Too convoluted by half. My first disappointing Brock and Kolla mystery. ( )

I was disappointed in this one. An American tourist is (literally) thrown under a bus, but then she is forgotten at the expense of a Russian oligarch (yawn!). The Ugandan with the infectious disease was wholly irrelevant to the plot and seems to have been included solely to get Brock out of the way for much of the book. I worked out who John Greenslade was very early on, and the murderer was obviously 'off' right from the beginning.

As ever the solution was obscure and unrealistic and in this instalment involved an international incident which was introduced about 90% of the way through. I'm nearing the end of these, and they seem to be tailing off a bit. ( )

This is my first Brock and Kolla Mystery, and I usually never start this far along in a series (this is the 11th novel). However, this was the only one in the library at the time so I gave it a try. Glad I did--I like the characters, and I care about what they are up to and this is the first prerequisite for any good read. The plot kept me in there too as DCI David Brock and DI Kathy Kolla work their way through the interesting asides of their personal lives (like who is this young Canadian who's taken a shine to Kolla and what does he have to do with the murder of the American widow and the murder of the wealthy Russian oligarch). Are the murders related? How? In the meantime, Brock goes to Scotland, or does he? And Kolla makes her first trip to the States (Boston) in search of answers to what in our widow's life makes a connection between the widow's insistence she and her traveling companion stay at the old hotel in Chelsea Mansions on this trip to London and our mysterious Russian who lived in and owned the rest of the Chelsea Mansions Estate and who was fatally stabbed shortly after a maniac grabbed our American widow on Sloan Street outside the Chelsea Flower Show and threw her under a bus? Whew! Moves right along! Then an old enemy of Brock's and Kolla's comes into the game and watching the links between the killings, the people, and the past and the present unfold, keeps one in the chair turning pages long past the midnight hour. ( )

a good read

another solid / good example in the series

the more I read of them , the more I realise that they are more about Kathy, rather than Brock. Brock is the central point off which the rest spark.

it read really quickly, less than 24 hours of intermittent reading ...a testament to readability ( )

couldn't put it down! ( )