I made fast work of this slow burner

Nobody likes a busybody. You know the ones, they ask you a question, you give your answer, then they tell you that you’re wrong. Why bother asking?

Or the ones who are pernickety about the smallest things.

A lot of the time, the world would be a better place if we could all let these minor annoyances go. Let them fly over our heads without having to draw attention to silly little niggles or arguments.

Then again, sometimes a visit from a busybody can open up a can of worms, or, in this case, a gripping investigation.

Cover Your Tracks is the third instalment in the DI Birch series by Claire Askew, and it kicks off with a bit of a nuisance in an Edinburgh police station.

Robertson Bennet has returned to Edinburgh since following his tech dreams and moving to the United States.

Things have gone a little pear-shaped on the money front. At first, he declares his mum and dad, now in their 80s, are missing. He’s been to the old family home and hasn’t been able to track his parents down on social media, but Helen Birch and her colleague Amy Kato aren’t convinced he’s got a case.

It spins again, of course, when Bennet declares he’s after his inheritance, but he’s sent on his way.

The next day, however, Bennet is back with a newspaper article from four years previously stating how his father attacked his mother, leaving her needing hospital treatment. Now it’s serious. Where are Robertson Bennet’s parents? And is his estranged mother in danger?

On top of this, Birch has to contend with her younger brother Charlie’s trouble in prison and an unexpected phone call throws her off balance. There’s a lot of truths to unravel here, and it’s going to take a lot of digging.

This is the first of Askew’s books I’ve read and I wasn’t disappointed.

Refreshingly, this story is relatively linear. You’re not pulled apart waiting for two stories to collide in Cover Your Tracks. You follow Birch and Kato as they investigate Bennet’s parents disappearance and it’s exciting to see it all play out on the page.

What I will say about this one is it’s a slow burner.

That’s not a criticism. It’s an observation and I enjoyed being able to jump along for the ride on the back of Birch’s hunch to dig up the truth.

There were a few surprises, one major that made my eyes ping open which I think you’ll enjoy too, but I really enjoyed the pacing of this read.

With the way the world has slowed down lately, Cover Your Tracks was a good read to work into my week. You couldn’t expect any less from a winner of the Bloody Scotland Debut of the Year award could you though?

If you’ve followed Askew’s previous two instalments, I’m sure you’ll be excited to follow her next steps, and if, like me, it’s your first rodeo, I don’t see much room for disappointment.

Stay with the story. Let it unfold in good time and never doubt a police officer with a hunch.