How The Dead Speak by Val McDermid

As the novel opens, things have changed for Detective Carol Jordan and profiler Tony Hill.  They are not working together for the police.  Instead, Carol has left the force due to the way her last case ended in violence and Tony is in prison.  They are not in contact as Tony has told her he doesn't want to see her again until she takes steps to work on her issues.

But crime goes on.  A discovery of over forty bodies has been made at a former orphanage run by the Catholic Church, specifically by an order of nuns.  Are these young girls' bodies the result of abuse and murder or are they just deaths that were not registered?  While investigating the deaths, Carol's former team makes another discovery.  Eight more bodies, this time more recent and of young men, are found in the caretaker's garden.  There is not much question that these more recent bodies are murders.  Are the two sets of bodies related?  Has the same killer been working for years or are there two separate murderers?

Carol, in the meantime, continues reconstructing her life away from the police.  She has converted a barn into her new home, doing all the work herself.  As she casts about for her next task, she gets caught up in two investigations.  The first is one she doesn't want to do: helping Tony's mother locate the man who stole all her money.  The second may become her new job; investigating the case of a man who may have been wrongfully convicted.

Tony is also casting about for his next steps.  He is doing a radio program from within the prison for other inmates,  attempting to help them improve their lives through meditation.  He is also interested in starting literacy programs for those prisoners who cannot read.  Outside of that, he is working on writing a book he has promised his publisher for years.

This is a departure from the Hill/Jordan novels the reader is familiar with.  It is the eleventh novel in the series.  While the others follow one specific case and are full of police procedure and twisted criminals that Tony Hill's talents can uncover, this novel is more of an exploration of the relationship between the two protagonists and where their relationship may lead in the future.  It will be interesting to see where McDermid plans to take this series.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.