March 15, 2005
Although the affair between his two detectives, Bob Rutter and Monika Paniatowski, has been over for a year, Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend knows that both parties are thoroughly unhappy, which adversely affects the entire team's camaraderie. Still, when the body of local secretary Pamela Rainsford is found on a canal path, raped and mutilated, Woodend, Rutter, and Paniatowski join forces effectively, painstakingly amassing evidence and reviewing forensic clues. Their focus is quickly diverted, however, when Detective Rutter's wife, Maria, is killed, and the finger of suspicion points to Rutter himself. Are the two murders linked? And can Rutter really be a murderer? As usual, Spencer writes deftly and skillfully, offering up intriguingly multidimensional characters and a cleverly constructed plot. A thoroughly satisfying installment in this fine British police procedural series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)