Jeff Buick’s novel, The Wrong Side of Murder, starts with homicide detective, Aislinn Byre, at the top of the rotation for the next murder case. A body wrapped in polyethylene was found stuffed behind a sheetrock wall during a building renovation. After Miss Byrne arrived at the scene, the poly was cut away from the body. Aislinn almost fainted when she recognized the red dress and hair. Twenty years ago, she had spent the day with Darina Volkov and two other girls getting glammed up for the prom. Darina didn’t make it to the prom and disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again . . . until now.

Aislinn’s boss, Boston’s Chief of Homicide, Curtis Westcott, was reluctant to assign the case to Byrne because of her close connection to the victim. But after she was cleared of involvement in the crime, he assigned the case to her, his best detective. Aislinn’s dad was a retired cop as was the dad of one of the other girls Aislinn spent that fateful day with. Curtis knew both of the retired cops. Darina’s dad was a gangster who had been murdered six months before that prom night. From the beginning, Aislinn sensed that the Darina’s murder was somehow connected to her dad’s murder.

What a great start to a novel. I was hooked when Aislinn identified the body in the first chapter. Working a case of a murder from twenty years ago was a complicated process and the author worked through it skilfully. The gangster angle turned the novel into a thriller as the murders kept adding up. The plot and great characters were developed masterfully and, in the end, the identity of the murderer was a shock. The editing was better than for most famous authors. The Wrong Side of Murder is another great read sent to me by Whispering Stories.