A riveting read, Turn A Blind Eye introduces readers to a new detective – DI Maya Rahman – and sets up what promises to be an enduring police procedural series.

When the headmistress of an East End school is found brutally murdered, DI Rahman cuts short her compassionate leave to lead the investigation. With emotions running high amongst the shocked tight-knit community, Maya must unravel the cryptic message left behind by the killer – and time is running out.

When the killer strikes again, Maya and her colleagues become desperate to uncover the secrets and lies that pervade the school’s culture and threaten its closure. For Maya, it’s personal, not simply professional motivation that drives her.

Once I started Turn A Blind Eye, I honestly couldn’t put it down, finishing it at 2am in the morning. Newham has a wonderful way of bringing the East End of London to life, and her writing encompasses a cultural awareness that could have only been brought about by someone who lived and worked in the area.

The supporting cast are given ample room to move, too and it is a testament to Newham’s writing that we see the effects of Maya’s investigation on her colleagues and one of the teachers in a way that drives the narrative forward at a breakneck speed.

I for one cannot wait to find out what’s in store for DI Maya Rahman in book 2.
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Unusually for me, I found the chapters which went back in time to Maya's childhood very interesting, and they didn't slow down the main narrative. In the present day story, Maya is investigating the murder of a headmistress in her office on the first day of school. Despite the fact the Maya is the DI and Dan her Sergeant newly arrived from Australia, it seemed that Dan did all the work and made all the decisions and Maya fended off their incompetent boss and followed Dan around.

Dan was an odd character, seemingly instinctively able to navigate his way around a new culture and work environment, while missing the family he appeared to have intentionally left behind in Australia. The multiculturalism of Mile End was well depicted, although there were places where characters lectured each other on aspects of this, presumably so the reader was clear on the author's stance on issues. The chapters from Steve's perspective initially focussed on his love life, although references to this tailed off. I did appreciate his desire to help the police though - often in crime novels all the characters go out of their way to be obstructive, which seems to me unrealistic. I also appreciated the fact he was a decent teacher.

The motive of the murderer was not entirely straightforward to me, but the conclusion was reasonably satisfactory. ( )