Review: 'The In Crowd' by Charlotte Vassell
Pub. Date: 04/04/2024
Publisher: Faber and Faber
SOME PEOPLE ARE IN
On the last Saturday in August, politicos and socialites trade tidbits of gossip and sips of Pimm’s under the tasteful bunting of a Richmond garden party. They’d never guess that the police are just a stone’s throw away, pulling a body out of the river Thames.
SOME PEOPLE WISH THEY WERE
The drowning appears to be a tragic accident – until Detective Caius Beauchamp gets an unexpected tip. The victim, it seems, had enemies in high places. Did being on the wrong side of them get her killed?
EITHER WAY, BEING OUT IS ABSOLUTE MURDER
Class differences are utter nonsense and yet they have an insane impact on the lives of many. I wasn't fully aware of this until we moved to the UK when I was a teenager, where class is a lot more obvious still. It is noticeable in everything: the way you dress, the way you talk, the way you spend money, the places where you spend money, etc. Class impacts the opportunities you have from birth and I think it is something more thrillers that engage with the high society of especially the UK should work with. So I really liked that The In Crowd did that. It could have been taken further and been sharper, absolutely, but I appreciated that the novel wasn't blind to it.
While Harriet is celebrating her recent engagement and making her best friend Callie's life miserable, the body of a woman is drug up from a river. Was it a suicide, as it appears, or is there more? This shouldn't really be Caius Beauchamp's problem, but he is dragged into the marble halls of government by a mysterious man who wants him to take a closer look. See, the woman, Lynne, was involved in a fraudulent scam decades back. In exchange for digging up the details on the scam, Caius and his team are also given the space to dig into another decades-old cold case, the disappearance of a young school girl from a fancy boarding school. As clues emerge and the connections become ever more complicated, Caius also finds himself falling in love with Callie, who may or may not be connected. What follows are twists and turns, intrigue and shock, and more. I absolutely adored Caius as a main character, who manages to be a smart and insightful detective, and also a kind and gentle man who overthinks his sock choices. There is no tortured and cruel genius here, akin to a Sherlock. His relationship to his colleagues
I somehow had not realised that this is the second in a series. About a third into the book I wondered what these references to a previous case meant, but nothing about the writing made me feel like I had missed something. And this is how it should be for these kind of thriller series. I think you should be able to step in at any point and still get a good introduction to the relevant main characters and setting. I really felt like I got to know Caius and the others without missing a beat. Also, there was something delightfully funny and wholesome about this book? I don't know how to explain this for a thriller that features some rather horrid crimes and addresses themes of racism and discrimination. It is not a cozy thriller, but there is an ease to how Vassell writes her characters that is delightful. The dialogues are funny, the internal monologues had me laughing, and the way characters chose to actually engage with one another, it was all excellent. What I'm meaning to say is that I will definitely read the first in the series and wait excitedly for the third to come out!
I give this novel...
4 Universes!
I very much enjoyed The In Crowd for its combination of thrilling suspense and comedic character-building. The DI Caius Beauchamp series will definitely be one I'll keep an eye on!
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