H.R.F. Keating: The Dreaming Detective (USA 2004)

From the Publisher:
"Who killed the preacher?"
Harriet Martens is taken aback. This is her first face-to-face meeting with the new Chief Constable, and he shot the question at her the moment she took the seat in front of his desk. Why is he setting out to antagonize her?

He must be talking about the famous Boy Preacher, who was murdered there thirty or more years ago. "He's bringing it up now because the old hotel that was the scene of the crime is about to be torn down." And he is giving Harriet the mystery to solve because he wants her out. The media has made much of how young he is, he has to establish himself and he doesn't want a much publicized female detective to steal any glory from him. The preacher's murder has been unsolvable for more than thirty years; Harriet's inevitable failure to solve it now will take care of her...

Harriet was still at school when the murder happened. As she remembers, there were six or seven people, avid disciples, in a position to have killed the wildly popular young figure. But no one had ever been able to point out the killer -- or killers -- from that list. How in the world could she do it now? DNA, the chief told her. Find out whose DNA was on the boy's body, and get the confession out of him.

Oh, certainly, easy as pie. But Harriet has more than earned her title of The Hard Detective. She is determined to turn the tables on the chief, so determined that the case takes over her dreams. And it is, indeed, a dream that pries open the door leading her to the answer. She will certainly have her readers cheering her on and rejoicing with her when she manages to get her own back. Keating's delicious detective, now happily married and well set in her job, will delight her many fans and bring many more.

H.R.F. Keating: The Dreaming Detective. A Mystery. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 0312322143 (December, 2004), 300 p., $23.95.

H.R.F. Keating: The Dreaming Detective (UK 2004)

From the Publisher:
The Imperial Hotel, scene of the brutal murder of the Boy Preacher over thirty years ago, is about to be demolished, and the Chief Constable wants Harriet to take one last look at the scene. Seven people had waited outside the ballroom where the Boy Preacher was to begin his sermon, shortly before he was found brutally strangled. Now, with the use of DNA, the suspects clothes are to be scientifically examined. The Chief Constable is intending to close this case once and for all. As she waits for the DNA results, Harriet decides to interview the suspects and make up her own mind about the Boy's killer. But when the results fail to tally with Harriet's own mounting suspicions, the Hard Detective fears that this time she will not be able to give the Chief the answer he needs...

H.R.F. Keating: The Dreaming Detective. Pan, ISBN: 0330419404 (November, 2004), 310 p., £6.99.

H.R.F. Keating: The Dreaming Detective (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
Summoned to the office of her new Chief Constable, Harriet Martens does not expect to be greeted with the words 'Who killed the preacher?', and entrusted with an unsolved case dating back to the 1960s. The Imperial Hotel, scene of the brutal murder of the Boy Preacher over thirty years ago, is about to be demolished, and the Chief wants Harriet to take one last look at the scene. Seven people had waited outside the ballroom where the Boy Preacher was to begin his sermon, shortly before he was found brutally strangled. Now, with the use of DNA, the suspects clothes are to be scientifically examined. The Chief Constable is intending to close this case once and for all. As she waits for the DNA results, Harriet decides to interview the suspects and make her own mind up about the Boy's killer. However the case is not as simple as she expects, and the DNA results do not tally with Harriet's own mounting suspicions. Soon the case is taking over her life and invading her sleep and the Hard Detective begins to worry that this time, she will not be able to give the Chief the answers he wants...

H.R.F. Keating: The Dreaming Detective. Macmillan, ISBN: 1405033444 (November, 2003), 300 p., £16.99.