Book review of Daniella Bernett’s Lead Me into Danger…
(Daniella Bernett, Lead Me into Danger, Black Opal Books, 2015.)
Readers of this blog know that I love British-style mysteries. Here’s one that’s a bit different, a tightly written international mystery/suspense novel. Lead Me into Danger will keep the reader guessing.
Emmeline Kirby is an investigative reporter for the Times who has a bit of personal baggage, both in her family history and in her relationship with jewel thief Gregory Longdon. As in any Christie novel, she becomes involved in a murder mystery. The plot is clever and the characters complex, covering a wide spectrum of humanity. The settings are London and Venice.
A fellow reporter, Charles Latimer, is pursuing a story that involves a Russian mole in the British foreign office. An attempt is made on the reporter’s life in Venice, and he’s finally murdered in Emmeline’s apartment in London. She decides to continue pursuing his story and bring his murderer to justice with the help of a Scotland Yard chief inspector and Longdon’s.
Of course, that Metropolitan Police inspector Burnell (he appears in other books in the series, along with Kirby and Longdon) is what makes this a British-style mystery, one written by an American (both my books Rembrandt’s Angel and Son of Thunder follow that plan, so the author and I must share a love for British-style mysteries). That inspector isn’t the main character, but he reminds me a lot of P. D. James’s Dagleish and other favorites…and that’s a good thing.
Lots of twists and turns in the plot here. There’s also enough international intrigue to call this a spy novel, and enough action to call it a thriller. Thank you, author Bernett! I’m already reading #2, and she has a new one out in the series. How did I miss these wonderful books? I must catch up.
(For more about mystery author Daniella Bernett, see the above interview.)
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Comments are always welcome.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
