Kate Charles is one of my absolute favorite mystery authors. She has written a couple of series; these include the Book of Psalms series (that starts with A Drink of Deadly Wine) and the Callie Anson series of which Desolate Places is the most recent, although it was published in 2021. I so hope that Charles will keep writing. I held off reading this one for the longest time because it was the only of her books that I hadn’t read and I didn’t want to be done.
Charles is an American who writes stories that are based in England with Ecclesiastical matters having an important place. Callie Anson is a deacon who is awaiting ordination as a priest. In this fifth in the series, along with Callie are many recurring characters. These include Brian with whom Callie works and Marco who is her fiancee. There is also Callie’s brother Peter who falls in love often and Callie’s rather difficult mother. There are then the various police officers and Callie’s good friends.
In this entry, a woman from a rather upper middle class background is found dead in a rundown hotel. Felicity had recently herd from an old boyfriend and her husband has been having an affair (small spoiler). Who murdered her and why?
Among the suspects is Tariq who is an illegal immigrant. Callie becomes involved in helping him without telling Marco (because of his work as a family liaison officer) with the police. Charles does a good job of helping the reader to feel empathy for Tariq. Readers will also hope that Tariq would invite them for dinner.
This is a well told story with much on the relationships of the many characters. Some of these go well while others face tragedy. For me, Desolate Places was a delight from start to finish.
If Charles doesn’t write more soon, I will have to go back and reread both series. That would not be a hardship. I could also read the standalones again.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 