Case Histories

Three year old Olivia disappeared from the tent she was sleeping in with her older sister in the backyard in 1970.  In 1994, Laura had agreed to work in her father’s law office.  On her first day, a crazed man had entered the office in search of her father, drew a knife, slashed one of the partners on the arm and Laura on the neck, killing her.  In 1979, Michelle got frustrated with her husband and put an axe into his head.

On the same day thirty-four years after Olivia disappeared, Olivia’s two older sisters ask private detective Jackson Brodie to investigate her disappearance, he also received a call from the father of Laura.

Later, the sister of Michelle approaches Jackson to try and locate Michelle’s daughter, who seems to have disappeared.  It is after this that Jackson has a minor traffic accident because somebody had tampered with his brakes.  Later his house explodes, fortunately he had just left it, so other than losing everything, he was okay.

Author Kate Atkinson uses each of these threads and weaves them into a very unique story.  She is very mysterious as to how things are solved.

Revelation

Revelation by C. J. Sansom 

Lawyer Matthew Shardlake has an unusual case on his hands.  A boy has been incarcerated in Bedlam because of some things he has been saying.  In particular, he has been praying, asking for salvation.

A few days later, on Easter Day, Matthew’s best friend, Roger Elliard is murdered.  Matthew’ assistant, Barak, discovers footprints in the snow and sets out to follow them.  Matthew promises Roger’s widow, Dorothy, that he will find his killer.  Later, Matthew’s friend, Dr. Guy Malton, after examining the corpse informs Matthew that Roger had been drugged prior to his killing.

The coroner ensures that no one is allowed to speak of the murder after the inquest.  Matthew feels there is more to be discovered, and Dorothy wonders why the coroner wants it dropped.  When Matthew goes to question the coroner, he finds him speaking to Sir Thomas Seymour.  They tell him that Roger’s death has political implications, and they are now going to take Matthew to meet Archbishop Cranmer.

Cranmer informs Matthew that a similar murder had occurred a month earlier.  A man closely connected to Catherine Parr.  He was the doctor who looked after her late husband.  Parr is being courted by King Henry, and she is a firm believer in religious reform.  Cranmer’s council hopes to have her marry the king to help further reforms.

What are the connections between the two men?  Matthew sets out to find them alongside Coroner Harsnet.  While investigating a third death with Barak, something the latter says strikes Matthew as important.  In a church he looks in the Bible at the Book of Revelation and discovers quotations, which fit each killing.  There have been three deaths so far, so that means four more are to come.  When and where will the killer strike next?  Revelation reveals how it will be, but nothing more.  What of the other forthcoming deaths?

One evening a few days later, Barak’s wife, Tamasin, comes to Matthew.  She has been beaten.  She says that the man who did it, warned her that he knew that Barak and Matthew were hunting him.

They have a suspect in mind, but he seems to have disappeared.  He was a monk at one time in charge an infirmary and therefore have knowledge of drugs.  Can they capture him before he brings further death?  Or is it possible that the suspect isn’t who they think it is?  

Author C. J. Sansom’s fourth book in the Shardlake series is tension filled with a surprising conclusion.  I am thoroughly enjoying this series and look forward to reading the next in the series.

Lost Girls

DI Kim Stone has been called into the station because there has been an abduction of two girls.  The mother of one of them specifically asked for Stone.  She claims to be a friend, however Stone denies the friendship.  However, she wants to be SIO on the case.

She gets her team together and they plan to operate out of the home of one of parents.  Naturally the parents are apprehensive and fearful.

Stone and DS Bryant go to the leisure centre where the girls were abducted from and viewing the CCTV discover that a woman had provided a distraction so that a man, who was impersonating a cop could gather up the girls.  Based on a photo of the woman, one set of parents recognise her as their ex-nanny.

DS Dawson discovers that the nanny’s flat has been trashed.  Now, they needed to find her before whoever was after her.  Within hours the parents received identical texts telling them that their daughters were safe for now, but the games would begin tomorrow.  However, late that night a witness is badly beaten to death.

The next text to the parents offers one daughter’s life for the most money.  The other child will die.  Now the parents are in opposition to each other.

A profiler and a negotiator have been added to the team, much to the chagrin of Stone.  Shortly after their arrival, the clothes of the two girls are found distributed throughout the yard of one of the parents.

