Tom Bradby: The sleep of the dead

By JOHN CONNOR*

Half-way through The Sleep of the Dead the main character, Julia Havilland, warns herself against the corrosive effect of suspicion. If we begin to suspect that seemingly decent and honest people might be liars and cheats, paedophiles and murderers, we are well on the way to the lonely hell of paranoia.

Yet a good whodunit, and The Sleep of the Dead is very good indeed, thrives on suspicion. By the time Julia Havilland warns against it the reader will suspect everyone, including Julia herself. After all, she discovered the body. She was only a child at the time, though. Surely a child is incapable of committing a brutal murder. Besides, how can we believe a child would be involved in the disappearance and probable murder of the victim's 6-year-old daughter?

Well, maybe Julia is innocent, even though her behaviour has been inexplicable recently, but what about her father, Mitchell Havilland? Surely not. He was a man of the highest integrity and a decorated war hero, killed in the Falklands not long after the murders. He did seem to spend a lot of time with the voluptuous femme fatale victim, Sarah Ford, and her daughter.

Sarah's diary has numerous mentions of a steamy affair with M. That could be Michael Haydoch, though. Arrogant, smooth-talking, involved in shady security operations, he is a much more likely suspect for adultery and murder. Yes, but likely suspects are never the ones whodunit.

All right, there is always the husband, Alan. What? He is so kind, decent, generous, easy-going and, after 15 years, he still grieves for the loss of his wife and daughter. How could we be so cynical as to suspect him?

In real life perhaps such suspicion does lead to a paranoid hell but in fiction it makes for intriguing and wonderful entertainment. In the end, unlike real life, we know that no matter how complicated things are all will be explained and the murderer exposed.

Since 1841, when Edgar Allan Poe invented the genre with The Murders in the Rue Morgue, few people, if any, have been able to resist the fascination and enjoyment of good murder-mysteries. There is something satisfying, cathartic, about them. The Sleep of the Dead is a particularly good example and Tom Bradby handles the classic formula with great skill.

Bradby keeps us guessing all the way, laying false trails, turning the screw, increasing the excitement until the end.

Bantam

$34.95

* John Connor is an Auckland writer.