Mystery Lover...but overall a very eclectic reader. Will read everything from the classics to historical fiction. Biography to essays. Not into horror or much into YA. If you would like me to review a book, then please see my stated review policy BEFORE emailing me. Please Note: This is a book blog. It is not a platform for advertising. Please do NOT contact me to ask that I promote your NON-book websites or products. Thank you.
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Thursday, February 6, 2014
Shelf Life: Review
That evening Boyce is brought in roaring drunk and deposited in a cell to sleep it off. When Watson sends a fellow officer to check on the young man at midnight, Boyce is found to be dead. A reporter who got a bit of the brush-off from the police at the court happens to be on the spot when all the officials (police surgeon, Chief Constable, etc) show up to investigate and his nose for news leads him to the pertinent facts--a man the police wanted to put away and who has impregnated the sergeant's daughter has died while in police custody. The morning headlines are enough to give the Chief Constable and Inspector Snell (head of the Colesworth force) a headache or two.
They quickly decide to call on the Yard to do an outside investigation (and hopefully prevent any cries of "cover up!") and they specifically ask for Chief Superintendent Masters and his special investigative crew. Masters has a certain flair for the oddball cases. And this is certainly one--for the autopsy report shows that Boyce was poisoned. And not by your run-of-the-mill arsenic or strychnine...oh, no. How about a little gold sprinkled in your wine (make that a lot of gold)? An expensive death, indeed.
I always enjoy the Masters and Green series by Douglas Clark and Shelf Life is no different. The camaraderie and rapport of Masters' team is fun to watch and I enjoy watching Masters show the others how it's done. There is a hint of a feeling that Clark may be trying to complicate things and maybe pull a fast one, but the clues are laid out. I had no trouble figuring out how and once you know how, you've got the who. If you're looking for interesting characters and character interaction in a decent little police procedural from the early 1980s, then you will enjoy Clark's series of mysteries. Three and a half stars.
This fulfills the "Professional Detective" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card.
3 comments:
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Great review!
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting enough. I books that have general angst, and it seems everyone is pissed off except the kids who got off. Usually makes for decent reading!
I love this series and have almost all of them in pb. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteGram: I have a whole line-up of these waiting on the TBR stacks!
ReplyDelete