May 1, 2017
Spencer’s absorbing 12th mystery set in 1970s Lancashire and featuring Det. Chief Insp. Monika Paniatowski (after 2016’s Death in Disguise) opens with the discovery of Paniatowski—unconscious, a pool of blood around her head—in the woods near a country house. The resourceful members of her team—Colin Beresford, Jack Crane, and Kate Meadows—vow to find out who is responsible. The case, however, is assigned to Det. Chief Insp. William “Rhino” Dixon, who sees this case as his chance to grab the headlines and grudgingly allows the three to participate on a very limited basis. A few hours later, the strangled body of a teenage girl turns up in the same woods. Dixon steamrolls ahead, pursuing the case as a straightforward domestic murder. Pushed to the sidelines, Paniatowski’s team members decide to investigate on their own, and soon discover a much more sinister and complex motive for the attacks. Will Paniatowski come out of her coma? If she does, will she be physically and mentally able to resume her job? Readers will eagerly await the next installment.
May 15, 2017
A grave injury to DCI Monika Paniatowski (Death in Disguise, 2016, etc.) sends her team scrambling to find who hurt their boss and why.Stamford Hall seems the ideal spot for a Sunday family picnic--at least until PC Michael Knightly's two young daughters find Monika lying in the woods in a pool of blood. Knightly, instantly recognizing her as one of the few female DCIs on the force, sends a quick alarm back to headquarters. Acting Chief Constable Ronald Pickering's response is equally brisk. Whom can he task with investigating the brutal beating of one of his own? Bypassing Monika's team of Colin Beresford, Kate Meadows, and Jack Crane, Pickering calls on DCI William "Rhino" Dixon, a man as tenacious as his name suggests--and just as delicate. Dixon is all over the case, especially when the body of teenager Mary Green is found not far from the scene of Monika's attack. But while Dixon bangs down doors and rousts young hoodlums, Beresford et al. prefer to look more quietly into Mary's home life. Her brother, John, seems grief-stricken, but their parents are oddly detached. So are the other inhabitants of Mary's small world: Mrs. Brown, the bedridden old woman she cared for, and Roger Smith, the middle-aged man John was playing board games with the day his sister was killed. Convinced that the answer to her death lies in Mary's past, Monika's colleagues push to find her killer before the hard-charging Rhino arrests the wrong man. Sidelining her series heroine gives Spencer a chance to prove just how strong the DCI is, even as she lies unconscious in a hospital bed.
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December 1, 2016
Following the success of her Woodend and Paniatowski novels, the multitalented Spencer introduces a new series starring Jennie Redhead, whose name and hair match. Jennie is a curious, clever woman who, despite her working-class background, won a place at Oxford and went on to join the police. But that didn't work out when she blew the whistle on her boss, so she resigned and set up her own detective agency. Her latest case involves the disappearance of teenager Linda Corbet, whose mother is sure she is dead and whose father claims she's run away. At first, Jennie takes the case lightly, suspecting that Mr. Corbet is right, since hundreds of young women run away from home every year. But, as the case progresses, Jennie finds herself drawn in. What could have happened to a young woman who by all accounts was smart, popular, and hard-working, and why would she have left home when she was so loved by her parents? Spencer scores another top-notch hit with this new series, which features her usual skillful writing, clever plotting, and intriguing characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
Starred review from June 1, 2017
In what may be one of the finest entries in her DCI Monika Paniatowski series, Spencer offers a moving, gently humorous, action-packed story that sees Monika brutally attacked and nearly killed, leaving her daughter and her young sons bereft and her loyal teamColin Beresford, Kate Meadows, and Jack Craneadrift without her leadership. Worse yet, Monika's team is assigned to work for DCI Rhino Dixon, an unprincipled cop who's focused on getting results, even if they're the wrong ones. To complicate matters further, the body of a young woman is discovered near the site where Monika was found. Were the two assaults related? Assigning Monika's colleagues to the grunt workreviewing CCTV tapes, handling door-to-door interviewsDixon figures they will have no time to investigate Monika's assault and that he will get all the glory for solving the murder case. Of course, he's wrong on every score. Employing their usual unorthodox but effective investigative methods, Colin, Kate, and Jack discover a chilling motive for the girl's death and the attack on Monika. Spencer's skillful writing, clever plotting, and colorful characters, combined with her insights into what makes humansand especially copstick, make this a crime novel to savor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)