Published by
Allison & Busby, 22 February 2024. ISBN: 978-0-7490-3084-1 (HB)
We only need to watch the news to know that hospitals are dangerous
places, and in Martine Bailey’s view it was much the same back in the 1980s,
when the NHS was in the throes of one of its many reorganizations.
Human Resources, or Personnel
as it was still known back then, was almost literally in the middle of the
shake-up, and Lorraine Quick, Bailey’s protagonist, finds herself reluctantly
at the sharp end, administering the latest fad, psychometric tests, to the
applicants for a top job. It’s not just the tests she’s reluctant about; she’s
a single mum and needs the job as hospital personnel officer to support her
young daughter, but she’d far rather be playing guitar in her post-punk band.
But then Lorraine’s only
friend on the hospital admin staff is killed in suspicious circumstances and
the police get involved. All the evidence points to the candidates for the top
job, and forward-looking Detective Sergeant Diaz thinks the tests could be
instrumental in spotting the killer. Lorraine is less certain, and in any case
the rules governing the tests forbid her to share them with him – until there’s
another suspicious death, and the rules threaten to fly out of the window.
It’s all set against the
background of a shabby, under-resourced hospital, the kind of place where a
cloakroom is repurposed as a clinic. There are occasional forays into
Lorraine’s even shabbier rented house, an attic where the band rehearse, a
former nurses’ home, and several other locations, all well drawn with their own
unique atmospheres.
The plot moves along at a
cracking pace, but the really interesting part is the way each character
reacts, not only to the murders but also to the psychometric tests. Diaz’s
boss, the rather more old-school DCI Brunt, thinks they’re a load of rubbish.
Mike McClung, the reclusive hospital engineer, is scared of what they might
reveal about him. Doctor Strang thinks they’re beneath him. Raj the computer
expert is convinced the police will try to frame him. And then there’s chief
nurse Felicity Jardine, who seems to think long eyelashes and plenty of
cleavage are more important than any test.
Question after question
emerges. Will Diaz persuade Brunt to look beyond the obvious? Is Lorraine’s
band destined for the big time? What secret is Diaz harbouring? And who is the
mysterious Christie? All this and more is revealed by the end, though not without
plenty of the twists and turns that will make you wonder how anyone survived
hospital life. It’s a jolly good read which made me want to see more from
Martine Bailey. ------ Reviewer: Lynne Patrick
Martine Bailey entered cookery contest with no idea it would lead to
a life-changing obsession with French cuisine. As an amateur cook, Martine won
the Merchant Gourmet Recipe Challenge and was a former UK Dessert Champion,
cooking at Le Meurice in Paris. Inspired by eighteenth-century household books
of recipes, An Appetite for Violets invites readers to feast on the past as a
sharp-witted young cook is taken on a mysterious trip to Italy. In pursuit of
authenticity Martine studied with food historian Ivan Day and experienced
Georgian food and fashion at firsthand with an historic re-enactment society. Martine
lives in Cheshire, England and Auckland, New Zealand. She is married with one
son. The Almanack is her latest
book. Published in January 2019
http://www.martinebailey.com/
Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen,
and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but
never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher
for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now
burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half
of them crime fiction .
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