Dying Bad

January 14, 2013
In Carter’s middling third procedural featuring Birmingham, England’s, Det. Insp. Sarah Quinn (after 2012’s Mother Love), Quinn, journalist Caroline King, and solicitor Ruby Wells engage, in various ways, with the ugly crime of “grooming”—turning vulnerable underage girls into abused sex objects. Quinn’s angered by the dismissal of the case against Jas Ram, one of the worst offenders. King desperately wants to interview Ram for the book she plans. Wells, who’s befriended some troubled young women, has a different agenda. Meanwhile, cantankerous Det. Chief Supt. Fred Baker is pushing hard to solve the brutal beatings, one fatal, of three men, only one of whom is identified. A tip points to two male teens as the culprits, but the police overlook other potential suspects. Quinn, King, and Wells all court danger as they interact with the despicable Ram. Brief, sordid stories of grooming victims alternate with the investigation into the beating victims. The clumsily contrived ending disappoints.

February 15, 2013
Fast-talking enemies must join forces to stop the leader of a child prostitution ring from striking again. The ice queen of her department, DI Sarah Quinn is the one person in Birmingham willing to stand up to her chief when she disagrees with his calls. So, she senses that she's approaching a familiar position when she feels that things are moving a little fast with their latest case. The streets of the city are doubtless a little cleaner once a set of youths are picked up for suspected links to apparently random attacks throughout the city. While they're certainly guilty of some smaller crimes, could they be responsible for something worse? Sarah can't help seeking a victory to make up for the failure to convict Jas Ram, who's gone free even though he was patently guilty of corrupting children into prostitution. Journalist Caroline King, equally convinced of Ram's guilt, intends to use his release to her advantage, interviewing him and his victims for what she hopes will become a best-seller. Although Caroline and Sarah often fight on opposite sides of the same battles, what happens next forces the two enemies into an uneasy truce as both use Caroline's sources to figure out whether there's a connection between the prostitution ring and the street attacks. The dialogue Carter (Mother Love, 2012, etc.) provides between the enemies-turned-collaborators is so snappy that readers may well forgive the lack of narrative drive.

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February 15, 2013
Sarah Quinn and Caroline King, dueling detective inspector and journalist, return in the third novel in the new series by the author of the Bev Morriss mysteries. Jas Ram, accused of forcing young girls into a life of sexual slavery, has been released, the charges against him dropped due to insufficient evidence. Sarah, sickened by the man's release, is determined to find out what went wrong (even though she has another ongoing investigation, one with a high level of political sensitivity). Meanwhile, Caroline, sensing the potential for a serious career boost, is determined to get an interview with Ram. But neither she nor Sarah anticipates that they might be forced to put aside their personal animosity and work together. It adds up to a perfectly fine mystery, but readers may find themselves hoping that the truce between Quinn and King is merely temporary. You don't find a lot of mysteries in which the two protagonists actively work against each other, and it would be a shame to see this series morph into yet another featuring a pair of friendly female leads.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)