This is the forth in a series set in Yorkshire, England and featuring Detective Chief Inspector Harry Grimm, 40. Harry has a fearsome countenance. His face was “crafted from wounds he’d sustained from an IED when he was in the Parachute Regiment, and then honed over the years into something just short of being hard and horrible enough to make a grown man shit himself.”

Twenty years ago, Harry found his mother dead and 10-year-old brother Ben devastated and unable to recover from it. Ben became dependent on drugs and was now in Bristol Prison. Harry has been looking for their abusive, murderous father ever since, and it is an obsession for him. It is also destroying him, in the words of his boss, Bristol Detective Superintendent Alice Firbank, who sends him to Yorkshire for “secondment.” She wants him to “do a bit of reevaluation, that kind of thing.”

Thus, Harry has now been working in “Herriot country,” for over three months. (The dales are familiar to many as the setting for the television series, “All Creatures Great and Small,” which was based on the books by the Yorkshire vet, James Herriot. It had been filmed around Wensleydale and over in nearby Swaledale, and this is where Harry now headed a team he has gotten to like very well indeed.)

Harry works with the surprisingly competent and affable PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) Jim Metcalfe, PCSO Liz Coates, Detective Sergeant Matt Dinsdale, and Detective Constable Jenny Blades.

In this installment, we meet the best-selling author, Charlie Baker, who is visiting the area to promote his newest crime thriller which is set in the dales. He is accompanied by his editor, Adam, his personal assistant Chris, his literary agent, Anna, and a few friends. They are all staying at a hunting lodge the group rented for the week.

Harry, meanwhile, is helping Matt celebrate his 20th anniversary with his wife Joan. Matt proposed to Joan in a cave, but Joan is in a wheelchair now and can’t go down into the caves anymore. Matt wants Harry to go with him and film Matt recreating his proposal. Harry is horrified at the idea of going into a cave, but he agrees to do it for Matt. The interlude provides the comic relief of the story.

The team has found, as their newest member, Police Constable Jadyn Okri, reflects:

“The DCI was a difficult man to read. He was gruff, abrupt, swore a fair bit, and generally cast himself around the place like a grump sergeant…. But there was something else to him as well, though no one really talked ab out it, a strange sort of warmth to the man, hidden deep, yes, and very well disguised by the scars on his face and the growl in his throat, but it was definitely there.”

Harry himself is a bit astounded that he seems to be softening and relaxing, even as the dales grow on him. He will always have a scary visage, which he uses to his advantage, but he is mellowing out so much he actually eats his cake with Wensleydale cheese like the locals do, something he never thought he would try. And his new team genuinely seems to care about him, as he cares about them.

The gooey interpersonal relationships of the team are offset by a grisly murder of course, involving the group that had come to the dales for Charlie Baker’s book launch. There are also developments regarding Harry’s father and brother.

Evaluation: This book differs from the previous ones in that it features a “locked room” mystery, and the author handles it well. It is also enjoyable getting to know Harry and his team and watching them at work. ( )