Customer Reviews

Blood In The Water (Isis Mystery)

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This is the first in the series of DS Alice Rice police procedurals and it is a promising start. As often happens with the first in a series, some time is spent in introducing what will presumably be the recurring characters and this tends to slow the action down. However, the plot is strong, the writing good and Alice is a likeable lead. Apparently the author was an Advocate in the Scottish Court system and she puts that experience to good use in this novel in painting an authentic picture of the workings of the courts. Alice, as a well-balanced and hard-working team player, also comes over as more authentic than some of the maverick loners we have been inundated with in recent years.

This novel falls solidly into the procedural rather than the thriller school of crime fiction. We are presented with a series of satisfyingly gruesome and mysterious murders and follow Alice and the rest of the team as they painstakingly work towards uncovering the links between them and finding the killer. Set in Edinburgh, and using locations such as St Leonard's police station that will be familiar to any fans of Rankin's Rebus, the author has bravely set herself up for comparisons. On the basis of this book, there's still some way to go before Alice can challenge the grand old man of Tartan Noir, but there's certainly enough of interest here to make me keen to see how she will develop as the series progresses. Recommended.