Exit – Belinda Bauer

Exit exists to ease the passing of those with terminal illness who do not want to linger until it takes its natural course. Actually, it more speeds up than eases the passing, by making available a cylinder of nitrous oxide (undetectable after death) with a tube and breathing mask attached. These are already in place when the volunteer sitters, the Exiteers, arrive to provide company in the final moments and to clear away the suicidal evidence.

That it is all legal does not mean it can be done openly. There are the feelings of the relatives to protect, and the insurance pay-outs to preserve, so it is all done in the clients’ homes with no witnesses. Discretion is the watchword, and the Exiteers are careful to maintain anonymity even among themselves by the use of false names.

But when ‘John’ (real name Felix) is paired in an assignment in Bideford with young rookie ‘Amanda’, disaster strikes. First, an instinctive intervention by Amanda means they have overstepped the legal mark. That is manageable, thinks Felix, no harm done, except, second, it is the wrong person they have helped into oblivion. Third, it appears, someone has spotted them entering the premises and a police car is approaching, siren blaring.

Felix, law-abiding for all his seventy-five years, is prepared to accept responsibility, even if it means jail. But not just yet, he needs to make arrangements for his dog, make sure Amanda is not implicated, and warn his handler, so he does a runner. It takes time to put his affairs in order, during which it begins to dawn on him that some things don’t add up. He needs to investigate, then he can present the police with a full confession and clear explanation.

Meanwhile the police are now investigating an unexplained death and are on Felix’s track. Will they get to him before he gets to the truth?

It is a fine mixture of black humour and pathos – Felix’s motivation for becoming an Exiteer is his own grief at losing loved ones. Plotting and characterisation are convincing enough but expect more cosy crime than Devon noir.