"The Shrouded Path" by Sarah Ward

An audio book

The Peak District. An old lady's death that first looks natural begins to look suspect. Both the lady's daughter Mina and the police investigate, linking it to deaths of the lady's closest schoolmates. An old school prank from the 1950s (a few chapters are from that time) is the root of the problem. A old photo of 5 schoolgirls is a clue. A schoolgirl (grand-daughter of one of the ladies), a pub landlady and a detective's mother could be suspects, each trying to cover up or take revenge. Maybe there's a sexual pervert in the area too?

There's quite a lot of social interaction between the police, most of whom want a better life. We learn little about Mina - being the daughter of an unmarried mother, her experiences could have been compared/contrasted with with those of other characters.

Because there are twin investigations, there's some repetition, which is compounded by there being several police characters who keep each other informed and summarise the case so far. Perhaps it's this ensemble nature of the novel which made it feel slow sometimes.

Other reviews

• Goodreads
• classicmystery.com (The narrative is split into two halves, one focussing on the police investigation ... The second half follows the fate of a character tied up personally in the investigation)