Police Procedural

Review - Ragdoll, Daniel Cole

Author Information
Book Title: 
Ragdoll
Author Name: 
Daniel Cole
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
9781409168751
Series: 
Wolf and Baxter
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Sub Genre: 
Serial Killer
Location: 
London
Publisher: 
Hachette Australia
Publisher Website: 
Hachette Australia - Ragdoll
Year of Publication: 
2017

The nation is gripped by the infamous 'Ragdoll Killer'

Your friends, your family and your neighbours are all talking about it.

Book Review: 

In a short author interview at the end of Ragdoll, Daniel Cole explains how he put the novel together. He wanted something that was less po-faced that the run of the mill British television crime drama but something not as cheesy as American television crime drama like Castle. And while he has partially succeeded in Ragdoll, he does end up leaning very heavily towards the cheesy/contrived end of the spectrum.

Ragdoll opens with the trial of the Cremation Killer – a man known for burning his young, female victims. The trial goes south and police investigator William Oliver Lawton-Fawkes, aka the Wolf, unable to take this miscarriage of justice, attacks and almost kills the defendant. When he is later proved right, Wolf is reinstated to the Force so that four years later when a body is found composed of the body parts of six different people he is on the case. The body, nicknamed the “ragdoll” has been left in such a way that it points towards the flat in which Fawkes in living. And when the head of that body turns out to be the Cremation Killer, connections to that earlier case start to haunt the current investigation.

Things become more complicated and the race is on when the killer announces his next six victims and names the dates on which they are going to die. Wolf is number six on that list and his ex-wife Andrea is the news reader who breaks the story to the world.

Ragdoll does have the trappings of a British police procedural but a particularly sloppy one in which half of the investigators should have recused themselves from the case well before their connections have become obvious to everyone. There is an enjoyable strain of morbid humour running through the narrative and a forced element of unresolved sexual tension between Wolf and his fellow investigator Baxter. But Ragdoll also reads like one of those over-the-top American serial killer thrillers in which the killer uses seemingly superhuman foresight and planning in order to get to their victims in the most innovative ways. There is a nice twists to the killer’s motives and some explanation for his powers of planning but pausing to think about how any of this is possible is not all that helpful in this style of thriller.

Cole may have been going for something a little different with Ragdoll but instead he just ends up with more of the same. For readers who like this sort of thing, Ragdoll, ticks all of the right boxes and they will find the pages almost turning themselves, not giving them time to think about the lack of logic. But there is nothing really to make this book stand out from the crowd other than more macabre ways of displaying dead bodies and inventive ways of killing others (you might never look at an inhaler in the same way again).

Review - From Darkest Skies, Sam Peters

Author Information
Book Title: 
From Darkest Skies
Author Name: 
Sam Peters
ISBN: 
9781473214750
Categorisation
Category: 
Science Fiction
Police Procedural
Sub Genre: 
Noir
Publisher: 
Hachette Australia
Publisher Website: 
Hachette Australia - From Darkest Skies
Year of Publication: 
2017

FROM DARKEST SKIES is a high-concept science fiction thriller wrapped around a love story, a man's search for the truth about his dead wife, and his relationship with the artificial intelligence he has built to replace her. Set in a future where the aliens came, waged war, and then vanished again, this is a striking new voice in science fiction.

Book Review: 

Sam Peters creates an offworld noirish detective story in From Darkest Skies. At first blush Koenig Rause, generally known as Keys, exhibits all the traits of a classic age detective. Thrown out of his job for some serious but unspecified misdemeanour, only in that job after fleeing his real job as an investigator, full of self loathing, crawling back to his old team to try and solve the case that made everything go bad. That case – the death of his wife Alysha in more than suspicious circumstances. So far, so noir.

