Rennie Airth

Tormented by his harrowing wartime experiences and the loss of his family, Inspector John Madden is sent by Scotland Yard to investigate when a small Surrey village is torn apart by five horrific murders and joins forces with a beautiful doctor to capture the killer, a demented veteran of World War I. A first novel. Reprint.

River of Darkness

"It's the tactics and the terrain, the morale and the characters that make the difference between an average thriller and one as good as this."—The New York Times Book Review Upon its original publication, River of Darkness awed readers who look for intelligent, well-plotted psychological mysteries. This “fine, frightening piece of work” (Kirkus Reviews) introduces inspector John Madden who, in the years following World War I, is sent to a small village to investigate a particularly gruesome attack. The local police dismiss the slaughter as a botched robbery, but Madden detects the signs of a madman at work. With the help of Dr. Helen Blackwell, who introduces him to the latest developments in criminal psychology, Madden sets out to identify and capture the killer, even as the murderer sets his sights on his next innocent victims.

The First John Madden Mystery

Kirsten Simkiss

I got suckered into the series by the cover art, but unfortunately the inside failed to impress me as much. The plot was predictable, which has it's pros and cons as it's always enjoyable to figure things out alongside the main character. However, this was a little too predictable for me. It was more like reading a movie plot that's been novelized. You can see the ending twists coming from near the start of the book. As far as historical accuracy goes, the author seems to know his stuff. I'm no real history buff, mind you, but nothing jumped out at me as being anachronistic or odd.

John Madden as a main character wasn't really someone I could relate to. He seemed to be the kind of main character where you can picture him visually, which is great, but he doesn't seem to have much of a personality to get attached to. He's devoted to his work and he falls in love with a woman over the course of the book, but I just couldn't fall in love with him. That's not to say that he's a bad character. Not at all. I just wished there were more substance to him. I had a much easier time getting attached to his sidekick, Billy Styles, who features as the main perspective in several chapters.

I enjoyed the side characters well enough. Most were easily distinguishable, though I sometimes found myself forgetting who was who when it came to the officers in the police force.

All in all, this is really a murder mystery meant for a war buff. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but I'm sure history buffs would really sink their teeth into it.

Francine Corry

In Rennie Airth's River of Darkness it is 1921 and a terrible discovery has been made at a manor house in Surrey – the bloodied bodies of Colonel Fletcher, his wife and two of their staff. The victims have all been stabbed and the lack of disturbance in the house suggests that the attack was one of terrifying speed. The Surrey police force seem ready to put the murders down to robbery with violence, but Detective Inspector Madden from Scotland Yard sees things slightly differently. For he has experienced the horrors of World War I and has seen madness at first hand. And he is certain this crime has been perpetrated by a psychopath who will strike again . . . and soon. Enjoy more of this historical crime series with The Blood Dimmed Tide and The Dead of Winter.