Mortal Taste

October 1, 2003
Head teacher Peter Logan has grand plans for Greenwood Comprehensive, his Cheltenham school, in Mortal Taste, J.M. Gregson's sixth Lambert and Hook police procedural (after An Academic Death). When a bullet puts an end to Logan's lofty ambitions, all sorts of people who had reason to disapprove of his actions come out of the woodwork.

September 15, 2003
Peter Logan is headmaster of Greenwood Comprehensive, one of Cheltenham's top schools, and by all accounts, he does an outstanding job. The parents, staff, and pupils admire him, and Greenwood has won kudos for its forward-looking methods and philosophy. But Logan is not quite the gifted headmaster his public image portrays. When he's found stabbed to death in a local park, it soon becomes clear that he had some dark secrets. Chief Superintendent John Lambert and his trusty sidekick, Detective Sergeant Hook, are assigned to the case, which Lambert is determined to solve quickly, because he is due to retire in a few months. But a tangle of suspects and motives complicate matters, with drugs, sex, blackmail, potential pedophilia, and vengeful ex-lovers all figuring into the case. Recommend this solid entry in an entertaining series to fans of such A-list British procedural authors as Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)