Forty-eight hours after the abduction, the woman who aided in the abduction is found tortured to death.  Stone can only hope that the girls are not in the hands of this sadistic killer.  Will she and her team be able to save the girls or will they just find bodies.

Author Angela Marsons’ thriller is a tense, fast paced novel that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat, turning pages to find out what is going to happen next.  I found this book hard to put down.

Backlash

DCI Mike Lewis has big case on his hands.  It started out as what appeared to be a murder case in which the killer was caught red handed.  However, shortly after the suspect was in the interview room, he began to confess to a couple of other unsolved murders.  One of which had been handled by Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton.

Langton calls DCI Anna Travis, who now researches cold cases, to assist on his old case.  She doesn’t want it to look like she is taking the case away from Lewis, but Langton assures her that will not be the case.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of the investigation, Lewis’ case against the suspect of one of the killings he had admitted to is very weak.  However, the forensic evidence from the body he was caught with is very strong.

Travis and Lewis agree to work their missing persons cases in parallel.  Travis is not looking forward to meeting the family of the girl she is working on.  The girl had only been thirteen at the time of her disappearance.

Bit by bit, the two teams begin to gather evidence against the suspect.  Will it be enough or will his solicitor be able to counter it all?  A break occurs when the body of one of the victims is found where the suspect had done casual labour.  However, a small crucifix found with the body did not belong to her.  Was it the killer’s?

Limited evidence and spiralling costs cause Langton to threaten to shut down the investigation.  Travis doesn’t want to give up.  Fortunately, she doesn’t have to because Langton is able to get the Area Commander on board.

Author Lynda La Plante has written another extremely good police procedure murder mystery.  Intense in the investigation, hazards and troubles that go hand-in-hand, this story gets the reader wanting to know what is going to happen next, and of course there are a few surprises thrown in for good measure.  A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Secret Orphan

November 14, 1940, seven year old Rose Sherbourne’s mother was killed and their home destroyed in a bombing raid on Coventry.  Rose was now an orphan.

Two years earlier, Elenor Cardew had left the farm in Cornwall to assist her aunt in Coventry.  She felt like a country bumpkin in the big city.  It is at her aunt’s place that she meets Rose.  Rose’s mother works for Elenor’s aunt.  It doesn’t take long for Rose and Elenor to form a bond.  Elenor also makes a deep connection with her Aunt Maude.

Sadly, that connection doesn’t last as Maude passes away just after the new year arrives.  Elenor has a special friend in Jackson St. John, a pilot from Canada, which brightens her days.  Unfortunately, he has to go back to Canada, which in turn brings a deep sadness to her and Rose.

By September of 1939, Britain was at war, but it was a quiet war.  Rationing isn’t far behind.  Elenor’s brothers join the army and she considers moving back to the farm.  When her brothers are killed on the beaches of Dunkirk, Elenor becomes the sole owner of the farm.  It is a big task for the young woman to run a working farm by herself.

The task becomes bigger when Elenor’s friend, Alice brings Rose to here following the bombing of Coventry.  It will take some time for Rose to get over the shock of what she had been through.

What follows is a good description of what life was like for those keeping the home fires burning in England during the war.  How will Elenor protect Rose from the bad times and get her onto a safer path?  Author Glynis Peters’ novel is a good war story told from the civilian point of view.  A good, quick read.

Perfect Silence

DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner have been called out to a scene where a body of a young woman has been discovered.  She has been brutally assaulted.  It doesn’t take long for the victim to be identified; she had been living at a centre for victims of domestic abuse.

Meantime, back at the station, DC Salter and DS Lively have been called out to attend a scene where a man has been found with the letter ‘Z’ slashed into his face.  He is uncommunicative due to the drug he is high on.

The pathologist, Dr. Jonty Spurr, informs Callanach and Turner that their victim was cut on the stomach and back with a baby shape.  The cuts had been done with surgical precision and the woman had bled out as a result.

Three days later another young woman has gone missing.  Fortunately her baby was found in its pram.  When Turner looks inside the pram, she finds a small doll made out of skin.  Dr. Spurr examines it and matches it to the first victim’s body.  How much time do they have before this second young woman is dead?

Based upon the evidence gathered to this point, Turner is sure that the two cases and the man who was slashed are related.  Then a second slashing occurs.  As in the previous case, this victim was high on drugs when it happened.