The twist in this tale is that Keys is going back to the planet Magenta with an illegal robotic simulation of his wife in tow. Unable to cope with the grief, he has illegally constructed an artificial intelligence that looks like his dead wife and carries memories constructed from all of the public and private data he could make available. The real Alysha kept things from Keys about her work and as his new version has no access to private information, the AI cannot help him with those details.

From Darkest Skies starts on Earth. The early going in this book is tough, with Peters engaging in plenty of tell don’t show exposition. In a nutshell – some aliens came, killed lots of people and then distributed many of the rest across 37 planets for reasons still unknown. Keys himself comes from Magenta, an icy planet ironically settled mainly by Polynesians. Magenta is not all that hospitable – only a small equatorial band is inhabitable and even then the weather is shocking. And it sports a gravity 1.4 times that of Earth so that many people require a type of gene therapy and drugs to survive on the surface.

Keys returns to Magenta where he is given a small, slightly offbeat team which he enhances by taking on an old friend of his wifes. They are tasked with investigating the death of an heriess, killed by what was supposed to be a harmless recreational drug native to the planet. It is not long before this investigation and Keys off the book investigation into the death of Alysha five years before start to run into each other.

When the investigation finally kicks off, From Darkest Skies works as an effective science fiction police procedural mash up. There is the requisite evil corporation, departmental politics, personality clashes, a mysterious stranger who seems to be one step ahead and some interesting action sequences. And behind it all a much larger mystery. The problem is that there is much of Peter’s universe that is only vaguely sketched. So that the connections between Key’s investigation and the broader context of that universe, including why humanity has been scattered and what the evil corporations are actually trying to achieve is vague at best.

Comparisons have been made with Humans and Westworld, probably due to the existence of an AI character, the idealised version of Keys’ wife Alysha. But while it has an android character who is essential to the plot, From Darkest Skies is not really like either of these. It is its own form of hybrid robot, noir crime, space opera, corporate skulduggery story and when it works or when it doesn’t work it does so on its own terms.

Review - Scared to Death, Rachel Amphlett

Author Information
Book Title: 
Scared to Death
Author Name: 
Rachel Amphlett
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Series: 
Kay Hunter
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
UK
Publisher: 
Saxon Publishing
Year of Publication: 
2016

A serial killer murdering for kicks. 

A detective seeking revenge.

When the body of a snatched schoolgirl is found in an abandoned biosciences building, the case is first treated as a kidnapping gone wrong. 

But Detective Kay Hunter isn’t convinced, especially when a man is found dead with the ransom money still in his possession.

When a second schoolgirl is taken, Kay’s worst fears are realised.

With her career in jeopardy and desperate to conceal a disturbing secret, Kay’s hunt for the killer becomes a race against time before he claims another life.

Book Review: 

SCARED TO DEATH is the first in a new series from author Rachel Amphlett. It's a switch from the earlier espionage styled Dan Taylor novels, to a police procedural featuring Detective Kay Hunter. 

From the opening scenes with parents Yvonne and Tony racing to provide the ransom money and recover their daughter Melanie, through to the police investigation that follows, there's plenty of intrigue and pace built into SCARED TO DEATH. It is a novel structured in form of police procedural precisely, building a great team around a really strong, central character, looking at the pitfalls, slog and highs of crime investigation. This is a crime that seems to be a kidnapping that's gone horribly wrong, but Hunter always feels there was something not right about the whole scenario. A very odd cause of death is one thing, the way that the ransom was collected is another, and then a second strange death, seems to Hunter to be designed to deflect further investigation setting her up on a collison course with her bosses, and a very nasty killer.

An interesting touch, there's an idea here about the need to keep investigating even if things seem very clear cut. The concept of making darn sure that the seemingly obvious is correct is something that has been reflected in some historical true crime analysis that's been around recently, and it's explored well in this particular novel. Doing it from the point of view of one dedicated, almost obsessive cop has resonance as well - giving readers plenty of ways of connecting with Hunter, especially as she's also got more than a few skeletons in the cupboard.

