“Nicci French” is the British husband and wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Since 1997 they have written at least 24 crime novels together, plus several other books individually. House of Correction is a long book – over 500 pages and over 11 hours in audiobook. The title is a little silly, but plays on the idea that the main character, Tabitha, has to clear her name, because everyone else thinks she has murdered her neighbor. She can hardly remember any details of the day of the murder, but she is sure she didn’t do it. The story is about her examining the evidence to solve the crime. The distinctive feature is that she does it all from prison. 

Tabitha is in her twenties. She moved back to the house she grew up in after her mother died. It is in a small village, Okeham, which is by the sea. The murder happened only a few months after she had moved back. She had not made any real friends in the village and no one much liked her. She was also eccentric, going for a daily swim in the freezing sea every day. She had no real friends from her earlier life. She has a history of depression and even hospitalization. She is smart but her personality is spiky and often confrontational. Some people describe her as her own worst enemy. 

In the course of the novel, Tabitha gets into arguments with solicitors, judges, her cellmates, other prisoners, an old boyfriend, and some of the people who visit her in prison. But she also manages to win some people on her side. She is certainly feisty and determined. A good portion of the book occurs in the courtroom, and those scenes are some of the most dramatic. The performance of the audiobook by Michelle Ford makes Tabitha a sympathetic character despite her angst and anger. 

While there isn’t much regional detail describing life in small town Britain, the story does give some impression of prison life and the legal process. The writing is gripping, with lots of conversation, and plenty of plot twists. 

Christian Perring is editor of Metapsychology Online

Categories: Fiction, AudioBooks

Keywords: fiction, mystery