Lynda La Plante is generally regarded as someone unique in British publishing and television. She is acclaimed as the creator of DI Jane Tennison, the tough, under-siege copper of Prime Suspect. But the writer’s reach extends considerably beyond that character, as her new book, Silent Scream, reminds us in no uncertain terms. Her almost equally celebrated alternative protagonist Anna Travis is someone we met as a young detective, assigned to her first murder case in the compelling Above Suspicion – and it couldn't have been a more shocking -- or more horrific -- set of killings that Anna had to cope with. Verisimilitude was the order of the day there – and it’s remained one of Lynda La Plante’s strong suits – very much the case in the latest outing for Anna Travis, Silent Scream.
Film actress Amanda Delany – one of Britain’s bright particular stars -- is not about to deny herself the pleasure of a series of steamy sexual affair with a slew of attractive actors – but her erotic odyssey is cut short by her murder in her Belgravia Mews. D. I. Anna Travis is handed the case, but as she peels back layers of deception, she uncovers a variety of stygian secrets just below the surface of the glittering and indulgent lifestyle. The actress’s parent, for instance, seem surprisingly unaffected by the death of their daughter, and her various lovers are quick to disavow their relationships with her. Anna comes to believe that the shiny facade concealed a solitary, vulnerable woman. But as Anna hunts for Amanda’s murderer, she has some very pressing professional problems of her own to solve – including an unexpected nemesis.
As ever, La Plante's grasp of the edgy office politics of the police force is as acute as her mastery of the suspense narrative, and there is never a sense of slackening of pace when she moves from one area to another (the besetting sin of so many police procedurals). And there's no denying that Anna Travis remains one of the strongest protagonists in current genre fiction. --Barry Forshaw
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