Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Gibson Crime Thriller Series #1
Publication Date: 6/27/12
Number of Pages: 256

This police procedural takes place in 1990’s Manchester but features ties to a case in 1942. A daughter insisting that her father’s death was not from natural causes leads Detective Sergeant Gibson onto the trail of a serial killer. At first, Gibson’s boss wants to ignore the woman, but he knows that he cannot because of the possible publicity. As Gibson questions the woman and begins making some half-hearted inquiries, he discovers yet another ‘accidental’ death that could have been something other than an accident. Then, another and the bodies keep piling up, especially once they figure out a major clue.

I can recommend this book to you if you enjoy police procedurals. It is well written and well-plotted with an interesting mystery. The villain was a sympathetic one and you could see what prompted him toward what he did – you wouldn’t agree with him, but you could see what sparked it. Personally, it was not my cup of tea because it was set in a much more contemporary period than I prefer. My usual reading period stops in the 1890s, with a few in the very early 1900s.

I didn’t care for the main character, DS Gibson, as he seemed more alcoholic than detective. I also had to wonder at the author’s attitude toward older people. I am the same age as most of the witnesses that were interviewed, yet all of them were senile, infirm, or some other less than flattering term – and if they hadn’t yet found them for an interview, they were thought to probably be dead.

I liked the secondary character, Mack, a retired newspaperman who still had lots of contacts within the business. He pulled many of the facts together and provided most of the information for the solution of the case.

Bottom line is – if you like more contemporary procedurals, then you would probably enjoy this book.