectly balanced. One will always wins out over the other.
This Scottish mystery is the first novel I have read by this author and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The complex relationships that everyone in the book had added a layer of depth that many crime dramas never achieve. I loved Marjory's character. She is so human and feels things very deeply, but she doesn't always make the correct choices in her career or where her family is concerned and of course that comes back to haunt her.
The mystery really had me puzzled. I couldn't fiqure out why some of the details and situations were in the book because they just didn't fit in with anything else that was happening. Well, believe it or not all these things are somehow connected. I would never have figured out the mystery no matter how hard I tried. I am now a Marjory Fleming fan and will be looking for more of her releases with William Morrow and Witness Impulse. This one gets a 4.5 rounded to 5 stars.
January 5, 2010
First Sentence: The north-easter came tearing through the night across the Irish Sea.
DI Marjory (Big Marge) Fleming is assigned a cold case her father originally investigated. Twenty years ago, a young, pregnant woman washed up on the rocks. The girl’s father is now dead, the mother won’t talk about it and Marge not only has to identify the killer but find out why her father violated his own procedural rules.
I so enjoy Templeton’s style of writing. The story develops slowly but is never boring, and then—bam—you are in the thick of it all the way to a very dramatic twist and revelation at the end.
She introduces you to each of the characters so you get to know who and what they are. While all the characters are well drawn, Marge takes center stage, and in Marge, Templeton creates a very realistic portrayal of a woman in her position trying to balance the demands of her job with being a wife, mother and daughter.
But Marge isn’t on her own and the balance with the other characters, particularly her side-kick DS Tam McNee, who often quotes Robert Burns. Templeton’s dialogue is very well done and I love her humor.
Templeton provides a very strong sense of place. I appreciate that the books are set in Galloway, in the West of Scotland, rather than the usual Edinburgh.
This is a very good book in a wonderful series, and one I highly recommend.
DEAD IN THE WATER (Pol. Proc-DI Marge Flemming-Scotland-Cont) – VG
Templeton, Aline – 5th in series
Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9780340976944
DI Marjory (Big Marge) Fleming is assigned a cold case her father originally investigated. Twenty years ago, a young, pregnant woman washed up on the rocks. The girl’s father is now dead, the mother won’t talk about it and Marge not only has to identify the killer but find out why her father violated his own procedural rules.
I so enjoy Templeton’s style of writing. The story develops slowly but is never boring, and then—bam—you are in the thick of it all the way to a very dramatic twist and revelation at the end.
She introduces you to each of the characters so you get to know who and what they are. While all the characters are well drawn, Marge takes center stage, and in Marge, Templeton creates a very realistic portrayal of a woman in her position trying to balance the demands of her job with being a wife, mother and daughter.
But Marge isn’t on her own and the balance with the other characters, particularly her side-kick DS Tam McNee, who often quotes Robert Burns. Templeton’s dialogue is very well done and I love her humor.
Templeton provides a very strong sense of place. I appreciate that the books are set in Galloway, in the West of Scotland, rather than the usual Edinburgh.
This is a very good book in a wonderful series, and one I highly recommend.
DEAD IN THE WATER (Pol. Proc-DI Marge Flemming-Scotland-Cont) – VG
Templeton, Aline – 5th in series
Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9780340976944
February 10, 2019
So... you've seen your retired police officer father's body off in the undertaker's transport and come wearily home to bed, but you need a book to wind down with... you have literary fiction and poetry on the go but they are not the right fit. What you need is another instalment in a familiar police procedural series. Hooray for Aline Templeton being on my bookshelf in my hour of need.
"Big Marge" detective inspector, mother, farmer's wife in SouthWest Scotland and keeper of chickens is an engagingly unencumbered character. Here she has a cold case in which her now dead police officer father has committed a misdemeanour against type which she is juggling alongside knife crime and a nasty Procurator Fiscal. It's thoroughly twisty - even if you were to hazard a guess at whodun some of it, you'd be unlikely to get to the full picture ahead of Templeton's unfolding. I especially enjoyed the Polish migrant worker aspect of the story, and the roles Marjory's mother gets to play.
"Big Marge" detective inspector, mother, farmer's wife in SouthWest Scotland and keeper of chickens is an engagingly unencumbered character. Here she has a cold case in which her now dead police officer father has committed a misdemeanour against type which she is juggling alongside knife crime and a nasty Procurator Fiscal. It's thoroughly twisty - even if you were to hazard a guess at whodun some of it, you'd be unlikely to get to the full picture ahead of Templeton's unfolding. I especially enjoyed the Polish migrant worker aspect of the story, and the roles Marjory's mother gets to play.
