HALIFAX

A forensic psychologist climbs out of the black hole of post-injury amnesia to unravel a complex crime.

A murky prologue depicts a woman named Jane feeling unaccountably sick and, after a car crash, falling into a coma for 20 days. Her recuperative journey to “reboot the brain” proceeds in slow, progressive steps over several chapters that gradually reveal the details of her identity to both readers and Jane herself, who turns out to be a forensic psychologist, the Halifax of the title. Because this is a sequel to Halifax: Transgression (2023), readers might fear that the crime to be solved occurred in the previous volume; luckily, that’s not the case. The novels are based on the long-running Australian television series Halifax f.p.; several of its feature-length episodes were written by Simpson, whose skill as a screenwriter is on display here in the sharp dialogue, concise exposition, and underlying humor. Jane awakens to a pair of apparent strangers who shepherd her through recovery. Jane eventually remembers them as her close friend Elizabeth and current boyfriend, Tim. When Peter, a character who briefly appears in the prologue, is reintroduced, Simpson’s mystery plot gains traction, centered around Robert Millard, a man accused of murdering his parents. Jane, who’d been working with Millard’s sister to prove his innocence, takes up the case again. Her combination of determination and vulnerability makes her a highly engaging sleuth. Jane’s detective work is interwoven with her rocky road to recovery, with her sometimes obliviously lashing out at colleagues. Peppered throughout are a series of taut and creepy verses that add another layer of suspense.

A brisk, offbeat crime yarn with a heroine worth rooting for.