Intriguing and suspenseful! I couldn't put it down until I found out who the killer was!
A young detective constable is out on a date with his boss's, Detective Inspector Angela Costello, step daughter. They got to a popular concert act featuring Brendan Phelan, who uses guns and whips as part of the act. It was a phenomenal show and after it is over, his date wants to try to get a look at Brandon from the alley. Suddenly, Gary hears a gunshot and rushes by the bouncers only to find one of the roadies has been shot. After calling D.I. Costello to the case, they begin to unravel several different scenarios of why the roadie, Oliver Joplin, was shot. They find out that Oliver was connected to drug trafficking, blackmail, and even ticket fraud. The problem isn't who would want to kill him, but who actually did. The further they press, the more they find they may be in for a smoke and mirrors act if they can't find the smoking gun.
This was the first book in the Angela Costello series that I have read and I have to say that it is a really good read. I haven't been reading into a lot of books that are set in the London area, but this one was just a really fun mystery to try and solve as I read. When I do read British police procedural novels, I also hope that the DI and DC have a lot of banter between the two of them, but that wasn't much of the case here. It was more of a senior to junior mentor relationship, but it still worked great. I also really enjoyed the dynamic that the DC was dating the DI's stepdaughter, which made some situations uncomfortable for both characters.
The plot of this book was written extremely well. It keeps the reader going in circles while trying to figure out who really did it and why. There are plenty of obvious suspects, but the one that actually pulled the trigger doesn't appear to be the one throughout the whole story, which is typical of the "quiet one in the corner." Overall, it was a very clean mystery, just the kind I really enjoy.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions and views expressed within are my own.