Blind Fury

May 2, 2011
When an unidentified woman is discovered raped and murdered at a service station off the M1 motorway in La Plante's gripping sixth novel featuring London Det. Insp. Anna Travis (after Silent Scream), Anna and her team fear it's the work of the same person who murdered both another unidentified woman and prostitute Margaret Potts. Anna has little to go on until Cameron Welsh, a sadistic killer Anna helped convict years earlier, contacts her from prison and promises he can help solve the case. She reluctantly agrees to meetâdespite Welsh's interest in the case being a thinly veiled attempt to get close to herâwhile pursuing any lead to try and identify the nameless victims. Hovering in the background is Anna's former lover, Det. Chief Supt. James Langton, who arrives to supervise the case, which grows increasingly complex as it builds to its violent climax. Now a more agile investigator, Anna has finally stepped clear of Langton'sâand Jane Tennison'sâshadow.

Starred review from June 1, 2011
Still recovering from her disastrous love affair with DCI James Langton, DI Anna Travis is eager for a new focus when she's assigned to a case that will have life-changing implications. The body of a young prostituteraped and strangledis found in a field, and as Anna and her team work to identify the anonymous girl and determine who killed her, they learn she may have been just the latest in a long list of murdered prostitutes. Clues lead nowhere, and Anna and the team begin to wonder if the case is solvable. The only positive is that Anna meets prison guard Ken Hudson during the investigation and falls head over heels in love. The relationship, in fact, leads to Anna making the unlikely connections that finally crack the case but not before a terrible tragedy strikesone that will change Anna's life forever. This is vintage La Plante: the quintessential police procedural, with a flawed heroine and enough dark twists to keep even the seasoned mystery fan off balance. A must for fans of British cop stories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)