THE LOST VICTIM

5 stars out of 5

Police detective turned private investigator Kate Marshall makes her fifth appearance here, and I'm happy to say I've followed her from the start. That said, this book stands alone well (although as always, I'll advise starting any series from the beginning, which in this case is Nine Elms). I'm even happier to say I've enjoyed every single one.

Just as Kate and her agency partner, Tristan Harper, are wondering where the money will come from to pay the bills, Kate is contacted by an agency wanting help with a true crime podcast focusing on Janey Macklin, a young school girl who went missing three decades ago from a not-so-nice part of London. The would-be producer chose Kate because of her investigative skills, of course, but also because of the suspicion that the so-called Nine Elms Cannibal serial killer (one who made Hannibal Lecter look like a saint) might have had an appetite for Janey as well. More to the point, Peter Conway is in jail for other similar crimes and in failing health, but he and Kate have a history that produced their now-grown son, Jake. She, in fact, is the one who discovered his deadly secret and is responsible for his arrest and conviction.

Kate wants nothing to do with Peter, understandably, and while Jake is a bit more accepting of his father, he feels much the same. But the podcast producer can put her and Tristan up in a place she owns near the place at which Janey disappeared, and then there are those bills to consider. So, Kate reluctantly agrees to take a look - and what she sees isn't pretty. Fairly early on, several suspects are identified, but proof remains elusive.

By all accounts, though, Peter may well have known Janey - and even if he didn't do the deed, it's quite likely he knows who did. And that means Kate will have to do something she's refused to even think about since Peter went to prison. After that, it's following leads and patching together clues that lead to a really grand finale and open a path to the next adventure. I'll definitely be ready when it arrives - and meantime I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this one. Good job!

The Lost Victim by Robert Bryndza (Raven Street Publishing, July 2024); 322 pp.

DEVIL'S WAY

5 stars out of 5

After finishing this, the fourth in the series featuring private investigator Kate Marshall and her partner, Tristan Harper, I remain the fan who has enjoyed all the other books (as well as all the other books by this talented author, also a favorite). This time, the plot centers around a young boy who went missing 11 years ago.

Kate learned about the boy while she was hospitalized following an early-morning swimming accident; her roommate is an elderly woman named Jean, and the missing boy was her grandson Charlie. The pair, plus Jean's daughter and partner, were tent camping in a remote area known as Devil's Way; her daughter Becky, Jean says, blamed her for leaving the boy alone in their tent, if only for a short time.

Visits to the boggy area from which the boy disappeared don't reveal much, but more digging reveals that a social worker who apparently didn't think much of Becky's parenting or Jean's grandparenting was murdered not long after Charlie disappeared. That brings a major shift in the investigation, which in turn takes readers on twists and turns that lead to a not-too-surprising, but exciting end. At least that's the way it was for me, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. Well done!

Devil's Way by Robert Bryndza (Raven Street Publishing, January 2023); 334 pp.

DARKNESS FALLS

5 stars out of 5

After thoroughly enjoying the first two books in this series, I was chomping at the bit at the opportunity to dive into this one (thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the advance review copy). And once again, I wasn't disappointed. Kate Marshall, who recently started a private investigation business in England, is in her best sleuthing mode, with lots of help from her personable partner, Tristan Harper. Business isn't exactly booming, so they're both delighted when they get a call from Bev Ellis asking them to tackle a cold case: the disappearance of her journalist daughter, Joanna Duncan, a dozen years earlier.

Kate also owns a bunch of caravans - which if I'm correct is what we across the Pond call trailers (as in trailer park) - that bring in some money but need to be cleaned regularly. For that, she's hoping her grown son, Jake, will take charge when he comes home from college in a couple of weeks. For now, though, she and Tristan concentrate on their new case and start looking for clues, beginning with people who might be holding a grudge after Joanna did an expose on a local government official that resulted in losing his seat. It was, after all, just a couple of weeks after that when Joanna went missing. Willing to pay for the search is Bill, Bev's rather wealthy partner for many years, with whom she's now living.

