The Root of All Evil takes David Hidalgo somewhere he’s never been before. Instead of being the one looking for the bad guys, suddenly he’s the one on the run with police searches, wanted posters, tv ads and a port embargo. And to make matters worse he also has a family obligation to think about. Find your brother. Find Roberto! Can he cope or should he just give up? Or maybe he’s here for just such a time as this…
Think clerical sleuths and you think of Father Brown, or perhaps James Runcie’s Grantchester series. Intuitive and driven by justice, but genteel. Les Cowan’s David Hidalgo, an Edinburgh pastor, takes us into Rankin and MacBride territory when crime is hard-boiled and fair play won by a whisker. Cosmopolitan Scotland today, then, fast, busy, secular, and dangerous. A world captured earlier in Benefit of the Doubt, All That Glitters, Blood Brothers and Sins of the Fathers – an original series now at number five. Fast-moving plots and compelling characters ensure a plot moving on skates through plausible twists and tangles. Crime-solver, yes, but Hidalgo has insight and compassion too, helping him face up to chaos and evil by understanding its causes and consequences. No glib pieties here spoil the pace but subtly ask readers to look again at the strength that faith might have to offer.
Stuart Hannibus, Writer and Reviewer.
Les Cowan throws his man of faith back into a dark world where he needs to question, "Why me?" This latest David Hidalgo adventure takes the unassuming pastor and his wife into a world of crooked politicians and elderly churchgoers with surprising secrets and crooked cops. Could they have been chosen for such a time as this, and what does that mean for their future?
Another amazing, page-turning adventure, with a slice of wry humour running through its very core.
Rob Allwright, blogger and presenter of the One Man in the Middle radio show