Long Miles Home: An Inspector Marshall Mystery

Since her father's death, Jenny Williams finds solace and a measure of freedom only in the Smith Foundation Library; a place which has an uncanny knack of providing what its visitors most need - maybe even the solution to the murder for Inspector Marshall. The winter solstice is an important day in folk lore, in Jenny's life and that of Fenwick. The only constant in a suddenly changed world is the library and here both police and suspects begin to congregate, following separate paths through a historical shadow of what the town used to be, a memory of the past. Marshall attempts to solve a crime in a situation that is far beyond anything he has ever imagined; doing his best to be a good policeman in a place where laws have no meaning. Music, myth and magic again interweave with the darkness of a crime novel to provide Marshall with a long night and journey home. Praise for Journeyman: Here's what I like most about British urban fantasy: It hasn't forsaken a sense of wonder - the feeling that mythological figures and magic inspires a mix of awe, dread, and delight - Melville's a terrific writer. The mythological / folkloric / ghostly bits were particularly wonderful and ... if you're as much of a lover of libraries as I am, you'll be delighted by The Smith Foundation in Fenwick. [Charles deLint, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, November, 2020]