- Firewatching, by Russ Thomas. Simon & Schuster. $29.99.
The Fire Watcher, a portrait by L.A. Lowry is actually in storage at the Sheffield Museum.
In British author Russ Thomas' debut novel, Firewatching, however it hangs on the wall of a fire-damaged house in the Peak District village of Castledene, where builders have discovered a body walled up in the cellar.
It turns out to be Gerald Cartwright, "a big shot in the nineties, financial whiz kid with his finger in lots of pies . . .disappeared six years ago prompting rumours about his possible involvement in organised crime.
"It was a bit of a scandal."
Eton-educated Cartwright was socially well connected. "He knew everyone and everyone certainly wanted to know him".
However, there were rumours about his infamous "bunga bunga" parties with prostitutes brought in from London.
DS Adam Tyler has been banished to the Cold Case Review Unit after an incident with a fellow officer.
Tyler, Oxford educated, is not popular, partly because of his success rate and partly because of his sexuality.
He's "too good . . . he shows them up and doesn't give a shit about doing it.
"They call him Homo-cop : part faggot, part machine."
Tyler claims the Cartwright case, as a cold case, is his, but he is seconded to work under DI Doggett, whose team includes perhaps Thomas' most successful character, PC Amina Rabbani, another outsider, being both female and Muslim.
Tyler quickly discovers that his role in the investigation is compromised, having met the main suspect, Oscar, Cartwright's son in a bar and spent the night with him.
His decision not to reveal the connection results in him taking unnecessary risks to solve the case, endangering lives in the process.
As shocking truths about Cartwright's past emerge, a fire-bug sets fires around the village and another body is found in the cellar.
There is much to admire in Thomas' debut novel. He has followed the current trend of the flawed detective in Tyler, a man driven by traumas in his past and the constant need to prove himself.
Thomas has said that while he always "saw Tyler as a gay character right from the start", he "wanted to write a story with a gay character where his sexuality is just one part of who he is and not necessarily the driving force of the plot".
Thomas has, in fact, assembled a memorable cast of characters, including two elderly women in the village who hide their own secrets as well as Cartwright"s.
Although the end tests disbelief to its limits, Firewatching, for the most part, is an intriguing and compelling read about obsession and revenge.
