Anyone of a ‘certain age’ will tell you that the truth always comes out in the end.  However when you are young and frightened like this novel’s Eva Carradine, you could possibly be blinded to that fact.   In their early twenties, Eva and her friend Naomi are offered a free holiday by a friend of theirs.  All they have to do is fly to Milan and drive a car back for him.  Of course, another thing that the young women didn’t quite grasp is that nothing is really ‘free’.   When they have trouble closing a window in the car on the way back to England they take it to a garage.  The mechanic dissembles the door of the car where they discover packets of heroin.  Terrified and almost out of cash, the girls continue on their journey.

Back in England they are on tenterhooks as guilt and fear are a lethal mixture.  When talking to each other over Skype, Eva witnesses an attack on her friend Naomi.  Fearful for her own life and afraid to go to the police because of her own involvement in the drug smuggling, she goes on the run.   She had called an ambulance for her friend before she left, but hasn’t been able to find out her condition.  Little does she know that Naomi was murdered.

This is where we meet our policewoman Helen Lavery.  Helen is a widowed mother of two teenage boys.  She walks a precarious tightrope of home and work life, not unlike many working mums.   She is the daughter of a policeman and grew up hearing about the ‘job’ and about her father’s nemesis, a criminal named Chilli Franks.  When she begins working on the murder inquiry into Naomi’s homicide, she comes back into contact with the only man who she has been interested in since becoming a widow.  Dean Fitzpatrick, a tall, dark and handsome Detective Inspector is called in to aid in the inquiry, eventually taking it over from Helen.

Helen has a strong and loyal team working with her and there is some resentment at having the case taken away from them.  When Helen discovers that Dean has been withholding some vital information, she feels the sting of betrayal.

Jane Isaac combines a murder ‘whodunit’ with organized crime, a creepy psychopath,  and a strong backstory.   Her sympathetic protagonists face betrayal and personal danger while attempting to seek justice.  The settings of the Midlands and rural Scotland lend atmosphere to a worthy offering in the genre.  “The Truth Will Out” showcases the author’s potential and will appeal to most fans of police procedural mysteries.

I’m not sure how the cover fits in with the plot of the story.  I think a better cover would have been a gloved hand over the face of a young woman sitting at her computer…

To hear a BBC Radio interview with Jane Isaac click here.

Thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for my early read digital copy.