September 5, 2024
Slow to start with but soon got going
February 6, 2015
A "new" series recommended by Aleta
Aline Templeton's novels (at least the ones in this series) are set in Galloway in Scotland (which we discovered as a setting in THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ROCKETS back at the beginning of this year) featuring DI Marjory Fleming, a CID officer who, atypically for a fictional detective, has a decent family life, no problem skeletons in her closets, no problems with drugs or alcohol, a generally good relationship with her colleagues and only a mild addiction to the adrenaline rush that come with a good murder.
In this book, Marjory is asked to look into a twenty-year-old cold case in which a young, pregnant woman died after plunging (jumped or thrown?) off a cliff into the sea. Initially, the death was assumed to be a suicide, but there were enough unresolved elements it that it was still on the books as a possible murder. The investigating officers at the time were Marjory's father and her present boss. A young man from Galloway who is no an actor who plays a fictional police superintendent in a popular TV series, was accused of the murder (by the girl's mother) at the time, and coincidentally, the crew is in the area filming just a Marjory begins her investigation.
An engaging set of characters and a solid plot. We have already started reading LYING DEAD.
20.MemoryWalk - Helen and Art's house in Fort St. John, kitty corner from the bowling alley. The southwest corner of their lot is a rocky headland jutting into the Irish sea with a lighthouse standing overlooking the roiling waters. A storm is raging. A TV crew is set up at the foot of the lighthouse. A long line of pregnant teenage girls snakes along the path leading to the lighthouse, and in through the door at the base of it. Each of the girls in leading a sheep on a leash. Several police officers are on duty keeping the girls organized and generally directing traffic. One girl with her sheep is standing at the railing at the top of the lighthouse with her sheep in her arms. The director of the TV crew calls through a bullhorn, "Cue the lightning! Roll cameras! ACTION!" and the girl throws herself off the lighthouse into the sea. "Cut! Okay, let's do it again. Next girl..."
Aline Templeton's novels (at least the ones in this series) are set in Galloway in Scotland (which we discovered as a setting in THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ROCKETS back at the beginning of this year) featuring DI Marjory Fleming, a CID officer who, atypically for a fictional detective, has a decent family life, no problem skeletons in her closets, no problems with drugs or alcohol, a generally good relationship with her colleagues and only a mild addiction to the adrenaline rush that come with a good murder.
In this book, Marjory is asked to look into a twenty-year-old cold case in which a young, pregnant woman died after plunging (jumped or thrown?) off a cliff into the sea. Initially, the death was assumed to be a suicide, but there were enough unresolved elements it that it was still on the books as a possible murder. The investigating officers at the time were Marjory's father and her present boss. A young man from Galloway who is no an actor who plays a fictional police superintendent in a popular TV series, was accused of the murder (by the girl's mother) at the time, and coincidentally, the crew is in the area filming just a Marjory begins her investigation.
An engaging set of characters and a solid plot. We have already started reading LYING DEAD.
20.MemoryWalk - Helen and Art's house in Fort St. John, kitty corner from the bowling alley. The southwest corner of their lot is a rocky headland jutting into the Irish sea with a lighthouse standing overlooking the roiling waters. A storm is raging. A TV crew is set up at the foot of the lighthouse. A long line of pregnant teenage girls snakes along the path leading to the lighthouse, and in through the door at the base of it. Each of the girls in leading a sheep on a leash. Several police officers are on duty keeping the girls organized and generally directing traffic. One girl with her sheep is standing at the railing at the top of the lighthouse with her sheep in her arms. The director of the TV crew calls through a bullhorn, "Cue the lightning! Roll cameras! ACTION!" and the girl throws herself off the lighthouse into the sea. "Cut! Okay, let's do it again. Next girl..."
November 6, 2014
While it was background, I think I enjoyed the psychology of family relationships in this tale more than the actual mysteries. The stabbings, and the looking into an unsolved case were quite good too, although, I was surprised it was assigned to the daughter of the original officer rather than almost anyone else.
Lots of different tales winding through it - who was the father of Ailsa's child? Who killed Ailsa? Why Who's going around knifing people and why? What's up with Sylvia anyhow?
Lots of different tales winding through it - who was the father of Ailsa's child? Who killed Ailsa? Why Who's going around knifing people and why? What's up with Sylvia anyhow?
April 26, 2011
I really enjoyed this book and could feel for Marge-on the difficultness of the position she was put in .
I can see the struggles of her has a mother/daughter/wife and policeman and how she prioritises things -
I know she worries if she has the right balance and this is highlighted over the injury to her son during investigation does she go him to give support or stay to oversee the case and then deal with the fallout
will definatly pick up another and have it on my tbr
I can see the struggles of her has a mother/daughter/wife and policeman and how she prioritises things -
I know she worries if she has the right balance and this is highlighted over the injury to her son during investigation does she go him to give support or stay to oversee the case and then deal with the fallout
will definatly pick up another and have it on my tbr
July 24, 2016
A good entry in this rural Scottish police procedural series. I really enjoyed reading about a lead character who has a normal home life and a detective team that gets along for the most part. The plot involved a cold case which was very compelling though the other current day crimes were a bit less interesting.
