Customer Reviews

Ash & Bone: A Frank Elder Mystery (Frank Elder Mysteries)

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Ex police officer and now sometime police consultant Frank Elder is living a quiet life after having surviving his last case, in which almost saw his daughter killed. Now the teenager is hanging around with undesirable types, to say the least and Middy Birch, a woman he cared about, has been murdered, so again he's off to London to try and set things right.

Maddy Birch was a police detective, who following a confrontation where her partner shot and killed a man had complained about being followed. Elder and lead investigator Karen Shields are determined to find out what happened to Maddy and as they dig they find that Maddy had enemies she didn't even know about and they wind up in plenty danger indeed as the close in on the truth.

This is a terrific police procedural with plenty of characters, who all ring true, and Mr. Harvey is generous in having them share the spotlight with Frank Elder in this story. Elder himself comes across as very human, a flawed man who is easy to identify with. There are twists and turns and suspense and family problems and lots of plain good writing in this book. I really liked it, can't you tell.

Harvey's great care in creating characters is unbalanced a bit by a lack of clever plotting. For example, one of the finales (there are three tales intertwining here) is especially hard to believe. An intelligent villain, who has every chance to escape and create a new identity, decides to go gunslinger, knowing that his added killings will only wind up in his capture. The other two are resolved in a manner that is adequate but lacking in an "Ow, wow! How did he think of that?" factor.

Yet the book is highly readable, the interracial romance element works well, and the leads are likable, but in the end too many elements seem contrived . . . shoehorned in.