Given this is the first in a new series, the balance between character and team setup, and creating a fully fleshed out story as well, is nicely done. The plot is tight and clever, the action fast paced and there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. The scenario is complicated without being complex, and even allowing for some aspects from the darker side of crime fiction, it's not overly confrontational or uncomfortable reading. 

SCARED TO DEATH is really well written, delivering a plot from the darker side, with a strong female character who is flawed enough to be believable and strong enough to have potential to carry this series forward. There's a good supporting cast of characters and a strong sense of good, old-fashioned, police procedural - investigation, evidence gathering and a touch of intuition. 


Review - Detective Work, John Dale

Author Information
Book Title: 
Detective Work
Author Name: 
John Dale
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781921134715
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
Sydney
Tasmania
Publisher: 
Xuoum
Publisher Website: 
Xuoum - Detective Work
Year of Publication: 
2015

When Dimitri Telegonus is promoted to the Serious Unsolved Crime Unit to investigate the disappearance of a beautiful blonde escort, he thinks he’s finally made the big time. He’d always wanted to do detective work; thought it was his destiny.

But things quickly start to unravel. His assigned partner is an uninterested dinosaur and when progress in the investigation is slow, the bosses threaten to pull the plug.

Book Review: 

It's been a bit of a wait for the arrival of what seems to be the first crime fiction novel, DETECTIVE WORK from Australian author John Dale. Well enough worth the wait to wonder why it's taken so long, and to certainly hope that it's the beginning of a new series.

There's nothing about DETECTIVE WORK that reads like a debut at all. A police procedural in form, the novel packs a punch on all fronts - plot, character and style. Set around the now well-known area of Cold Crimes, Dimitri Telegonus is the new kid on the bloke, recently promoted, paired with your classic old, bitter, cynical, filling in time style cop. A cliché that runs the risk of being decidedly formulaic, although this outing is written with a wonderful sense of humour and fun which lifts the working relationship out of the predicted, into something realistic and involving.

The pressure from on high to get results is yet again another well-worked scenario, but way that Telegonus reacts to the possibility of a job move is elegantly portrayed - shoving yet another potential been-there-done-that moment to the side well and truly. 

What really works in this novel is the characterisations. One new to the job, sincere, dedicated, hard working and incredibly naive. The other old, tired, disinterested and unmotivated play off each other really well. There is energy and vitality to the way that the relationship plays out, with very entertaining storytelling to boot. The sense of humour is fabulous, the dry observations, comments and wits part of the attraction. The plot of cold case scenarios is well drawn and the links between the past and the present believable and easy to follow.

There's so much potential in this novel that you really cannot help but hope it's either the beginning of a good new Australian series, or at least the heralding of yet more crime fiction from John Dale.

Detective Work

Submitted by Karen on March 7, 2016 - 9:34am
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Category: 
Police Procedural

When Dimitri Telegonus is promoted to the Serious Unsolved Crime Unit to investigate the disappearance of a beautiful blonde escort, he thinks he’s finally made the big time. He’d always wanted to do detective work; thought it was his destiny.

But things quickly start to unravel. His assigned partner is an uninterested dinosaur and when progress in the investigation is slow, the bosses threaten to pull the plug.

ISBN: 
9781921134715
Publisher: 
Xuoum
Year of Publication: 
2015

Review - POST MORTEM, Kate London

Author Information
Book Title: 
Post Mortem
Author Name: 
Kate London
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
9781782396130
Series: 
Lizzie Griffiths
Sarah Collins
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Publisher: 
Atlantic
Publisher Website: 
Atlantic / Allen & Unwin - Post Mortem
Year of Publication: 
2015

An intricate, gritty and authentic crime novel from a serving detective in the Met's murder squad - an explosive debut.