June 23, 2020
Aline Templeton is one of my favourite crime writers. The characters are all well formed. Detective Marjory Fleming has problems at home and is also trying to solve an old case of a pregnant woman found in the water near a lighthouse. She solves the case but the story ends with her facing other difficulties and I need to read the next book to find out what happened.
May 7, 2019
Good character
I very much liked the mixing of the personal life with the detective side because it made the detective more three dimentional. No one has a life contained and viewed by their job.
I very much liked the mixing of the personal life with the detective side because it made the detective more three dimentional. No one has a life contained and viewed by their job.
October 6, 2019
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did it was intricate enough to keep me reading. It's a little modern for my tastes, but I got over that. I always think of the Italians as the masters of treachery and revenge, but these rural British run them a pretty good race.
September 16, 2020
Thriller, oh yes!
I rated this 5 stars as I was unable to put it down. Loved the main character, Fleming. I did have trouble with the Scottish terminology. A fine read for lovers of well-written British-type police procedural.
I rated this 5 stars as I was unable to put it down. Loved the main character, Fleming. I did have trouble with the Scottish terminology. A fine read for lovers of well-written British-type police procedural.
December 8, 2022
A dark and stormy night, a lighthouse on the Scottish shore, a young pregnant woman, whose body was
A combination of crimes over the years all get twisted together in A complicated set , with too many bad characters. Thriller!
A combination of crimes over the years all get twisted together in A complicated set , with too many bad characters. Thriller!
June 21, 2025
Scottish mystery with a devious plot and lots of secrets and tensions amongst those investigating as well as their suspects. DI Margery Fleming and her teams manage to untangle the many twists to get to the truth.
April 9, 2019
Well written, tightly plotted. For some reason though, it just didn't really hold my interest. Maybe just not dark enough and the whole woman's conflict between job and family kind of cliched
August 29, 2019
The fifth DI Marjory Fleming police procedural is another complex thriller enhanced by a magnificent landscape and domestic detail.
May 29, 2020
Another complex mystery set in Ireland. So many possibilities I never can guess the end. Love this series.
August 9, 2021
Bit Samey!
Although I’ve quite enjoyed this series I do find the stories very repetitive.
Feel I have to complete the series out of curiosity.
I live in D&G.
Although I’ve quite enjoyed this series I do find the stories very repetitive.
Feel I have to complete the series out of curiosity.
I live in D&G.
March 10, 2023
Too slow - too much confusion
January 20, 2024
I'll continue the series
September 20, 2024
You never know til nearer the end of these books who did what and why.
A true Murder Mystery.
I love how the characters are portrayed and the members of Big Marges team develop.
A true Murder Mystery.
I love how the characters are portrayed and the members of Big Marges team develop.
December 14, 2025
Too. Many. Coincidences.
September 17, 2015
Aline Templeton's Marjory Fleming series is one of my very favorite character-driven crime fiction series, and Dead in the Water is yet another strong entry. This is a book about mistakes. Mistakes people may have made back in 1985-- including Marjory's own father. Mistakes involving the ever-perfectionist Sheila Milne. And Marjory's own mistakes made both on the job and in her private life.
Naturally once Fleming gets to work on the cold case, the local bad boys get busy so more work gets thrown on her desk. It's like kicking open an anthill. There's a stalker at the estate where there's a film shoot on location. An area thug who likes to use knives is busy. There are short-fused Polish laborers working for a couple with too much time and money on its hands. And when all of this comes to a head, Marjory's personal life goes into a tailspin. Yes, there are a lot of plates spinning in the air, but Templeton is an expert at keeping them all going, keeping them all interesting, and keeping them all from getting tangled up and confusing.
She's also an expert at creating three-dimensional characters that readers really grow to care about. For instance, one of the decisions Marjory makes practically had me frothing at the mouth in agitation, and in fact I was talking out loud. Yes. Talking out loud. To a fictional character. I wanted to get hold of her and shake some sense into her. When I get this involved with characters, I know they're good-- and I know the story is good as well.
And Marjory isn't the only character who could sit down at my kitchen table. There's her husband, her children, her mother, and Detective Sergeant Tam MacNee, he of the infuriating behavior and brilliant flashes of deduction. I can always count on Tam for a little comic relief when a situation becomes too deadly serious.
After yet another satisfying ending to a puzzling mystery, I have to ask myself why I read these books so slowly. They are so good, you'd think I'd swallow them all whole, one after another. Ah-- but that's the reason why I read them slowly. They are "go-to" books for me. I know I can depend on them for their consistent high quality-- and you can, too. Dead in the Water reads well as a standalone, but if you like this type of mystery, I'd suggest you begin at the beginning (Cold in the Earth). You are definitely going to like Big Marge.
