The Rest Is Silence

By Keith McCarthy

In rural England, a young male body is washed up from a river: forensic examination reveals he has been abused and murdered.

The accidental discovery that a reclusive maths tutor who lives in the nearby village of Rendcomb is actually a convicted paedophile leads the police, led by a downtrodden Inspector Sauerwine, to take a close interest. When five decaying bodies are found down a well in his garden, the obvious conclusions are drawn and the man is arrested.

Helena Flemming is called in as his solicitor, but she is already busy on another case and asks Dr John Eisenmenger to stand in for her. Once in Rendcomb, Eisenmenger discovers there is a much wider problem, more grotesque than he could have imagined. It seems the small village is not so idyllic as it would appear on the surface and dark secrets reside where you would least expect them.

Helena, meanwhile, is also confronting some unexpected dangers of her own, as witnesses willing to testify for her violent client prove elusive. With an elderly cleaning lady, Mrs Christmas, as his guide, and a firm belief that the maths tutor is not a murderer, Eisenmenger begins to unpick the Rendcomb case, but doing so quickly becomes fraught with peril and his safety cannot be guaranteed…

The Rest is Silence is a gripping forensic thriller that balances intriguing characters with an unpredictable plot and medical precision.