Death's Dark Shadow

DCI Monika Paniatowski has decided to take advantage of a November school break and some vacation time owed to her to take her adopted daughter Louisa to Spain to meet her Spanish family.  It also gives her the opportunity to visit her mentor, Charlie Woodend.  Unfortunately as soon as she is back, she is called in to work because a body of an elderly woman has been found in the canal.

Louisa, after seeing a picture of the victim is sure the victim is a woman she had met at her Spanish family's home.  When Monika contacts Spanish authorities, she meets a roadblock because Franco has just died, and Spain is in a bit of a turmoil.  Not getting any help from the Spanish authorities, she turns to Charlie.

Woodend enlists his friend, Paco Ruiz, also a retired policeman, to help investigate the victim.  What they discover points back to England.  As a result, what Monika learns, in turn points towards Spain.  However, a murder in Monika's town seems to tie the two together.  The new victim is the husband of the woman in the canal.

As usual, author Sally Spencer has a few twists up her sleeve before the real killer is found.  Another good, quick read by this prolific author.

A Ticket to Oblivion

Inspector Robert Colbeck and DS Leeming have been assigned the task of finding a young woman and her maid who have disappeared while on a train between her home and Oxford.  The young woman is the daughter of a cabinet minister.

After meeting the unfortunate young woman's father, and finding out that she is betrothed, Colbeck is of the opinion that the two young women disguised themselves on the train and made an escape in Oxford.  However, when Colbeck and Leeming return to Scotland Yard they find out that a ransom note has been delivered to the father of the young woman.

When the ransom is about to be paid, the fiancé murders the man who is there to pick up the money.  Unfortunately he is a simple go between.  A second ransom comes later, demanding twice the sum.

There is more crime to come as author Edward Marston takes us through this tangled Victorian crime novel.  A very good read, that goes by surprisingly quickly because the reader is so engrossed in it.

The Purity of Vengeance

Inspector Carl Morck has been handed a folder about the death of his uncle.  Another copper is indicating to him that Carl's cousin has been talking while in a bar in Thailand, and saying that he and Carl were responsible for the death of his uncle.

Also on the plate of Department Q is 25 year old file of a Madame who went missing.  Rose has checked into the missing person's obsession with Madonna, and discovered that when she went missing, Madonna was playing in Florence, Italy.  Could that be where she went?   Assad reports to Carl that there are a few more missing persons at the same time.  Are they connected?

Rose and Assad begin to connect the dots.  But shortly after this, an attempt is made on Carl's life.  Are they getting too close?  The following day another attempt is made on the lives of both Carl and Assad.

Once again author Jussi Adler-Olsen has created an intense and thrilling murder mystery.  This is a book that the reader will not want to put down.

The Good Suicides

Inspector Hector Salgado has been called out to a metro station in Barcelona byAgent Roger Fort at 2:00 a. m. to investigate an apparent suicide.  Salgado is not impressed until Fort shows him the victim's cell phone which contains a single text message with a photo.

Meantime a pregnant Agent Leire Castro is bored with her maternity leave, so she requests permission to help with the investigation into Salgado's missing wife.  She studies the case file and makes preliminary notes.

Fort has discovered a picture at the victim's flat, and it shows a fellow employee who had killed his wife and daughter and then committed suicide.  He and Salgado wonder if the two suicides are connected.  The picture is of a group of eight employees from a firm on a retreat.  It comes into play once again when a third member of the group dies ten days later of an apparent suicide.  Salgado is sure that the remaining members of the group are hiding something.

Salgado slowly puts together things that will help him solve these apparent suicides in Antonio Hill's second novel.  However, will Castro be able to solve the mystery of Salgado's missing wife before the birth of her child?  A thoroughly good read.

The Painted Lady

Christopher Redmayne has been caught up in tragic circumstances.  He has designed a house for a French portrait artist, who has unfortunately been accused of killing the husband of a young woman he has recently been painting.  Redmayne is convinced of the innocence of the painter, and he requests the help of his good friend Constable Jonathan Bale.

Four men, including Christopher's brother, Henry, have been infatuated with the newly widowed woman.  When her partially completed portrait is stolen, Christopher is sure his brother is the culprit.  However, he must also consider the other three men in Henry's group.  Jonathan is convinced that the thief is also not the murderer, but how will they prove their assertions and save the painter from Newgate?

With four potential suspects, and an uncooperative suspect in jail, Redmayne and Bale have their hands full trying to solve this murder.  Once again, Edward Marston has written an intriguing murder mystery.   A good, quick read.

A Walk With the Dead

It is 1974 and DCI Monika Paniatowski has a missing persons case on her hands.  A thirteen year old girl has gone missing after leaving a wedding party early.  She and her team are prepared for a negative result in finding the girl.  It is the evening afterwards that the body is discovered.  It appears that the girl has been strangled.

Meantime Chief Constable George Baxter is at a prison investigating the death of a prisoner who has committed suicide.  The victim was in for sexual assault on a child.  However, when he finds out that Monika has been assigned the case he feels it isn't right for her, because her own daughter had gone missing only s couple of months earlier.  He gives her 72 hours to solve the case, or he would be handing it on to another DCI.

Paniatowski gets her man, or does she?  That same evening there is another murder in the same place.  Obviously the team has to rework their investigation.  It is only through a new fangled invention in the Woolworth's store that they discover the murderer.  Author Sally Spencer has once again provided the reader with an intriguing murder mystery.  A good, quick read.

Last Will

Reporter Annika Bengtzon was at City Hall when one person is assassinated and several others shot in the midst of a Nobel awards crowd.  She is frustrated because the senior investigator has told her that if she publishes anything she will be arrested.

Bengtzon decides to investigate the woman who was killed and the scientist who was critically injured.  What was the reason behind their shooting?  Due to the inability to publish what Bengtzon knows, the editor-in-chief decides to put her on indefinite leave.  As much as she may be on leave, that isn't going to stop her continuing with her investigation.

Back at the paper, Bengtzon decides to do some research into the scientific community.  Unbeknownst to her, the killer has found out that she was the one who identified the killer.  Six months after the first murder another important person dies in suspicious circumstances.

Author Liza Marklund builds the suspense in this novel to extremes, and then finishes with a sudden and shocking conclusion.  A thoroughly good read.