Naturally once Fleming gets to work on the cold case, the local bad boys get busy so more work gets thrown on her desk. It's like kicking open an anthill. There's a stalker at the estate where there's a film shoot on location. An area thug who likes to use knives is busy. There are short-fused Polish laborers working for a couple with too much time and money on its hands. And when all of this comes to a head, Marjory's personal life goes into a tailspin. Yes, there are a lot of plates spinning in the air, but Templeton is an expert at keeping them all going, keeping them all interesting, and keeping them all from getting tangled up and confusing.
She's also an expert at creating three-dimensional characters that readers really grow to care about. For instance, one of the decisions Marjory makes practically had me frothing at the mouth in agitation, and in fact I was talking out loud. Yes. Talking out loud. To a fictional character. I wanted to get hold of her and shake some sense into her. When I get this involved with characters, I know they're good-- and I know the story is good as well.
And Marjory isn't the only character who could sit down at my kitchen table. There's her husband, her children, her mother, and Detective Sergeant Tam MacNee, he of the infuriating behavior and brilliant flashes of deduction. I can always count on Tam for a little comic relief when a situation becomes too deadly serious.
After yet another satisfying ending to a puzzling mystery, I have to ask myself why I read these books so slowly. They are so good, you'd think I'd swallow them all whole, one after another. Ah-- but that's the reason why I read them slowly. They are "go-to" books for me. I know I can depend on them for their consistent high quality-- and you can, too. Dead in the Water reads well as a standalone, but if you like this type of mystery, I'd suggest you begin at the beginning (Cold in the Earth). You are definitely going to like Big Marge.
September 14, 2015
DI Marjory Fleming has been asked to re-open a very cold case, one in which the investigation by now-Superintendent Bailey and her father was less than stellar. At the same time, tensions between the "townies" and a group of Polish workmen are rising and a popular TV show is filming in town. The star of the show had been accused of involvement with the cold case which doesn't help. In addition, the Fiscal, Sheila Milne, who dislikes Fleming, may have had a relationship with the show's star, and it appears that Milne has "fixed" a number of tickets for him. Once again, Fleming is forced to make some very difficult choices. Her decisions have dire consequences which impact an actor, her relationship with her colleagues, her family, and her career. Another good installment in this series.
February 6, 2014
I grabbed this Scottish crime story from the library with low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. It's part of a series, but I had no trouble following the plot. An old murder and a new one are simultaneously investigated by DI Fleming, also called Big Marge. The scene is the cold and dreary Galloway area in southwestern Scotland. A film crew shooting a popular crime show shows up, creating tension among the locals. Village busybodies, Polish construction workers and a diverse group of police officers are all described with enough detail to make them memorable. The police work is mundane and there are no spectacular twists, but it's all very well done. I wouldn't mind reading more of the Fleming-series.
September 16, 2015
First book I have read by this author and likely will be reading more as I find them. Finally, a Scottish detective that doesn't have a drinking problem or a people problem or some kind of problem in living. DI Fleming has a real home life that isn't constantly teetering on the edge of disaster. She has a partner who quotes Burns and who is ready to bend a few rules to get to the bottom of something while ensuring that Fleming never gets hit with any shit that arises. At times, because she is investigating a cold case while around her an investigation of several knifings goes on, she is feeling a bit left out but everything does come together in the end.
November 15, 2016
This is the fifth book in the series and I have read them in order. Will be continuing with this series. Really like the complex, human characters, nothing superficial about them. Plot is complex and suspenseful although on the cosy mystery side. I confess I love mystery novels set in England. I suppose I can visualise the settings, having lived in the UK for a number of years. The only criticism I have of this book and the others I have read is that you have to focus carefully throughout the first 25% of the book to keep track of the number of characters involved. Once you get to know them, the reading gets easier.
August 28, 2013
I just love this author and this series. I love seeing the character development and the dual mystery. I love reading about Scotland and the slow, while pulling you in deeper and deeper. This is the kind of book you read slowly and savor. This and the next one I ordered on line from England as I couldn't even get them through inter-library loan! They are keepers!
February 5, 2017
I liked the characters in this book and it was nice to see beyond the police station. it was really well written and enjoyable to read. I generally prefer a pacier book in terms of the crime element thar being said I wanted to and looked forward to reading this and I will be on the look out for others in the series.
July 17, 2018
Good book but I didn’t like it as much as the previous ones in the series; the plot line was too obscure. And I didn’t really take to the acting crowd, Marcus and his entourage.
As usual, the description of the local scenery, the family dynamics, were excellent. There wasn’t as much interplay with the rest of her team and I think that detracted from this book, for me.
As usual, the description of the local scenery, the family dynamics, were excellent. There wasn’t as much interplay with the rest of her team and I think that detracted from this book, for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews