Perfect Death by Helen Fields

2.5 Stars

I was actually quite disappointed in this book.  The first two DI Luc Callanch books are tautly written and suck you in to the depraved underbelly of Edinburgh quite nicely.  There is a lot of dwelling on the attractiveness of the DI and his "past" but these seems to become almost voyeuristic in the third book and it did make me feel rather uncomfortable at times.

The book itself follows the tried and tested format of flashes from the protagonists point of view, but just enough so we can see he is selecting a new victim and a tiny glimpse of why.  Then we flip back to the investigation, or maybe a glimpse of "life outside the job" which almost inevitable seems to involve copious amounts of alcohol and questionable personal choices. What I would give right now for a reasonably well balanced senior police officer.

The side thread of the possible corruption and suicide of a formed DCI just confuses things and leads to some of the most ridiculous scenarios imaginable.  Honestly since Ava became a DCI I think her brain has deserted her, let alone a sense of self-preservation.  Follow this up by Callanach and Lively dashing to Glasgow like a pair of idiots and the strangely comic book violence they meet up with there and it all rather falls apart.

The idea behind the main murder story in the book is a good one and should have been enough to carry the story on it's own.  We really don't need all the extra bells and whistles - especially when so poorly executed.

I have the fourth book already so I really hope it is an improvement on this one.