Into the Fire

Mark Dawson's The House in the Woods is Book 1 in the Atticus Priest Series, a British novel. 

There's a grisly murder on Christmas Eve that takes Detective Chief Inspector Mackenzie (Mack) Jones away from her husband Andy and their two children while she's in the middle of prepping food for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. Cooking is not her best talent, but she wanted to do this for her family. As it turns out, she won't be able to finish what she's doing and is soon off to the ominous house in Grovely Woods.

Detective Sergeant Tristan Lennox, who called Mack, has the man (Ralph) who called in what he saw through the locked house window, sitting in his car. When Mack speaks with Ralph, she sees he's distraught after seeing his father appearing to be dead on the kitchen floor. He's afraid his brother, a college student at Bath, might be guilty because of his temper. 

What appeared to be one horrendous murder scene soon results in a reversal of charges and Ralph finds himself on trial for the multiple murders. Married to a beauty named "Allegra", she finds Atticus Priest to hire, hoping he can render new information to set her innocent husband free. 

Atticus Priest is a former police detective who worked closely with Mack, now a private investigator with few clients and a stack of unpaid bills when Allegra shows up to hire him. He has keen insights, is a genius at reading body language and overall observation, and is ready for the challenge of proving Ralph innocent but not thrilled at the prospect of proving Mack wrong. Able to explore with objectivity, he takes a look in unique directions which the police investigation failed to cover. The thing is . . . he doesn't always adhere to scrupulous means to get his information.

At first, it seems Atticus is a bit clichéd, the rather typical low-rent, messy dwelling P.I., but as the story develops, he's anything but a cliché. He's fascinating, still attracted to Mack, and loves his adopted dog Bandit. He takes medication to monitor a condition – but only Mack knows about it. He's an occasional dope smoker, and, although it's not the only reason for his being fired from the police department, it was the official reason for it. 

There's so much more to this story. It runs hot and cold as far as the action goes, but it's impossible not to be interested in what Atticus will do next, where he's willing to go to get the information he needs, of whom he's able to make astounding deductions, and why he can put obscure pieces of the puzzle together to get to the truth – plus how he's absolutely unwilling to let go of anything until he gets those pieces that lead to the answers. 

Ultimately getting the opportunity to give the final say in the matter of Ralph's dilemma, Mark Dawson leaves us with Atticus receiving another equally complex challenge from a competitor on one of his online chess games. 

Mark Dawson has created a truly unique and entertaining character in Atticus Priest, and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Some profanity present.

Father, I've said it a zillion times: only you know hearts, save souls, offer Truth and Love to all. Please bless Mark with continued stories as you've given him many talents. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.