4.5 stars out of 5If you're like me and enjoy a good detective series, I highly recommend this one (it's the sixth book featuring London Detective Erika Foster). She's a bit reminiscent of J.D. Robb's Lt. Eve Dallas - another of my favorites - like Eve, tough as nails, but with less of a secretive, angst-ridden background.
The story begins not long after Erika's last case, and she's trying for some semblance of normalcy over the Christmas holidays (four years after her husband and fellow officer Mark was killed in action). But that involves going to a Christmas lunch at her supervisor's house that she's less than thrilled about - so when news of a murder comes in, off she goes to check it out. A young woman named Marissa has been brutally murdered - frozen to the icy ground in front of her home. Further investigation determines she was attacked by a black-clad person wearing a gas mask; and soon enough, Erika learns of other men and women who's been attacked by a similarly clad and as-yet unidentified person.
Clues lead in different directions, including to a strange young man who tended to focus his photography skills on the murdered Marissa and the elderly woman for whom Marissa was a part-time caregiver. But just as things are at something of a stalemate, the story takes a bit of a detour from the usual format. Erika is called to deal with issues of her late husband Mark's aging father, leaving co-worker (and another favorite character) Moss in charge of the department and heading up the biggest case of her career. As events transpire for both women, readers see more of their personal sides.
Truthfully, the departure is a little bit painful; Moss seems to be so far out of her element that she's almost rendered ineffective, and while it's nice to know Erika has a softer side in there somewhere, I much prefer her when it doesn't show quite so much.
That said, it's a totally engrossing book that's hard to put down (I read it easily in two days of spare time). The ending is both exciting and surprising - I guessed the who, but never in a million years would I have come up with the very intriguing why. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this latest installment in exchange for an honest review. Good job once again!
Deadly Secrets by Robert Bryndza (Bookouture, April 2018); 270 pp.
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