When the second young woman’s body is found, it is in the same condition as that of the first.  This leads to the question, who is going to be the next victim?

Not long after this, Turner’s friend, Natasha tells her that one of her students is missing.  Turner begins an informal investigation.  That night a woman is run over by a bus.  Turner worries that it is the missing girl, however it turns out not to be.  On the other hand, Dr. Spurr shows her that the victim has had a zed slashed onto her cheek.

A day later Turner and DC Salter discover a skin doll in the missing girl’s mailbox at university.  Is she going to die in the coming days?  How many more young women will die before Turner’s team can solve the case?

Author Helen Fields’ murder thriller is just that, a gripping, tense story that has the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to know the outcome.  A very good read read and hard to put down.

Murder in the Palais Royal

Rene Friant, Aimee Leduc’s best friend and long time partner has just been shot in their office by someone he thought was her.  At the hospital, Aimee is taken in for questioning.  It is only on the word of her godfather, Inspector Morbier, that she is released.

Aimee immediately begins her own investigation.  It doesn’t take long for her to discover that the shooter really does look like her.

Later she receives a message from a guy in prison telling her that he has put her in trouble.  When she speaks to him at the prison, he doesn’t have enough time to tell her all the details.  The following day she learns that he has committed suicide.  Or could he have been murdered?  Then his pregnant girlfriend is murdered just before she was going to pass on a notebook to Aimee.  What is going on?

Can Aimee solve these cases before someone else is killed or will she be the next victim?  Another good quick read by author Cara Black.

Rome's Lost Son

Vespasian as Consul of Rome is at odds with the Empress Agrippina.  He is oddly enough, working with Pallas, her lover and disassociated with Narcissus who works with Emperor Claudius.  However, Narcissus knows that he must gain the confidence of Vespasian to the cost of Pallas.

Vespasian is surprised when Agrippina and her son, Nero, plead for clemency for Caratacus.  Claudius accepts their pleas.

Now Vespasian has to play politics with Narcissus, Pallas and Agrippina.  Can he, with the help of his lover Caenis, manage to play one against the other and still survive?  Pallas sends Vespasian to Armenia to bring it back under control, but he goes without an army.  Agrippina is hoping that he won’t be coming back.

By early 52 AD, Vespasian was in Philippi, meeting with his brother, who was governor of the area.  He and his uncle, Gaius, hope to gather information against Agrippina.  They find that Sabinus is busy trying to find a certain Paulus, who is promoting the teachings of Yeshua who Sabinus had executed on the orders of Pontius Pilate.

It doesn’t take long for Vespasian to discover that political intrigue in the east is just as dangerous as the intrigue in Rome.  His next task is to provoke Parthia into war.  Fortunately, his manipulations draws Parthia into starting the war.  Then the retreat begins with the intention of drawing the Parthians into a war away from their country.  However, treachery results in Vespasian being turned over to the Parthians as a hostage.

What will become of Vespasian now that he is incarcerated in a dungeon?  How will Nero come to power?  Author Robert Fabbri has the answers in the last section of the book.  Based on the writings of Tacitus and Seneca, Fabbri’s fiction has a ring of truth to it.  This was another thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Shadow Collector

DI Wesley Peterson has the dubious duty of informing his boss, DCI Gerry Heffernan, that a former killer, Lilith Benley is back at her home and is reporting a burglary there.  She had served eighteen years for killing two teenage girls alongside her mother.  When Peterson and Heffernan get to her place, she reports a book stolen.  She also wants her case reopened because she says she was innocent.  Heffernan responds that it can’t be unless she has new information.

Not long after this the body of a young woman is discovered on a farm where a reality tv show is being filmed.  When Heffernan and Peterson are at the farm to do some questioning, one of the stars of the show takes off.  Heffernan orders that the man be brought back.  He also questions the  woman who lives next door and was the killer of the two girls.  It is only by chance that they are able to identify the woman.

Meanwhile at a house that Dr. Neil Watson has been supervising the renovation of as an archaeologist, a tiny coffin has been discovered in a wall.  It contains a doll like figure, which has pins sticking into strategic positions.  When the woman, for whom the house was being renovated, brings a box filled styrofoam beads to pack the coffin in, she discovers a knife of some sort in it.  Shortly after he leaves with the coffin, his breaks fail and he is involved in a serious accident.

