Above Suspicion

DCI James Langton and DS Mike Lewis are working on a series of cold case files when they learn that one of their number has been hospitalised.  Langton requests that a rookie DS, Anna Travis, join their squad.  She is the daughter of his former mentor.

Along with DC Barolli, the three attend a murder site, however they can’t claim it unless they can prove a connection to their cold cases.  Following the autopsy, Langton is sure that the victim has died in the same way his cold cases had.  This victim had been dead at least four weeks.  He tells Travis to begin to familiarise herself with the case files.

Will forensics be able to show that the most recent victim is connected to the cold cases Langton and his team have been working on?  Travis feels very inadequate as a rookie on the cases.  Langton is fortunate enough to get the recent case turned over to him, because he is sure that he has a serial killer on his hands.

There are alarming differences between the past victims and the most recent, but not the method of killing.  The murder team get a few lucky breaks, and are sure that the killer will strike again.  Travis is sent to Spain to question a former cop who may have some ideas about the killer.  Travis comes up with a suspect, but all the evidence the team gathers is circumstantial; not enough to take the man to court.

Author Lynda La Plante’s first murder mystery in this series is immensely intriguing.  The reader’s attention is grasped right from the first page.  The detectives find themselves making progress only to receive a setback, over and over again.  The reader is left wondering if the team will ever get the culprit.  I found this book hard to put down; one of the best murder mysteries I’ve read.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequels.