Silvermeadow

July 29, 2002
Better than The Chalon Heads
(2001) and almost as good as The Malcontenta
(2000), Maitland's latest mystery to feature DCI David Brock and Det. Sgt. Kathy Kolla presents a complex and absorbing case focused on Silvermeadow, an enormous shopping mall near London where a volcano erupts hourly, complete with moving lights for flowing lava. Ordered to stake out the mall because a fugitive killer has been sighted there, Kathy and Brock soon find themselves investigating the murder of a teenage girl whose body has turned up in a trash compactor. Later they get involved in a gigantic robbery. Through the thorough, workmanlike interviews the pair conduct with a range of characters, the author highlights the tragedies in the lives of various police officers and civilians, revealing how complicated the seemingly ordinary can be. In particular, he carefully and lucidly explains (with a prophetic quotation from Émile Zola) how architects and engineers plan and execute the transformation of shopping and acquiring into entertainment and recreation. He concentrates on the effects of this transformation on the employees, merchants and customers, with insider details of building engineering and archeology. As usual, Kathy is the center of the resolution of all the crimes, while Brock acts as her supporting rescuer. Maitland fans surely will welcome this addition, with its fusion of commerce, detection and architecture, to his lively series. (Aug. 9)FYI:Born in Scotland and raised in London, John Creasy Award nominee and Ned Kelly Prize winner Maitland now lives in Australia.

August 1, 2002
British cops David Brock and Kathy Kolla return in this tense, surprising thriller set (mostly) in a large shopping mall, where Chief Inspector Brock's arch nemesis, the killer Gregory "Upper" North--so nicknamed because of his habit of getting stoned before committing his crimes--might be on the prowl. Brock and his partner, Detective Inspector Kolla, set up headquarters in a vacant store in the mall, where they ostensibly investigate the death of a young girl who had worked in one of the food-court restaurants. Meanwhile, unbeknownst even to their local police liaisons, they try to find North before he returns to his old tricks. But is North actually at Silver Meadow, or is there some new villain at work? And what about these rumors of other missing girls? Fed up with waiting for something to happen, Kolla decides to head off by herself and see if she can't scare up some answers. Maitland's novel was published to great acclaim in Europe in 2000; expect it to receive an open-arms welcome here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)