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Allen & Unwin, this Edition first published February
2007
Reviewed by Sally Roddom
Madeline (Maddie) Dare is a journalist for a local New York State paper,
who becomes involved in an unsolved murder that occurred in the area ten
years previously. Two girls were found in a cornfield with their throats
cut, each wearing a crown made of roses. There was a State Fair being held
at the time, and the girls were seen with soldiers during the evening, but
no identification of the soldiers had ever been made. Maddie's
father-in-law mentions the old crime at a family lunch one day, and the
fact that he found a set of dog-tags in the field. When Maddie is shown
the tags she is shocked to see they are in the name of her favourite
cousin, the wealthy and devastatingly handsome Lapthorne Townsend. She
sets out to prove that this all round nice guy, whom she once lusted
after, can't possibly be a murderer.
Maddie is an ex-debutant and is originally from Long Island. Descended
from WASP "old money", she jokes that her money is so old that there is
none left. Her father is now smoking pot in California and her mother
lives on pork and beans with her new husband. Maddie is married to a
railway worker, Dean. While he is off working on the railway line and
trying to invent a machine that will make a lot of linesmen redundant,
Maddie works on the local newspaper. Maddie hates living in Syracuse; it
is a constant reminder of her drop in lifestyle. She spends half the time
hating her 'trailer-trash' neighbours and the rest of the time feeling
guilty for thinking that way.
You do not need to be a rocket scientist to enjoy this book. To me it is
chick lit disguised as a Whodunit, but is being widely promoted as crime
fiction. A FIELD OF DARKNESS is a 2007 Edgar Award nominee for best debut
crime novel. Maddie is a smart, loyal and wisecracking character. I'm not
sure there is any depth to her, but there is room for growth. Some of the
other characters seem to be less flesh and blood people and more
caricatures - so much so, that I often felt that the author was using the
book to make her social statements. I do not think it is an award winning
read; in fact it is average at best. I loved the map at the front of the
book – as I do not come from the USA, it was nice to see where New York
State is compared to New York City. I do like maps and character lists at
the front of books - so few authors do it. The biggest annoyance for me in
the book was the foul language. It really put me off; I felt that it was
in there for shock value rather than being integral to the plot. You may
like A FIELD OF DARKNESS, many people do, I am just not one of them.
March 2007 review originally published on Murder & Mayhem
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