Tangled Web UK Review October 2007
Die with Me by
Elena Forbes
hbk out July 07
Published by Quercus
at £25
An excellent first novel based in south-west London. A combination of
police procedural and 'whodunnit' themes are handled with considerable
expertise, both in terms of authenticity and writing style. This author is
sure to go on to a series of books if she so wishes – the ending points to
her intention to carry over into a sequel.
Internet crime again rears its topical head, in that someone with the
pseudonym 'Tom' is contacting young girls on a suicide site and
encouraging them to join him in killing themselves – though what he
wants is the evil thrill of seeing them die, usually in a church.
The police side consists mainly of the Barnes Murder Squad, where Mark
Tartaglia, a DI of Italian ancestry, is landed with leading the
investigations, as his DCI has just had a serious road accident. The
Watson to his Holmes is Det-Sergeant Samantha Donovan, who make a
good team, their equilibrium being upset when a cold-blooded female
DCI is parachuted in from Hendon to take over. There is the inevitable
'profiler' brought in and I was happy to read of the detectives'
reservations about these much-publicised professionals, who are more
often wrong than right.
As is almost obligatory in modern crime novels, the forensic pathologist
is a glamorous female who has been having it away with the DI, in the
best traditions of Patricia Cornwell and others – during my forty-five
years as a forensic pathologist, romance and nooky never came my way,
but then I am a mere male.
Apart from a rather disappointing finale, this is an excellent book and I
look forward to more from Elena Forbes.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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