Under a Silent Moon

Finished May 24
Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes

This is the first book in a series featuring DCI Louisa Smith. The author is police intelligence analyst and she brings that viewpoint to the book, using various pieces of documentation to show the casework that is happening here, which brought a really interesting and novel aspect to the book.
The case here is Louisa's first as the commanding officer, and she is determined to do it right. She is disappointed in the DI assigned to her team, a man that she has a past with and who doesn't always act in the most professional manner. One of the key players on her team is Jason, the analyst who is the one that puts together the various bits and pieces of information to show patterns and timelines. He is Canadian which was of natural interest to me, but his nationality isn't a big part of the story. Louisa's team is made up of a number of interesting people, and we get only glimpses of most of them. I look forward to more books in the series showing them in more depth.
The case here is of a young woman found murdered in her home. She was working on a horse farm and lived in a cottage on the grounds. Her employer discovered her body and called the police. There are a lot of things going on around this young woman, who led a very open sexual life, with multiple partners and a good deal of experimentation. Many of her past and present lovers are looked at here, including the artist daughter of her employer. One of her employers is also involved in organized crime and has been the subject of many an investigation but never convicted. He is an obvious suspect as well, but the team is also keeping an eye out for evidence to do with his broader activities.
Another woman died the same night as the murder, seemingly in an act of suicide, with her car found upside down in a quarry nearby. She lived with her husband just across the road from the farm, and early in the case the team is able to make a connection to the young woman.
I really enjoyed seeing this case unfold, the mistakes that were made, the way that Louisa wasn't jumping at the obvious but trusting her instincts that more was happening here. A good read.