Blood Brothers

August 8, 2011
For all its youthful fabulousness, swinging early ’60s London has a decidedly darker side, as aspiring photographer Kate O’Donnell quickly discovers in this promising first in a new series from Hall (Devil’s Game). Fresh out of art college in her native Liverpool, where she hung with the likes of John Lennon, intrepid Kate is determined to crack the shooters’ boys’ club—as well as to track down missing big brother Tom. But her initial inquiries around the dodgy streets of Soho lead her to an apartment where a young gay man was recently murdered and from which his lover, who fits Tom’s description, has vanished. As she races to stay a step ahead of the charming but morally suspect Det. Sgt. Harry “Flash” Barnard, Kate stumbles into a high-stakes gangland power struggle. For readers not put off by talk of “poofters” and “nancy-boys,” this is a suspenseful ride with a detective duo well worth rejoining.

April 28, 2014
It’s not easy for a pretty young woman to get past both the entrenched sexism of the early 1960s and the hidebound British newspaper industry, as shown in Hall’s action-filled fourth mystery featuring photographer Kate O’Donnell (after 2013’s Dressed to Kill). Kate gets a freelance gig working with Carter Price, a national crime reporter who has heard rumors of a major heist being planned. Meanwhile, Kate’s sometime boyfriend, Det. Sgt. Harry Barnard, looks into a case involving a mutilated body found on a construction site in London’s West End. Harry is also under scrutiny because of his association with Ray Robertson, a childhood pal turned gangster. The plucky Kate won’t quit even when things get dangerous. The tension builds as the different plot lines come together, but Hall never loses control over the varying threads. She also does a terrific job of explaining the inner working of the press at a time when newspapers still mattered.