Eventually, clues - some found in evidence boxes Kate has obtained from the police from their early-on investigation - turn up some names that lead to connections to the gay community, which seems to proliferate locally, both publicly and in secret (the latter mostly among married men who frequent gay bars and hire "rent boys" on the sly). As their investigation continues, though, it takes an even more sinister direction: the possibility that Joanna's disappearance isn't a one-off, but rather another in a string of serial killings by someone who isn't a stranger to the local community.

All in all, another entertaining adventure from beginning to end with very likable characters who are easy to "root" for. Bring on the next one - I'm ready already!

Darkness Falls by Robert Bryndza (Thomas & Mercer, December 2021); 304 pp.

SHADOW SANDS

 4 stars out of 5

I've read and thoroughly enjoyed several books by this author,

including the first in this series, Nine Elms. So even though I have at least three pre-release books on my Kindle that have review dates prior to this one, I simply couldn't wait to dive in.

And it certainly didn't disappoint. As this one begins in 2012, ex-cop Kate Marshall continues to put her life together years after an incident involving her ex-husband nearly ruined her life. At age 42, she's out of rehab and sober, but her parents took custody of her son Jake and haven't yet relinquished that designation. Now, she's a university lecturer in criminology, and Jake visits from time to time. Most recently, his visit didn't end well; diving in a reservoir near a hydroelectric plant that covered an abandoned village, they find a buried church - a good find - and a dead body - not so good. When the local police come to investigate, they conclude that the young man's death was accidental.

A few weeks later, however, Kate gets accosted by the young man's mother, who has heard of Kate's former police activity and insists that her son - an Olympic-quality swimmer - couldn't possibly have had an accident like this. Uncertain what to do, she tells her university assistant and good friend, Tristan Harper, that the mother is willing to pay good bucks to find out what really happened. They decide to look into things, trying first to confirm that the coroner's report was at best inaccurate.

Their investigation puts Kate and Tristan at odds with a very powerful local family that owns a vast amount of land near the hydroelectric plant. Meanwhile, one of their female university colleagues goes missing, adding yet another case to be solved and putting all three lives in danger.

From my perspective, it's another hard-to-put-down book in which the action never stops. Many thanks once again to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review it.

Shadow Sands by Robert Bryndza (Thomas & Mercer, November 2020); 310 pp.

NINE ELMS

5 stars out of 5

As a die-hard fan of this author - especially his Detective Erika Foster series - I was delighted to learn of his newest venture, of which this book marks the debut. I was thrilled when I snagged a copy through Amazon's First Reads program, and now that I'm finished, I'm over-the-top happy; in many ways, I like "new" heroine Kate Marshall even better than Foster.

Adding plenty of background "baggage" is, I'm pretty sure, Rule No. 1 in the Heroines 101 class; and to be sure, Kate has more than her share. A former police detective who was working on the case of the "Nine Elms Cannibal" some 15 years earlier, unsavory details about her personal life emerged, resulting in her leaving the force. Now, she lectures on criminology at a small university on England's South Coast; her parents have custody of her 14-year-old son. As the story begins, she's on her way home when she gets a call from her former boss, who tells her a girl's body has been found with bite marks and other similarities to the M.O. of the original serial killer. But it can't be him - he's still in prison ever since he was convicted 15 years ago. 

Apparently, then, there's a copycat killer on the loose. But while he (or she) is successfully mimicking the original killer's techniques, further evidence is virtually nonexistent. Kate, though, is not about to walk away; enlisting help from her university research assistant, Tristan Harper, she sets out to put the bite on the copycat. But unbeknownst to her, those efforts may put her in the crosshairs of a murderer who is equally intent on taking a bite out of her.

Exciting, fast-paced from beginning to end, this is one of the best new-series entries I've read in a long time. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next one, which, the author says, is titled "Shadow Sands." Bring it on!

Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza (Thomas & Mercer, December 2019); 392 pp.