The Corfe Castle Murders was my first book by Rachel McLean. I was drawn to it because I recently spent a couple of days at Corfe Castle and I found it hard to imagine anyone getting murdered there. When I realised that the first murder victim was an archaeologist, I decided to use it for the new Dem Bones square in Halloween Bingo.

It turned out to be an excellent choice. The Corfe Castle Murders is a straight police procedural, with a cute, quiet setting and a focus on how an abrasive, foul-mouthed, recently injured, big-city cop, on temporary assignment to sleepy Dorset while she gets over her recent trauma gets on with her new rural police team.

It’s not fancy. It’s not bloodthirsty. It does nothing new with form. It neither asks nor answers pressing existential questions. It just solves a murder through good police work and builds a…