A Good Death

December 5, 2016
Fully-fledged female characters distinguish Collett’s eighth police procedural featuring Det. Insp. Tom Mariner, a Birmingham, England, police officer (after 2015’s Dead of Night). In particular, the women of the Shah family stand out as they face discrimination and deal with family needs that their male counterparts can just ignore (or leave to stay-at-home wives or mothers). The focus, though, is on Mariner, a thoughtful, observant man who struggles to do the right thing for his friends, colleagues, and lovers. The reader follows him with interest as he and his team investigate two very different crimes—a death by arson and the case of a man who has gone missing just two weeks before his wedding. The motives are initially unclear: is the arson the result of a hate crime against the Shah family, or is there something even more sinister behind it? Has the future bridegroom met with foul play, or has he simply run away from the prospect of a stifling marriage? Mariner uncovers some surprising truths.

December 1, 2016
DCI Tom Mariner returns in a cleverly plotted story thats part police procedural and part philosophical consideration of assisted suicide. Mariner is running two parallel investigations, one a missing-person case and one involving a horrific house fire. The fire has burned the home of the Shah family, Yemeni immigrants who have made a new life for themselves in England. The father was out of the country at the time, and while Mrs. Shah and the two children escaped, her father was not so lucky. Mariner suspects arson, focusing on who might have had a grudge against the Shahs. The missing person is Sam Fleetwood, who was due to get married in a few weeks. The police figure he may have gone off to have a last fling, but when Sam's car is found, burned out and abandoned, the case takes on a new urgency. The story features multiple disparate plot strands, but Collett skillfully weaves the tangled threads together into a satisfying conclusion. Well written, thoughtful, and entertaining, this one's a good pick for those who like procedurals with some meat on their bones.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)