Sara-Jayne Townsend is a published crime and horror writer and likes books in which someone dies horribly. She is founder and Chair Person of the T Party Writers’ Group. http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com/
Paige Northwood grew up the only hearing person in a deaf family. Now working as a freelance translator for British Sign Language, she is occasionally hired by the police as a translator when they have to interview a hearing-impaired person. But this latest case rocks Paige’s world. She is summoned to the home of a deaf family, where there has been a murder: the victim is an 18-month-old child who Paige recognises as her sister’s god-daughter Lexi.
This is the debut novel from a writer who, like Paige, is a hearing person within the deaf community. One of the things I learned from this novel is the difference between being deaf and being Deaf – the former being someone who is hearing impaired, the latter someone who is part of the deaf community, whether they are hearing or not.
Because the deaf community is small and tight-knit, Paige knows all of the suspects in the case, and several times she deliberately fails to mention to the police her relationship with the family in question, because she knows she should be taken off the case but she wants to find out what happened to Lexi. After all, who could possibly have a reason for wanting to kill an 18-month-old child? In real life I think perhaps Paige would not be allowed anywhere near this case because of her connection to all the suspects, but this is an amateur sleuth novel and a bit of creative licence for the sake of plot is allowed.
The premise is intriguing, and the insight into the deaf community is enlightening for those of us who don’t know much about it. Paige’s conversations with hearing people are written in quotation marks, and her conversations with the deaf characters are written in italics, to indicate sign language.
It is a competently written debut novel that will have you turning the pages to find out what happens, although the subject matter – the violent death of a child – may be upsetting to some readers. Fans of female amateur sleuths will like this one, and the insight into the deaf community gives it a unique slant.
