Mini-Reviews of Books #53…
[Note from Steve: I’m one of the few reviewers who reviews entire series. Below I review yet another series of British-style mysteries, interesting police procedurals with scary criminals and interesting coppers filled with intrigue and suspense. They have greatly influenced my recent stories. (See the ad at the end for an example.)]
The “Inspector Nikki Galena” series. Joy Ellis, author. This series begins darkly with the inspector as a loner and loose cannon whom none of her colleagues in the nick like very much—she’s obsessed with finding the drug dealer who put her daughter into a coma with some bad drugs. She’s forced to work on another case with a new sergeant, Joseph, and he turns her life around, basically saving her from herself. She helps him a lot too. Case after case, sometimes multiple ones at a time, the two become closer, even though he has a daughter who hates him and all coppers. She changes her mind when she becomes romantically interested in one of Nikki’s detective constables.
What’s odd about this series is that I’m not quite sure where it all takes place. The titles all contain the word “Fens” (Americans might call them marshes or wetlands), and their location must be somewhere on England’s east coast. It’s the same location as a secret RAF airbase in WWII that figures prominently in one of the novels. Some of the names of nearby towns and villages are recognizable. I get the feeling that the author is from this area or knows it well, so she presumes her readers will have no problem recognizing it, but I don’t. Of course, I’m not British! This is only a very small nit to pick in this otherwise excellent series.
I’ve read a lot of good British-style mystery series. This is one of the best. Dark and foreboding at times, with the protagonist having to come to terms with death, the coppers also have some successes despite the twists and turns of their cases. Highly recommended.
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Fear the Asian Evil. My British-style mysteries are more complex and international than most. This third book in the “Inspector Steve Morgan” series might seem ripped from the headlines after reports that President Biden strongly warned President-for-Life Xi about invading Taiwan. The book deals more with China’s long-standing policy of industrial espionage and fomenting unrest in western democracies. While it starts out as a typical police procedural not unlike the books in the above series—the sister-in-law of Morgan’s sergeant is shot—it acquires a spy-fi flavor that goes far beyond Christie’s typical British-style mysteries. Available wherever quality ebooks are sold (but not on Amazon).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
