Dark Saturday by Nicci French

Twelve years ago, a murder case hit the headlines and became a media sensation.  Eighteen year old Hannah Docherty was accused of murdering her mother, stepfather and little brother in a rage against the family.  The evidence was clear and there was never any doubt.  Since then, Hannah has been held in a secure psychiatric hospital but her name still strikes fear and repulsion in the public mind.

Now Dr. Frieda Klein has been approached and asked to meet with Hannah to give her read on Hannah's mental state.  Klein is reluctant but she is being asked as a favor she owes to a man high in the government who helped her and her police detective friend when she needed help so she feels she must agree.  She reads up on the case and goes to meet Hannah.

What she finds upsets her.  Hannah is unresponsive, a girl who is battered and bruised, obviously the recipient of inmate or staff abuse.  She is drugged and can or will make little sense.  Frieda is appalled and starts to think about the case in a different way.  What if Hannah wasn't guilty and has instead been buried alive to hide someone else's guilt?  What would that person do to keep their part in the crime hidden?  As Frieda begins to investigate and talk with those involved in the tragedy, her doubts continue to mount.  Can she solve the case that everyone thought was solved twelve years ago? 

This is the sixth in the Dr. Frieda Klein series.  Klein is an interesting protagonist.  She seems introverted which is a strange characteristic for a therapist to have.  She lets few people into her life but those she lets in she cares for intensely.  She is driven by a sense of injustice and her ability to sort through the tangled threads of a messy situation to discover the truth is a fascinating procedure to watch.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.