PERFECT SINS reminds me of nothing more or less than a Nancy Drew mystery with adult themes. People who know me are aware that this is a huge compliment. Those early Hardy Boys and (to a lesser extent) Nancy Drew books have informed my reading tastes to this day, some 55 years down the road. So yes, I make the statement in my first sentence with love and respect.

Jo Bannister’s latest marks the return of British policewoman Hazel Best and her friend, semi-retired industrial security expert Gabriel Ash. Both are somewhat damaged goods. Ash is probably the worst of the two, though he bears his wounds of loss stoically. He was investigating ship hijackings in Somalia on behalf of the British government when his wife and sons were kidnapped by pirates. The three are presumed to be dead; Ash deteriorated and is slowly making his way back to normal living with the help of Best. For her part, Best was forced to kill a perpetrator in the line of duty and is having her own issues with that. Given the baggage both of them are carrying, it appears that a trip back to Ash’s childhood home, where her father still works as an estate gardener, would be just the berries.

"PERFECT SINS is not loaded with explosions, karate, fisticuffs or heaving bosoms. It’s primarily a character study with a good deal of description and steady, diligent police work resting on a solid foundation of storytelling and a mystery with some interesting twists and turns."

Two of Ash’s childhood friends are there as well: Peregrine Byrfield, now the lord of the manor, and the somewhat prickly David Sperrin, a self-proclaimed archaeologist who is employed by Byrfield in that capacity. Best and Ash arrive just as Sperrin is about to excavate a small mound on the Byrfield property. Sperrin is hopeful of finding artifacts dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. What he discovers, instead, is of a more recent and much more grisly vintage. Sperrin unearths the skeleton of what turns out to be a young boy of approximately 10 years of age who has been dead for about three decades. Worse, his death is found to have occurred as a result of foul play, that being a shotgun blast to the face.

Recriminations ensue, and family secrets, real and otherwise, are unearthed. Many of them have to do with the British system of bequeathing and devising of property, a subject that becomes particularly of interest when it is discovered that the unfortunate victim had Down’s syndrome. Divisions that have laid dormant for years suddenly rear their heads, and accusations go flying.

It takes a local police inspector and (primarily) Best’s keen insight and intuition to ultimately figure out what occurred and the tragedy behind it all. Of course, a bit of forensic science applied to the victim’s DNA doesn’t hurt, either. The major revelation, though, belongs to Best’s problems, which more or less bookend  the narrative of PERFECT SINS. If you read all the way to the end (and no peeking, as Bannister spent nearly a year of her life writing this book and its surprise ending. So, seriously, no spoiling it), you will want to read the next Ash and Best mystery. I guarantee it.

PERFECT SINS is not loaded with explosions, karate, fisticuffs or heaving bosoms. It’s primarily a character study with a good deal of description and steady, diligent police work resting on a solid foundation of storytelling and a mystery with some interesting twists and turns. It’s just the thing to read in front of the fireplace (lit or otherwise) in the waning days of the old year. Do so, and you won’t be sorry.