Death Scene

May 8, 2017
Set in 1928, Adams’s elegantly written sequel to The Murder Book takes intelligent, introspective Det. Chief Insp. Henry Johnstone and his genial sergeant, Mickey Hitchens, to Shoreham-by-Sea on England’s south coast to investigate the murder of Cissie Rowe, a rising star in the film industry. Cissie was found dead in the bedroom of her modest home in Bungalow Town, an isolated Shoreham neighborhood that’s a veritable dormitory for the nearby film studio. When one of her lovestruck admirers turns up brutally murdered a few days later in his home just up the beach from Cissie’s, Johnstone and Hitchens are certain there’s a connection. As they dig deeper into the past of the beautiful young actress, they discover disturbing elements that have shaped her life in surprising ways. Adams smoothly integrates information about the police force between the wars (pay, hierarchy, development of forensic science) into the well-crafted plot.

May 15, 2017
DCI Henry Johnstone and DS Mickey Hitchens return to solve the murder of a rising film star.Very shortly after wardrobe assistant Muriel Owens discovers Cissie Rowe dead in her bungalow in Shoreham-by-Sea, the local police already find themselves in over their heads. So just as the Lincolnshire lads did when Mary Fields was killed in Louth (The Murder Book, 2017), the Shoreham force calls in Scotland Yard to gain access to all the modern technology Johnstone and Hitchens have tucked away in their renowned murder bag. In addition to magnifiers and fingerprint powder, the London detectives bring experience, tenacity, and a nose for the truth. They know that Muriel's account of Cissie as a pure young thing, beloved of all, may be a bit of a stretch. And they know that the men in her life--her French cousin Philippe, naive Jimmy Cottee, and banker Selwyn Croft--likely hold the key to her killing. Henry's sister Cynthia's offer to put them up in her posh town house in nearby Worthing gives the pair the chance they need to delve into Cissie's past. It also gives Adams the chance to reveal more of Johnstone's back story, and the more he and Cynthia play off each other, the richer the brew becomes. The second case for this team is a worthy follow-up to their debut, leaving the reader hoping for more.

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May 15, 2017
In 1928, Detective Chief Inspector Johnstone of Scotland Yard is charged with investigating the death of a silent-movie actress. He heads off to Shoreham-by-the-Sea, a small town populated in large part by people in the movie business. This means that most of Johnstone's likely suspects live a large part of their lives in make-believe worlds and are thoroughly adept at spinning lies. The first Johnstone novel, The Murder Book (2017), introduced us to a fascinating character, but just as we were getting to know him, the story ended. So this new installment in the series offers not just a solidly constructed mystery but also the welcome return of a character we hope to read more about in the future.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)