Review: THE DEEPER THE DEAD

THE DEEPER THE DEAD by Catherine Lea (Bateman Books, 2025)

Reviewed by Karen Chisholm

On the morning of her granddaughter’s first day of school, DI Nyree Bradshaw receives a chilling call: there’s been a double homicide on a private island in the Far North. One victim is the woman who inherited the island over her two brothers. The other victim is unknown.

As Nyree and her team begin their investigation into the murky labyrinth of greed, betrayal and bitter disputes that surround the ownership of the island, they make a shocking discovery: a search of the vicinity unearths the remains of a child who vanished twenty years before.

Old resentments and long-held secrets boil to the surface of the close-knit town, leaving Nyree to ask: Is the child’s killer on the loose again?.

THE DEEPER THE DEAD is the third book in the New Zealand based police procedural series feature DI Nyree Bradshaw at the centre of a personal and professional storm. This is definitely one of those sets of books that would be worth reading in order, Bradshaw has a backstory which will allow readers to see the full picture behind the storm that is going on in her personal life, although you can definitely see the impact.

In the last book in the series Bradshaw found herself sort of guilted / sort of keen to accept custody of her very young granddaughter, whose mother had recently died. Her father, Bradshaw's son, is in jail but even before that she had a fractured relationship with him, and would be the first to admit that motherhood wasn't her thing, but police work, and solving crimes most definitely is. So taking on a young girl's care and welfare right now is quite the thing, especially as she's still flat out with cases, and the social workers are hovering. Not a great combination for Bradshaw's often tetchy temperament, especially as the current case is a double homicide on a private island in the Far North. An island that can only be reached by boat, which is wet going. And the weather's generally wet, and somebody's taking liberties with her crime scenes, and paying very fast and loose with the truth.

Victim number one of this double homicide is the young woman who owns this island, courtesy of the contentious will of her recently deceased father. Ownership which annoys the hell out of her two brothers, and continues to be a cause of considerable grief for the local Māori people, who hold the island sacred not least of all because of the ancient burial grounds. Burial grounds which reveal a much more recent body - that of a young child who vanished twenty years earlier. The second victim, also brutally shot and left where he fell, is initially an unknown, slightly mysterious young man who doesn't seem to have had a reason to be there, or much by way of connection to the island or the family at the heart of all this.

How Bradshaw handles this messy, complicated case, which has lots of aspects of a locked room about it, and then not, as movements to and from the island start to look very complicated, and way too suspicious for her liking, is a bit of a masterclass in juggling. Juggling all the leads and non-leads, juggling the information that is and is not forthcoming, juggling her granddaughter's needs and, it has to be said, demands as they both adjust to this new life. And juggling the expectations of everybody who has an opinion about her, her life, her family and the job.

She's a prime example of a woman who is forced into biting off more than she can chew and then chewing like hell. I really like the way this character is always vaguely chaotic but in control, just. Always aware of the things that are a bit off, a bit wrong, and more than a bit on the nose. Be it old or recent murders, crime scenes that turn to ash, locked rooms that aren't, past and present tensions, and people sending strange signals.

What she does from here - on the personal side is anybody's guess, as at one point I did think there was a glimmer of something on the horizon in terms of family and support, but then it moved away again. It will be interesting to see if Bradshaw decides to take to family problems as firmly, decisively and sheer doggedly as she does the professional ones.

Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a regular judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders adn Australians on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.