QUEEN OF CRIME’S GOT FIRE IN THE BLOOD

IT is more than a decade since Dr Tony Hill and dogged detective Carol Jordan brought a psychopathic slayer to book in ITV’s gripping Wire In The Blood.

Robson Green played the brilliant clinical psychologist alongside Hermione Norris as the tenacious murder squad cop, the duo forming one of TV’s most redoubtable crime-fighting double acts.

Production chiefs may have closed the files on their on-screen exploits after six series in 2008 but McDermid has continued to narrate the duo’s crusade for justice, while they forge a close but star-crossed relationship, in a series of acclaimed bestsellers.

In the 11th novel, the doctor is behind bars serving a lengthy sentence for a killing; the shamed detective is put out to pasture, living a hermit’s existence with her dog.

Newcomers may feel out of their depth and I neededWikipedia to

DOUBLE ACT: Green and Norris bring me up to date. But I was quickly absorbed in a compelling murder mystery and an authentic police procedural.

While Jordan and Hill ruminate over past glories, former colleagues in the Regional Major Incident Team (ReMIT) are up to the armpits of their scenes-ofcrime suits in skeletons and rotting body parts at a former convent.The vast majority are the remains of schoolgirls who lived under the harsh regime of sadistic nuns. Many show signs of horrendous injuries yet there is no paperwork to explain the deaths or to permit burial.

Nearby, eight young men are decomposing. Plastic bags taped over their heads suggest foul play.

With the race on to find out whether the body disposals are linked and the work of a maniacal serial killer, Hill incurs the wrath of fellow prisoners at HMP Doniston and Jordan ponders a new career helping campaigners right the wrongs of injustice.Will those bodies speak up for the innocent? Discover the answers as McDermid shows why she still reigns supreme as the Queen of Crime.