Changelings (Castlemere Mysteries)

I discovered the mystery writer, Jo Bannister, just recently and am in the process of working my way through the series. The Changelings was written in 2000 and is quite a nice addition to the series. The only criticism I have is that the sub plot involving Sergeant Cal Donovan seems somewhat contrived and a little hard to believe. My sense is that the main story could not be fleshed out enough to make a decent sized novel. The meat of the book is concerned with the threat of a blackmailer who is threatening to poison an unspecified product unless the town of Castlemere pays a ransom of one million dollars. His opening moves are caustic soda in baby powder and cholera in cough medicine. Neither do any fatal harm but the threat appears to be that if the ransom is not paid, the moves will become deadly. Interesting but as I said above, the story on its own would probably be more suitable as a novella. Still an interesting read. Bannister is an excellent writer who breathes life into her characters and the town of Castlemere. All in all, as another reviewer stated, this is a superior series. I would concur with that assessment.

In this 7th outing, the town of Castlemere is being attacked, but no one knows why. Threats are being made that the perp will do great harm to the populace and Liz Grahame, the DI, must find out who it is before he/she makes good on the threats. In the meantime, Donovan is off recuperating from wounds suffered in the previous outing.This is one of the best British procedurals around. It is best to start with the first entry so you can see the characters develop over the years. Bannister is an excellent writer, the plots are complex without being obtuse, and Bannister has the reader present as each new piece of evidence is put into mix.If the series has a flaw, it is the subplots featuring Donovan that the author has begun putting into each book. While the circumstances change, the result is the same - Donovan is the unwitting hero.

The timing of the first incident in the American supermarket in Castlemere, England could not have been better planned. Since Detective Sergeant Cal Donovan is on leave recovering from a bullet wound and a nasty cold, he takes his narrowboat Tara and goes off on one of his watery holidays. Superintendent Frank Shapiro also recovering from a bullet has just returned to the desk, but is not cleared for any other duty. That leaves Detective Inspector Liz Graham as the sole field operator of the successful trio.The supermarket occurrence involved the threat of poisoning yoghurt. The tampering of the high school showers follows the food incident. Though seemingly harmless pranks, the Castlemere police take it very seriously especially when a woman's hands are burned by baby powder. The supermarket head office sends Mitchell Tyler to help the police stop a devious criminal. The brass calls Donovan back to duty to assist with a town on the verge of uncontrollable panic and hysteria, but the law enforcement official apparently is dead.CHANGELINGS is the seventh delightful appearance of the Castlemere trio. This book is an exciting police procedural that focuses on the conflict between "punish the guilty" vs. "protect the innocent." The story line provides a great understanding of the prime players so that series fans learn more about their heroes while new readers gain insight into the various character traits of the threesome. The plot succeeds because the maniacal thug feels genuine and his actions plausible (think the Tokyo subway a few years ago). Jo Bannister continues to expertly write tales that are some of the sub-genre's best novels.Harriet Klausner