Death Watch

March 1, 2010
British author Kelly's winning second police procedural pairing West Norfolk Det. Insp. Peter Shaw with Det. Sgt. George Valentine, Shaw's late father's former partner (after 2009's Death Wore White
), neatly balances several intricate story lines. Exactly 18 years to the day after 15-year-old Norma Jean Judd vanished in 1992, her twin brother Bryan's corpse turns up in a hospital incinerator. The case is assigned to Shaw, who's unaware that his father, Det. Chief Insp. Jack Shaw, handled Norma Jean's disappearance. After breaking the devastating news to the surviving Judds, Shaw manages to save a man from a nearby burning building and ends up with another puzzle: who's “the Organ Grinder” the near-victim was so frightened of that he initially resisted rescue? On top of those mysteries, Kelly tosses in new developments in the case that ended the elder Shaw's career and led to Valentine's demotion. This clever series will appeal to fans of Peter Lovesey and Reginald Hill.

Starred review from May 1, 2010
First the corpse of a man whose sister disappeared 18 years earlier is found in a high-tech hospital incinerator; then a homeless shelter is torched, and more bodies whose organs have been surgically removed are found in the West Norfolk area. As detective Peter Shaw and his team investigate, he and DS George Valentine, his father's old partner, reopen a cold case that had ended his father's career and had led to Valentine's demotion. VERDICT In this second procedural featuring Shaw and Valentine (after "Death Wore White"), Kelly spins his yarn into a complicated cat's cradle of intersecting plot lines and converging motives that lead to a shockingly unexpected ending. Shaw and Valentine's relationship adds spice since neither man trusts the other. Fans of P.D. James and Stuart MacBride will enjoy this fine crime novel.

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