Gunrunner

November 7, 2011
A murder at Heathrow Airport propels Ison’s smooth 11th police procedural featuring Chief Insp. Harry Brock and Det. Sgt. Dave Poole (after 2010’s All Quiet on Arrival). Robbery is obviously not a motive in the stabbing death of Kerry Hammond, found on Christmas day in her Jaguar XJ in the airport car park with a large amount of cash. Suspects soon emerge, notably Kerry’s husband, estate agent Nicholas Hammond, with whom she was supposed to fly to New York the night before. Why did Nicholas depart Heathrow without her? The victim owned a haulage firm, Kerry Trucking, and it doesn’t take long for the London coppers to uncover some dodgy business practices there. The investigation also reveals that Kerry was pretty free with her favors and frequented nightclubs like Mayfair’s Spanish Fly. Competent police work by Brock’s crew, including redoubtable Det. Insp. Kate Ebdon, complements the clever plotting.

January 15, 2012
DCI Harry Brock (All Quiet on Arrival, 2010, etc.) must skip his plum pudding when DS Don Keegan calls about a body found in a Jaguar XJ parked at Heathrow on Christmas morning. Once Brock gets to Heathrow, the investigation moves like clockwork. His sergeant, Dave Poole, identifies the deceased as Kerry Hammond, owner of Kerry Trucking in Chiswick. Death kept her from flying to New York for a holiday rendezvous with her husband, realtor Nicholas Hammond. Kerry's parents admit that their daughter turned into something of a good-time girl after the death of her first husband, Dick Lucas. Her cell phone log includes the number of nightclub owner Miguel Rodriguez, who admits having a fling with Kerry. So do Kerry's secretary, Bryce Marlow, and Gary Dixon, a trucker whom Kerry's manager Bernard Bligh sacked for bootlegging. When DS Tom Challis discovers a secret compartment in the Scania Dixon used to drive, Brock calls his old friend Henri Deshayes of the Police Judiciaire in Paris to put a tail on the Scania when new driver Bill Sharpe makes his next run to Marseille. Sharpe leads them to a warehouse in Cantard Street where workers offload the contraband. Even a warning from British Counter-Terrorism to go easy on Nick Hammond barely makes a dent in Brock and Hammond's investigation, as they march in lockstep connecting the dots to the inevitable arrest of Kerry's murderer. Like a Christmas present from your granny, Ison's latest is nicely wrapped but with no surprises.

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