The Politician by Tim Sullivan

First published in Great Britain in 2022; published by Grove Atlantic on March 3, 2026

The Politician is the fourth novel to chronicle the work of Detective Sargeant George Cross. They are being newly released to the American market, having originally been published in Great Britain. I send my gratitude to Atlantic Crime for introducing Cross to American readers.

Peggy Frampton was an “agony aunt.” I was unfamiliar with the phrase before reading The Politician, but it seems to be the social media version of an advice columnist. Peggy had an online following of five million. Before Peggy started dispensing advice on the internet, she was the mayor of Bristol.

Peggy’s body is found in her home. While it initially appears that she died from a blow to the head, an autopsy suggests a different cause. A search of her locked safe reveals that jewelry is missing. DCI Ben Carson, the lazy detective Cross disdains, immediately concludes that Peggy interrupted a robbery, but Cross is never content with the easy answer.

Peggy’s husband, Luke Frampton, is a relatively successful criminal barrister. He has never been elevated to the status of Queen’s Counsel, supposedly because he views the title as elitist. Cross suspects he has some other reason not to improve his professional status.

Peggy was a friend of the Chief, so he assembles a large team to find her killer. Fortunately for Cross, he assigns Chief Superintendent Heather Matthews as the senior investigator. He assures the other officers that his choice is in no way a reflection on Carson. “Which of course made everyone in the room immediately think it was exactly that.”

Internet trolls made nasty comments on Peggy’s site, so staffer and series regular Alice Mackenzie is assigned to review them. The police would like to get some help from Peggy’s long-time assistant, Janette Coombes, but she is “travelling through the Golden Triangle in South-East Asia” and only talks to her husband Mark about once a month (her choice, Mark reports with some sadness).

One suspect is Michael Ribble, who asked Peggy for advice about proposing to his girlfriend and blamed her when she rejected him. Luke is a suspect because he regularly cheated on Peggy and husbands are always suspects. He has been dating Agnesha Dragusha, a much younger woman whose father, Luke’s former client, is the head of an Albanian crime family who manages the family business from prison.

A different branch of the investigation involves Peggy’s social activism. She had opposed a housing plan because the developer would not satisfy her demand for affordable housing. The developer, Adam Chapel, seems like a decent man, but his pursuit of money over morality cost him his friendship with his founding partner. His new second-in-command, Clive Bland, strikes Cross as a sketchier businessman.

As always, Tim Sullivan tells a story that is rich with detail. I appreciate the way Sullivan shares clues with the reader as Cross discovers them, giving a clever reader an opportunity to solve the mystery before the truth is revealed. I managed to guess (rather than deduce) part of the reveal, but some clues slipped past me. It is fun to watch Cross weave them all together as he interrogates the suspect and provokes an inevitable confession. As always, Cross chases down every clue and refuses to make assumptions. Unless every puzzle piece fits perfectly, he isn’t satisfied.

As Cross and Ottey travel around the English countryside interviewing suspects, atmospheric descriptions of buildings and gardens give this (and the other Cross novels) a strong sense of place. Character development continues, with a focus on Cross’ relationship with his father. Cross finally learns the truth behind his mother’s decision to abandon him in his childhood (or so it seemed to him), a decision he always attributed to her inability to cope with his autistic behavior. I’m a little slow, but the explanation finally dawned on me after Sullivan offered a clue about three-quarters of the way into the novel. Savvier readers might clock the truth more quickly. The explanation for his mother’s mysterious disappearance makes perfect sense.

Mystery fans will do themselves a favor by treating the George Cross novels as essential reading. The Politician is my favorite of the series so far, not because the mystery is clever — they’re always clever — but because of the touching way Cross’ character evolves as he processes new information about his parents’ relationship.

RECOMMENDED