Shortly after Neil’s accident, another coffin is found in the wall.  Also, a mechanic has discovered that Neil’s brake lines had been cut.  Who would want to kill an archaeologist?

Lilith Benley is the prime suspect, yet when Heffernan and Peterson go to interview her, they find that her house has been broken into, and a doll with a javelin-like needle piercing it lying on the floor.  Has she also been killed?

Author Kate Ellis has a few twists left to her plot, and a surprising conclusion before the case is solved.  Once again, Ellis has woven a current case well with an historical case, making the two very enjoyable reading. 

Dark Water

DCI Erika Foster and DS John McGorry are at a quarry with a dive team searching fo a container full of heroin.  The divers successfully find it, but also come up with something else.  It is a small skeleton wrapped in plastic and chains.

Later Dr. Isaac Strong calls Erika.  He is the pathologist who has been tasked with examining the skeleton.  He is sure that he has identified the skeleton as belonging to a seven year old girl.  Erika wants to work on the case, but she is assigned to the drug squad and her supervisor refuses to allow her to change duties.  She hopes that her former commander, Paul Marsh can get her the SIO on the case.

Marsh puts in a word with the new assistant-commissioner at Scotland Yard, and Erika is assigned the case.  She will report to Marsh who also informs her that no one one the murder teams wanted the case. She wants DIs Moss and Peterson on her team.

The family of the dead girl had been torn apart by her death.  The recovery of her body brings the agony back as Erika and Peterson quickly discover.

The pair also turn to the former SIO, Amanda Baker.  Unfortunately, she has retired and become an alcoholic over the intervening years.  Unbeknownst to Erika, Baker has a source on her team about what is going on with the investigation.

The team has a couple of suspects in mind, but the first has an alibi and the second is dead.  Then a third suspect pops up, and he has connections to the other two.  However, they have nothing solid on him.

A few days later, former DCI Baker is found dead.  She had left messages on Erika’s phone to urgently get in contact with her.  When Erika checks her phone, she discovers that the messages have been wiped.  Obviously her phone has been hacked!

Who else has had their phone hacked?  Author Robert Bryndza throws subtle hints at the reader, but it is the twist towards the end of this murder mystery that tosses the reader an unexpected loop.  The conclusion is completely surprising.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and hard to put down.

The Salisbury Manuscripts

Thomas Ansell has just arrived in Salisbury by train, and shares a cab with a clergyman into the city centre.  Canon Selby quickly picks up on the fact that Thomas is a lawyer and that he had at one time thought about joining the army.

Tom has been assigned by the senior in his law firm to pick up a manuscript in Salisbury and bring it back to London for safekeeping until such time that it is deemed reasonable to release it.  After visiting with Canon Slater, Tom is asked to draw up documents with regards to the manuscript and its future.

Returning to his hotel, he finds that his room has been ransacked, but nothing has been taken.  Later, he meets a man who claims to have known his father.  The following day he is summoned by the older brother of Canon Slater.  He demands to know what Tom is doing for his brother.  He also demands that Tom get back certain papers he had given to his younger brother.  Tom is unable to do that because they had been freely given.

Returning to Canon Slater’s house that evening for supper, Tom is surprised to find it quiet and seemingly empty.  However, upon entering the study, he finds Canon Slater - dead!  He also discovers that the document that he was supposed to take to London for safekeeping is missing.  Moments afterwards he is apprehended by the police.  Fortunately, Inspector Foster doesn’t believe that Tom is the killer.

Tom now began to turn his mind to the reason for the killing.  He is surprised when his second visitor is his girlfriend Helen Scott.  She had received a telegram that he was incarcerated and hurried from London.  She also decides that the pair of them should help the police discover the killer.

Helen also decides that they should look into the disappearance of a sexton.  The man has now been missing for a month.  They speak to the elderly sister of the man.  Later they go for a walk on Todd’s Mound near the city. There, they notice a bad smell, and inside a cave, Tom discovers a body.  Could it be the missing man?  Due to decomposition, it is virtually impossible to identify the body.

When another death occurs, Tom and Helen wonder if it is connected in any way to the other deaths.  Can the information that they have help solve the mysteries?  Author Philip Gooden has plenty of action awaiting Tom and Helen with threats to their lives, plus a few surprises thrown in for good measure.  A good, quick read.