Book #11 The Woman who Walked into the Sea

The Woman Who Walked into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another classic and satisfying whodunit from Mark Douglas-Home, author of The Sea Detective. Cal McGill, an oceanographer, is once again the hero of this sequel and I hope that Douglas-Home intends to continue with this series.

For this book the author has invented a coastal settlement in the north of Scotland called Poltown, located not far from Ullapool. Cal finds himself in Poltown drawn there by news of a beachcomber’s find. His visit coincides with a funeral - or rather a memorial service - for Diana, whose late husband ,a lawyer, had owned the Big House. And what does any of this have to do with the woman who walked into the sea and committed suicide? Did she? Or did something more sinister take place? What part does the retired housekeeper, Mrs Anderson, play in this dark occurrence?

Violet lives in Glasgow with her four-year-old daughter. Violet was abandoned at birth, deposited on the doorstep of Raigmore Hospital. She has always hoped to find her mother. A social worker from Inverness, brings her an anonymous letter, which was sent to his office. It reveals her mother’s name and where she lived - a cottage near Poltown on the north west coast of Scotland. The social worker tells Violet that he has checked and the woman named as her mother “died the day after you were abandoned at the hospital.”

Enough to take Violet to Poltown to become embroiled in this tight-knit, suspicious community... And here the threads come together in a beautifully crafted plot in which Cal’s expertise does provide an answer to the problem of The Woman who Walked into the Sea....


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