Barry Maitland All My Enemies
Hamish Hamilton £16.00 (0 241 13624 5)
This is Kathy Koller’s third
appearance and she has now achieved admittance to the New Scotland Yard Serious Crimes
Squad. The present case opens when a young woman’s body is discovered in her own
home in the leafy lanes of suburbia. The murder is disquieting in its horror. This is no
case of a burglary disturbed, but the motivation behind the death seems obscure. As Kathy tries to fit in with the working methods of her new boss, she realises that she must rely on her own judgement and follow her instincts to make headway on what is emerging as a complex murder investigation. Her determination not to discount a number of coincidences (as her boss seems prepared to do) pays off and she becomes drawn into the mind of a killer who may be planning more death scenes around the productions of a local amateur dramatic society.
Although the investigation takes a while to warm up, once the chase is on, the pursuit is relentless, the plotting is ingenious in parts and the dénouement has the power to shock.
One or two incidents have a slightly odd ring. For example, it’s hard to believe that Kathy, working for London’s Serious Crimes Squad, wouldn’t know about telephone sex lines. And Kathy is always "Kathy" while her male colleagues are known as "Brock" or "Desai" etc. It’s this type of thing that jumps off the page at you, and in some ways mars an otherwise inventive and well-plotted story. (EAL)