Book Review: 

Kate London worked for the English police force both as a beat cop and as a detective, and it shows. Her debut, Post Mortem is a solid, well observed, sometimes surprising procedural. London deconstructs the small decisions and the slippery slope of arse covering that can lead to tragedy, and then how people deal with the fallout of their decisions.

Post Mortem opens with the tragedy. A seasoned beat officer and a fourteen year old girl lie dead at the base of an apartment block. Still on the roof, a young policewoman and a five year old child, abducted earlier that day by the dead girl. Lizzie Griffiths, the young officer, is allowed to go home but runs when the investigators come to try and find out what happened.

The story then centres around two women. The first is Lizzie, on the run and lying low for reasons that only slowly become clear. Much of the narrative surrounding Lizzie is told in flashback, describing the events that led up to the book’s shocking opening. London carefully observes Lizzie’s behaviour and the behaviour of the police officers that she works with, revealing the way that her relative inexperience is manipulated. Lizzie tries her hardest to help people but is quickly drawn in to the us-and-them mentality of her colleagues.

Meanwhile, Detective Sarah Collins, is trying to both track Lizzie down and solve the crime, coming under increasing pressure from the higher ups. When her investigation starts to centre on one of Lizzie’s commanding officers, the police politics become even more caustic. Sarah is not as richly described as Lizzie. She comes across as a typical police investigator of the type that appears on a multitude of British police dramas. A workaholic who gets the job done by ignoring police culture, placing a barrier between herself from her colleagues as a result.

While the stories of the two women alternate, Lizzie is really the centre of the tale. Her dilemmas, the decisions she has to make, and her choices are well described. London displays a much deeper understanding of what makes Lizzie tick. The investigating officers, Collins and her colleagues, are less well drawn making some of their actions, particularly towards the end of the book, a little puzzling.

The resolution of Post Mortem, if it can be called that, is messy, and as a result adds to the overall feeling of veracity. There is no easy, Agatha Christie style drawing room revelation or criminal mastermind spilling their guts. When the novel finishes, only the reader has a grasp of the full circumstances of events.

Post Mortem is supposed to be the start of a series. If London is going to focus that series around Sarah Collins then she has a lot more work to do. If she continues to focus in on police culture, and the messiness of real life, then this promises to be a series to watch.

Review - TELL NO TALES, Eva Dolan

Author Information
Book Title: 
Tell No Tales
Author Name: 
Eva Dolan
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
9780099584384
Series: 
Zigic and Ferreira
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Special Interests: 
Hate Crimes
Location: 
Peterborough
Publisher: 
Vintage
Publisher Website: 
Vintage - Tell No Tales
Year of Publication: 
2015

The car that ploughs into the bus stop early one morning leaves a trail of death and destruction behind it.

DS Ferreira and DI Zigic are called in from the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit to handle the hit-and-run, but with another major case on their hands, one with disturbing Neo-Nazi overtones, they are relieved when there seems to be an obvious suspect. But the case isn't that simple and with tensions erupting in the town leading to more violence, the media are soon hounding them for answers.

Book Review: 

Two books in and the Zigic and Ferreira is a new much anticipated, favourite series.

If you've read the first book, then as soon as you start TELL NO TALES, you're straight back with characters that you really know, in a place that you're comfortable in, even though there is nothing comfortable about events, or the social climate. If you haven't read the first, then it won't matter a bit - there is still plenty here for new readers.

Tackling the question of immigration, immigrant workers, tensions with Nationalist groups, and the explosion in Hate Crimes that has occurred in many communities worldwide can't be an easy undertaking - the issues behind everything are complicated and fraught with political and personal implications. Setting events within the purview of the Hate Crimes division, and then never creating an easy situation for them to deal with gives the reader the opportunity to connect, see, even understand many of those issues through the investigator's eyes. Add to that in TELL NO TALES you have the viewpoint of a survivor (and participant), as well as a look at the politics behind many of the tensions, which gives the difficulties more nuance, more complications, more connections. 

