Detective Glyn Capaldi, the star of Ewart Hutton's debut novel, Good People, screwed up big time and got relegated to the boonies of rural Wales. Nothing much goes on there, except for an occasional sheep farmer accidentally killing a protected species of bird--until a minibus gets hijacked and vanishes into the Welsh hills. Six local men, all "good people," and one mysterious woman vanish. The next morning, five people come back, and the local cops are willing to accept their fairly plausible story about what happened.
But Capaldi, an outsider, is unwilling to believe these "good guys" are telling the truth. He's worried about the fate of the woman, and determined to get to the bottom of what happened that night. As he starts digging, Capaldi discovers some uncomfortable secrets about sexual tensions and criminal activity simmering beneath the surface in this seemingly quiet region. It also quickly becomes clear that Capaldi is making people uncomfortable--but the question is whether or not they will manage to shut Capaldi up before he can convince his bosses that a crime really did take place.
Hutton's graphic, gritty mystery demonstrates that even the most idyllic places can harbor astonishing secrets. His small-town characters are believable, yet shocking, and Capaldi is surprisingly likable, despite his foul-mouthed, anti-authoritarian ways. Fans of gritty British crime writers like Val McDermid or contrary detectives like Ian Rankin's John Rebus will love Good People. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm