NEVER FORGET

TITLE: NEVER FORGET

AUTHOR: LISA CUTTS

Pages: 347

Date: 14/07/2013

Grade: 4

Details: no. 1 Nina Foster

            Received from Myriad Editions

            Through Nudge

Own

The investigation starts when the body of a woman is found. She’s been stabbed several times and has been dead for a few days at least. Detective Constable Nina Foster is one of many officers recruited to help with the investigation into the death of the woman who turns out to have been a prostitute with an eight year old son.

It’s not long after that a second body is discovered. Although there is no known connection between the woman and the second victim, his wounds seem to indicate a link between the two deaths.

As the investigation progresses the body count continues to rise and for a long time any connection between the victims remains obscure. When a link is at last established it also reveals a connection to a traumatic event in Nina’s past. Now she has to add worrying about being allowed to stay on the investigation to all the investigative threads running through her head.

But even with evidence slowly pointing the investigators in the right direction, it will take a violent confrontation and a surprising rescuer to bring the investigation to a close and a rather surprising ending to the book.

This book is Lisa Cutts’ first novel and mystery. Drawing on her own experience as a police officer she writes a realistic yet deeply layered mystery. In fact, this is a book that requires attention from the reader. There are multiple characters with complicated connections between them to keep track of. And, since this is the first book in a planned series, a lot of attention is also paid to establishing Nina Foster as a well-rounded and realistic protagonist.

Initially Nina seemed a bit of a stereo type, with her habit of viewing every single man she met as a possible date or partner and her constant preoccupation with wine.  Taking into account Nina’s background though I can only applaud the author for not making her main character a lot more neurotic than she was. Many authors I can think of would have taken this character and made her appear far more disturbed than Mrs. Cutts did, just to add drama to the story. With the story-line being what it is this book didn’t need that extra dimension and I’m delighted she resisted what must have been a rather tempting opportunity.

The mystery is well plotted, the investigation realistically described and the resolution both exciting and believable. I had a bit of a problem keeping the various characters involved in the investigation separated in my mind. While it is completely realistic that an investigation as described in this book would involve numerous police officers, and it also makes sense to introduce the characters that will play a role in what is to be a series of mysteries in the very first book, I did find myself getting a bit confused at times. On the other hand, there were a few characters who I imagine will make return appearances in future Nina Foster mysteries, and those were described in such a way that I got a good impression of who they were and what role the play in Nina’s life without taking any pace out of the thrilling story-line. I’m impressed with the balance the author managed to strike; she gave me enough information about her characters to keep me interested yet left me curious about future books with everything that hasn’t yet been revealed.

The short of it is that I really enjoyed this book. It is wonderful to find a new series with an interesting and realistic protagonist, a well written story and a complex and well executed mystery. I’m going to keep an eye out for future Nina Foster mysteries. If this debut is anything to go by, the world is one very talented mystery author richer.

EENY MEENY MINY MOE

TITLE: EENY MEENY MINY MOE

AUTHOR: JOANNA PRICE

Pages: 246

Date: 26/06/2012

Grade: 4.5

Details: no. 2 DS Kate Linton

            Received from Book Geeks

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Lauren Hampton used to be a famous model; in fact, many regarded her as Britain’s first supermodel. Those years are far behind her now and there is little left of her beauty when she’s found in her house, dead with a plastic supermarket-bag over her head.

When Detective Sergeant Kate Linton receives the call summoning her to the crime-scene she is in a Glastonbury theatre watching a production of Beauty and the Beast staring, as coincidence would have it, Lauren’s son Mark as the Beast.

When Kate and her superior, the very attractive Detective Inspector Rob Brown, start their investigation it soon becomes clear that the victim was universally disliked. It seems that only her son Mark has anything nice to say about the woman and even his remarks sound more like excuses.

While Brown is soon convinced that Mark Hampton is the most likely suspect, Kate doubts this assessment, not in the least since Mark appears to have a very solid alibi and goes out of his way to be charming and cooperative. And with Rob Brown apparently not at all interested in Kate’s advances, Hampton’s attention does wonders for her self-esteem.

At the same time the Glastonbury force is investigating a series of brutal rapes; attacks on women that become increasingly violent and become very personal when Kate’s best friend falls victim to the man.

With both cases suffering from a desperate lack of concrete evidence frustration is running high. And when Kate’s plan to seduce her superior goes to ruin she indivertibly puts herself in a situation that may well end up killing her.

This is a good mystery, with multiple credible suspects and motives. In fact, it is very hard to find a single likeable character amongst those who are connected to Lauren Hampton. And with the victim being as nasty as she was, it was easy to see why any of those around her might have wanted to put an end to her life.

This is also a very well written police procedural. The way the case is investigated and the evidence collected rings true as does the frustration when the available evidence does nothing to help Linton and Brown solve their case.

I really liked that the solution to both the murder and the rape case made perfect sense yet did come as a surprise. There were no sudden, explosive revelations to make the resolution possible. Because the story is told from multiple points of view, the reader gets bits of background information all through the story. This means that all the necessary information was there for the reader to find, yet submitted in such a way that the solution wasn’t a foregone conclusion.

The dynamics between Kate and Rob are interesting and fun. I enjoyed watching the two of them circling around each other, not really getting anywhere and never admitting to what they feel, yet unable to leave each other alone. I’m looking forward to finding out how the relationship between these two characters will develop over future books. From what we’ve seen so far it is clear that whatever happens next, it won’t be boring.

In short, this was a good and well written mystery, set in fascinating surroundings and with characters that grab the reader’s interest. I’m looking forwards to reading more books in this series.