The other element that contributes much to these books is the way that no-one here is exactly 100% perfect. Zigic is a well-meaning, frequently absent husband and father, who worries about the effect that this will have on his family. There are such nice glimpses into the things that make you go hmmm - the use of very Slavic names for his very English boys and the potential impact that could have. The way that their quiet domestic community is being pressed in upon as the suburbs extend, potentially bringing the problems of his work-beat closer to home. Both of these main characters are the children of immigrant families, so many of the tensions, the problems of acceptance, fitting in are all too obviously understood. Ferreira is the child of Portuguese parents, trying to step away from family control, branch out a little, living the hard partying life of a young woman who is feeling the pressure of family obligations.

This understanding of the experience of many of the victims, and the perpetrators being perused isn't done in a heavy handed manner however. This is a strong police procedural into which these elements are seamlessly introduced, tucked into the narrative in a way that's informative rather than pointed. 

All of which is delivered in a flowing, strong style that effortlessly holds the reader's attention, always promising more in the next chapter. TELL NO TALES is great crime fiction. It's a tale being told, it's a look into a particularly dark aspect of society and a very current day problem, and it's an exploration of the things that go wrong (and right) in our world. 


Review - LONG WAY HOME, Eva Dolan

Author Information
Book Title: 
Long Way Home
Author Name: 
Eva Dolan
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
9781448163304
Series: 
Zigic and Ferreira
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
Peterborough
United Kingdom
Publisher: 
Vintage
Year of Publication: 
2014

A man is burnt alive in a suburban garden shed.

DI Zigic and DS Ferreira are called in from the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit to investigate the murder. Their victim is quickly identified as a migrant worker and a man several people might have had good reason to see dead. A convicted arsonist and member of a far-right movement has just been released from prison, while witnesses claim to have seen the dead man fighting with one of the town's most prominent slum landlords.

Book Review: 

LONG WAY HOME was released in 2014 and quickly garnered a lot of very positive comments. At which point it was placed on my reading list and then never quite nudged it's way to the top. Nothing to do with it at all, rather a propensity to be useless at prioritising books and the sudden explosion in splendid reading opportunities.

But the second book in the series, TELL NO TALES was provided as a review opportunity and it seemed a pity not to sneak in the first as a lead in. Oh what a good decision that turned out to be. Aside from the pressure to read the second one getting so extreme I might have to pull a hamstring or invent something that makes me take to the couch to read non-stop for a week.

If we take it as a given that crime fiction, at its best, looks at the society in which it is written and plucks out things that need looking at, then LONG WAY HOME is a stellar example of that. The question of immigration and integration is one that is taxing a number of communities these days (here no less than others), and the idea of the requirement for a Hate Crimes Unit makes sense, as does the wide-ranging remit they are presented with. Members of that unit being multi-racial and multi-lingual as well also makes sense, as does the odd feeling that investigating acts against members of your own community, or people with a similar background that must ensue.

All of this messaging though is built into a solid plot within a believable and very strong police procedural. The main characters are stand-out, even the victim is given life and vitality as his background is combed over. The writing is crisp, clear, deft and beautifully executed. The dialogue is spot on, the descriptions of place, people, feelings and circumstances assured and very readable. To the point where this reader should be excused for a bit of late night googling as flagging this as a debut novel felt like a typo.

Leaning towards hard-boiled in stylings and subject matter, Dolan has created a team of investigator's and a scenario for them to work in that really feels like it's got legs. Certainly hope so. Now can well understand the very positive comments about this book. The second book in this series is now calling very loudly.

Review - IF I SHOULD DIE, Matthew Frank

Author Information
Book Title: 
If I Should Die
Author Name: 
Matthew Frank
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
B00H7O87ZC
Series: 
Joseph Stark
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
United Kingdom
Publisher: 
Penguin
Publisher Website: 
Penguin - If I Should Die
Year of Publication: 
2014

Vicious, apparently motiveless attacks target defenceless down-and-outs in South London.  But when one of the victims dies from his injuries, it's murder . . .

