The Blindness of Sergeant Cluff

“The Maigret of the Dales” ‘Gil North’s atmospheric writing shows the influence of Simenon, and Gunnarshaw’s finest, Sergeant Caleb Cluff, is a memorable detective – the Maigret of the Dales’ Martin Edwards, CWA Diamond Dagger winner 2020 and author of Mortmain Hall. Detective-Sergeant Cluff is at home in the bleak, moorland market town of 1960s Gunnarshaw. A gruff and gloomy loner, he has spent a lifetime observing local folk – and knows their lives inside out. They know him, too – a bulky, macintoshed figure who watches from the shadows of Gunnarshaw’s ginnels as they go about their daily business, his dog Clive always at his side. But it’s not just criminals Cluff has to watch out for. Never satisfied with easy answers to cases, Cluff is a maverick and no flatterer to authority – much to the bemusement of Detective-Constable Barker, but much more so to the despair of the hapless Inspector Mole, who tries at every opportunity to outwit or contain Cluff’s singular methods of detection. But beneath Cluff’s dour exterior beats the heart of a truly compassionate man who possesses a deep understanding of human nature, in all its sordid and depraved details – details which frequently push Cluff to bend the rules in his pursuit of moral justice. The Blindness of Sergeant Cluff: Gunnarshaw is under siege. A peeping Tom prowls the streets and back yards, peering through windows, the police seemingly helpless to catch him. Then, a body is discovered in the garden of the local school’s head teacher, much to the dismay of his well-heeled neighbours. But Detective-Sergeant Cluff’s investigation drags him away from the rugged moorland market town of Gunnarshaw and his cosy cottage, to the run-down back streets of Liverpool, where ponces and prostitutes ply their trade. For once, however, Cluff’s judgement of Gunnarshaw folk, his once faultless perception of human nature, not to mention his compassion, are severely put to the test. And at what cost? Justice? What’s more, Inspector Mole is determined to trip him up. Is Cluff past his best?