Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery [Paperback]

Lynda La Plante (Author)

Book Description

Series: Anna Travis | Publication Date: July 7, 2009

In the latest “100-proof police procedural”* from lynda la Plante, detective anna Travis must juggle old and new love affairs while tracking down one of the world’s deadliest drug dealers.

Anna Travis is back in a new gripping mystery from Lynda La Plante, featuring the female detective every bit as intelligent, ambitious, and flawed as Prime Suspect’s Jane Tennison. Ruthless drug trafficker Alexander Fitzpatrick is one of the most wanted men in the Western hemisphere. But for ten years, there’s been no sign of him. Is he dead, or just trying to appear that way? When an ex-colleague from the murder squad is found shot in a dank drug den, Anna Travis is pulled into the case. She’s grateful for the distraction after her breakup with DCI Langton, and soon finds herself involved with someone new. But as the bodies pile up and the mystery deepens, Travis and Langton must put aside their personal history and work together to track down one of the canniest criminals they’ve ever encountered.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. At the start of La Plante's excellent fourth crime drama to feature London Det. Insp. Anna Travis (after 2008's Clean Cut), wanted drug kingpin Alexander Fitzpatrick returns home to England after plastic surgery in Mexico, desperate to collect funds that Julia Kendal, his recently married ex-partner in the drug smuggling business, has squirreled away. When Julia's new husband, a former cop who was also acting as her bodyguard, is shot to death at a seedy Chalk Farm drug squat, Anna discovers an unexpected link between Julia and Anthony Collingwood, a Fitzpatrick alias. More bodies of Fitzpatrick's former associates pile up, including some poisoned with an overdose of Fentanyl, an illegal opiate with which Fitzpatrick plans to flood the U.K. market. Supt. Jimmy Langton, Anna's tetchy ex-lover and former superior, who's dismayed to notice she's dangerously attracted to a professor connected to the elusive Fitzpatrick, retains his enigmatic appeal. (July)
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About the Author

Lynda La Plante's fourteen novels, including the Prime Suspect series, have all been international bestsellers.  She is an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and a member of the UK Crime Writers Awards Hall of Fame.  She was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2008.  She runs her own television production company and lives in London and Easthampton, New York.  Visit her website at laplantebooks.com.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416588310
• ISBN-13: 978-1416588313
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Entertaining Thriller, July 7, 2009

By 

Edie Dykeman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery (Paperback)

Deadly Intent is the fourth Anna Travis book by Lynda La Plante, and well worth the read. Anna has worked two investigations since her breakup with now Chief Superintendent James Langton, and fortunately did not see him on either case.

Now, a former Murder Squad detective has been murdered at a drug den, and the Squad sets up for yet another investigation headed this time by the formidable DCI Carol Cunningham.

Anna was onto Alexander Fitzpatrick from the beginning, but no one would believe her. As the body count rose, and Langton became more involved in the case, Anna's stress level rose accordingly. To add to her woes, she was accused of going off on her own without involving or updating the rest of the team.

La Plante has written an intense follow-up to her other successful Anna Travis mysteries. Her books are well-researched providing an uncanny look into the heart, mind, and soul of the antagonist, providing the reader with a chilling sense of what motivates him.

This book is a gem. Well plotted and fast-paced throughout, the ending is beyond surprising. I never saw it coming.

The book is long and detailed, but manages to move swiftly along. If you want a quick beach read, you better find another book.

But if you want an engaging, provacative police procedural with plenty of action to keep you entertained for hours, than this is the book for you.

Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery (Anna Travis Mysteries)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent British police procedural, July 8, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery (Paperback)

Frank Brandon left the murder squad unit to become a chauffeur for a minor drug dealer before marrying wealthy Julia Kendal. He was allegedly happy and had money to waste; so had no reason to be found murdered in a fetid dumpy flat in slummy Warren Estate.

Murder Squad Detective Inspector Anna Travis fears Brandon's homicide means the return from the dead of her former partner Anthony Collingwood, who left her without warning with two kids and a lot of money almost a decade ago. Anthony is better known as Alexander Fitzpatrick, once the nation's leading drug kingpin, but out of sight for years. In spite of other associates of Fitzpatrick being assassinated, Anna's superior DCI Carol Cunningham disagrees as no proof has surfaced that the former criminal mastermind is alive. Unbeknownst to the cops including Anna's worried about her former lover DCS James Langton, Fitzpatrick had major facial surgery in Mexico and has come home to flood the country with the deadly painkiller Fentanyl.

The latest Travis British police procedural (see ABOVE SUSPICION, CLEAN CUT and THE RED DAHLIA) is an excellent investigative tale that hooks the audience with the inquiry as much as the intriguing look back at the heroine's past. The story line is fast-paced even with a vividly detailed investigation as the prime cast makes this a top rate thriller. In a way the relationships between Anna and the two main men in her past, Anthony and James, make for a super triangle that enhances a strong mystery.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars book, September 29, 2009

By 

M. Roy (Northeast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery (Paperback)

The book itself is fine. The author, Lynda LaPlante, is one I read all the time, whenever she writes another book. This one, however, falls short. I thought it would never end. I stuck with it because I know the author to do better and hoped for an ending I could live with. Then I wished for any ending,any ending, as long as the book would finally end and the problem be resolved. It seems the author just dragged the story out to add words, pages and pages of superfluous words. Made me dislike the characters I had previously come to like.