Matthew Hall is a British screenwriter and novelist, often credited as M.R. Hall, who practiced law until 1995 when he became a full time writer. His first novel “The Coroner” was published by PanMacmillan in 2009 and was shortlisted for the Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of 2009. It is the first in the Jenny Cooper series which centers around Jenny Cooper, a lawyer who is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner. She is hoping for a quiet life where she can recover from a traumatic divorce but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Adapted into a television series by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it stars Serinda Swan as a recently-widowed coroner in Toronto who investigates suspicious deaths and has been renewed for a third season. The first season premiered on the CW on August 5.

In “The Coroner,” the tragic death in custody of a young boy seems to be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the death of Harry Marshall, the previous coroner. Jenny discovers that Marshall was behaving strangely before his death and that he was investigating a case but abruptly changed his mind. In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusade for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity. Subsequent books in the series include: “The Disappeared,” “The Redeemed,” “The Flight,” “The Chosen Dead,” “The Burning,” “A Life to Kill” and “The Innocent” – a short story.

In the television series, Jenny is a former ER doctor whose husband dies of an aneurysm and leaves them in debt because he had a gambling problem. She suffers from clinical anxiety and is haunted by her husband’s sudden death and her inability to save him since she was there when he collapsed. During her first case, she fires the senior coroner when she uncovers his apathetic attitude and afterwards she is faced with the possibility that his past cases will have to be re-investigated. It also stars Roger Cross as Detective Donovan “Mac” McAvoy who helps Jenny in her investigations. The first two episodes show promise and the troubled Jenny, who powers through her own demons to speak for the dead, is an intriguing character.