I am a huge fan of Anna Willett’s stories, which are always well-written, with deeply grounded and realistic characters as well as intricate plots. This novella (125 pages) is no exception. It’s a Veronika Pope mystery, and Veronika is one of my favorite characters. Her own past trauma and personal angst creates both an empathy for victims and an insight into how people react to personal tragedy and injury. All those traits are on display in Needles and Pins.

The story is a haunting tale of how a family is torn apart by unspeakable acts of abuse (that are not spoken about in offensively graphic terms, allowing the reader to embellish with their own acceptable level of horror). It is also an illustration about how long-kept secrets can circle back on those whose acts may have been induced by righteous circumstances, but which nevertheless can inflict collateral damage years later.

The only blemish in what is a gripping narrative that I stayed up late to finish is that there is not much mystery. Veronika and her recent boyfriend, Allen – who is a Detective Inspector in another Australian state – are caught up in a very cold case that heats up quickly when a body buried ten years ago turns up on a muddy hillside. The victim was a 73-year-old finance and real estate tycoon, who left behind a wife twenty years younger one year after the suicide of the wife’s teenage daughter from an earlier marriage. As Veronika digs into the case, she and Allen pick up on a few bits of information that were not previously known or considered important. Each small bit builds a pretty clear picture of what really happened on the yacht named “Needles and Pins” (hence the book’s title). Halfway through the novella, the clues are unmistakable. This doesn’t negate the enjoyment of reading the remainder of the story, as Ms. Willett spins out the tale expertly. There are a few small loose ends, but nothing that detracts from the tragic nature of a story where none of the involved individuals survive the impact of those long-ago events unscathed.

Veronika has to go back to Perth in the end, but there is a strong hint that she and Allen will be getting back together in a future story, which I will certainly enjoy.