For Joseph Stark, the Met investigation team's newest detective, death is already all too familiar.  Wounded in an attack that killed his comrades, Stark has been haunted by nightmares since his return from the Afghan frontline.

Just trying to recover would be struggle enough, but Stark also has to deal with the rigours of a murder investigation while navigating the rivalries and loyalties of his new department.

Book Review: 

In a world crowded with police procedurals it’s sometimes hard to imagine there being room for something new. While Matthew Frank’s debut novel IF I SHOULD DIE traverses some familiar procedural ground he uses this structure to introduce a startling new character and reveal London and Londoners in a distinctive style and voice.

Joe Stark is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He has returned home after being seriously injured in a fire fight but has shortcut his recovery to rejoin the police as a trainee investigator. The heart of the novel is Joe’s journey and his battle with the nightmares and physical impediments which plague him as he tries desperately to create a new post-military life. The structure and tone of the novel reflect Joe’s stubborn and reserved personality and, as a reader, it is easy to become as frustrated as his colleagues and therapists by his stubbornness and reticence. Reflecting this, the narrative pans away from Joe whenever he is forced to reveal his past, so as not to reveal his secrets.

The crime element of the novel is engaging and well handled. What begins as a series of beatings of homeless people by a group of disaffected youth quickly spirals into a series of murders with broader implications. While there are twists and reverses, Frank does not pull back from the boring procedure – walking around a crime scene, digging through rubbish bins, watching hours of CCTV footage – which gives the team’s wins some value. And as the novel proceeds that team emerges strongly, particularly Stark’s supervisor DS Fran Millhaven and her boss DCI Goombridge. As part of this team, Joe, as it turns out, is not a half bad detective and a number of times (maybe too many) he comes up with the idea that gives the case a break.

IF I SHOULD DIE is a confident and well-written debut. On the surface this is a Bill-like police procedural, walking the mean streets of Greenwich. But the heart of IF I SHOULD DIE is Trainee Investigator Joe Stark and an absorbing exploration of loyalty, duty and honour.

Review - KUNDELA, Terry L Probert

Author Information
Book Title: 
Kundela
Author Name: 
Terry L Probert
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9780987407405
Categorisation
Category: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
South Australia
Flinders Ranges

In his right hand, he held the pointing bone. Having caught her attention, his eyes dropped to look at the bone and she watched as the Kundela turned to sand and ran through his fingers, to form an eerie cloud in shape of a death mask. Then the dust was gone and he raised his hand.

Book Review: 

It's great to see police procedurals set in rural Australia that don't assume that everything's sinister and vaguely barking mad, and that reflects some of the dry humour, and resilience of both the cops and the locals.

KUNDELA perhaps errs a little to much to that descriptive element though, at the expense of much of the plot which seems to get a little lost and confused at points. The scenic descriptions were, however beautiful, and it's obvious that the author loves this area of Australia very much. He's also built a good cast of characters, albeit with some mixed success in the relationships. Liked the combination of Joe and his wife, that felt real and believable. Much of the newer romance elements weren't quite so convincing, and a little awkward, even self-concious.

The plot, however, is the main element that really needed work. Despite a couple of standout scenes, a lot of it was a little clunky and disjointed, and whilst the mysticism, a vital point that the author is trying to impart, somehow it felt a little too "highlighted" and not part of the natural evolution of the story. The ending really needed work as well. Whilst there is a reasonable build up, albeit with some overpadding somehow the climax of the story wasn't. It just sort of clunked to the end, leaving the distinct sense that the glider had run out of thermals.

But I've said it before, and I'll say it again, debut novels are tricky beasts and really good editors are a reader's best friend. Overall, despite some disappointing aspects, KUNDELA does show some potential - especially if the author expands on the setting and communities for which there's such obvious affection and understanding.