Hardcastle's Frustration

July 2, 2012
Set in March and April 1918, Ison’s workmanlike 10th procedural featuring London Divisional Det. Insp. Ernest Hardcastle and Det. Sgt. Charles Marriott (after 2011’s Hardcastle’s Obsession) centers on the murder of Ronald Parker, a missing gas company employee, whose body is fished from the Thames with a bullet wound in the head. When Parker’s widow, Mavis, hears the sad news, she asks whether his death occurred in Holland, claiming, unconvincingly, that he was heading there to avoid military conscription, despite his being medically exempt from service. A letter found on the corpse leads the police to Daisy Benson, the dead man’s mistress, but before too long they realize Mavis had a possible motive for doing away with her spouse since she may have also strayed. Several plot twists make up in part for the somewhat plodding story line. Readers should be prepared for a lead who’s less developed than similar irascible fictional Scotland Yarders.

September 1, 2012
As the Great War rages on, a corpse dumped in the Thames ends up in the bailiwick of Divisional DI Ernest Hardcastle and his colleagues at the Cannon Row station. Hardcastle can't help wishing that the late Ronald Parker, shot in the head and tied up in a sack, had floated past Waterloo Pier into someone else's jurisdiction. There are no obvious suspects or motives, and Hardcastle's sergeant, Charles Marriott, and his men (Hardcastle's Obsession, 2011, etc.) have plenty of other business to attend to. But things pick up with the news that Parker's mistress, Daisy Benson, neglected to tell him that she's been a widow for a year; that Parker himself, whose wife, Mavis, said he was about to leave for Holland to avoid conscription, had already been notified of his medical exemption from military service; and that Mavis Parker, a dayworker at the Sopwith Aviation paint shop, is quite the queen bee. Dogging the widow's footsteps, Hardcastle's coppers link her to Capt. Gilbert Stroud, dodgy corset salesman Lawrence Mortimer and actor Vincent Powers. In the fullness of time, Hardcastle realizes that this quiet wartime murder is politically sensitive--a realization that's confirmed when he and his ham-handed squad are rebuked by Superintendent Patrick Quinn, who warns them off Special Branch's patch. Nothing daunted, Hardcastle, passed over for promotion in favor of a younger and less qualified colleague, ends up earning wry congratulations from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate: "You seem to be making a habit of charging people with murder, Inspector." A middling procedural that's also a pleasingly efficient tour of 1918 London.

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August 1, 2012
Kudos to Ison for keeping his Hardcastle and Marriott series fresh and thoroughly entertaining. Irascible curmudgeon Hardcastle and the long-suffering Sergeant Marriott are rarely baffled by a case, but their latest provides so many bizarre twists that it's no wonder the detective duo feels frustrated. A body, fished out of the Thames, is eventually identified as that of Ronald Parker, a clerk at a local gas company. But Parker was no model citizen. Not only did he leave behind a grieving widow, but his death also broke the heart of one Daisy Benson, a local tart. Was his murder a jealous wife's revenge? Too simple. As Hardcastle and Marriott investigate further, they learn that Parker's killing has lifted the lid on dark secrets related to the German government and the Great War, which is raging bloodily on the Continent. Hard-nosed coppers that they are, Hardcastle and Marriott think nothing can shock them, but when they finally unmask the killer, they are genuinely stunned. Meticulously researched historical details, period ambience, authentic British working-class dialogue, a splendid plot, gentle humor, and two clever detectives add up to an outstanding historical procedural.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)