The Parkwood Murders

Parkwood is a network of rustic resorts across the U.K., featuring amenities such as a wave pool, a high-ropes course, and hiking trails for the whole family. It is a self-contained world with on-site restaurants, bars, and a grocery store, ensuring guests have little reason to leave during their stay. Unless, of course, there’s been a murder.

At the Dorset resort in South West England, a body is discovered one morning floating in the pool. Detective Nicola Bridge arrives promptly on the scene and quickly recognizes the Herculean task ahead: 

"Everyone staying here was not only a potential suspect, but a potential witness, whether they realized it or not. They would all have to be spoken to, in order to confirm where they had been, whether they had seen anything, or knew anyone who might have."

With hundreds of guests and dozens of staff to interview and over 200 acres of grounds to search, the amount of work is daunting. The sheer volume naturally surfaces a tangled web of motives as more people provide information, and things get even more complex once the victim’s identity is confirmed. When potential links emerge to a five-year-old missing-person and suspected murder case, the investigation becomes even thornier.

Readers first met DS Bridge in Chris Chibnall’s excellent debut, Death at the White Hart. Here, she is joined once more by her partner, DC Harry Ward, and their curmudgeonly behind-the-scenes researcher, Mel Hardiman. Although The Parkwood Murders is the second installment in the series, it functions smoothly as a standalone; none of the references spoil the events of White Hart for those starting here.

Death at the White Hart proved Chibnall's skill at constructing layered mysteries, and that craft remains evident here. As in the earlier book, multiple suspects harbor secrets—many of them engaged in illicit or suspicious activities on the night in question. Chibnall excels at showing that people frequently hide things that have nothing to do with homicide, leaving the reader with the tricky puzzle of separating the truly murderous from the merely culpable.

Once again, Chibnall has delivered a compelling police procedural. While I slightly preferred Death at the White Hart, The Parkwood Murders offers a satisfying puzzle filled with clever misdirection.