Feisty young tax inspector Leah Hunter investigates the torching of a rundown warehouse, an arson fire in which a harmless old woman dies and a crime for which a troubled teenager--who later dies in custody--is charged.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The third in the File Under series (after Missing) finds cocky Yorkshire tax inspector Leah Hunter annoying some dangerous people, even her lover, Detective Inspector Nicholls. When her car mechanic asks her to put a good word into Nicholls's ear about his nephew Billy, who has been arrested for setting a series of fires, she does so to no avail. Billy's prior record convinces Nicholls that he's the culprit. Before Leah can talk to Billy, however, the teenager is found hanged in jail. Then, after taking over the files of an ill colleague, she discovers anomalies in a payment scheduled for a carpet warehouse wiped out in one of the arson fires. Her investigation leads to her suspension after one of the warehouse owners complains, and she becomes convinced that Billy was just a pawn in a larger scheme. Leah's brash style and caustic sense of humor combine with interesting Inland Revenue lore to give a unique spin to this British crime series. (Apr.) Science Fiction and Fantasy
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Leah Hunter's friend Charlie Fagan is convinced that his nephew Billy, who had counseling for pyromania as a boy, is the arsonist behind a rash of fires. So are the Yorkshire police, especially after Billy's hanged in his cell and they can close the books on eight cases of arson. But when Leah, looking more closely into the recent blaze at Fast-Sell Carpets, provokes Fast-Sell owner Mark Drury into filing a phony complaint that gets her suspended from her Inland Revenue job, she's sure she's onto something nastier than one troubled kid--particularly when the cellmate Billy confided in, the jailer the cellmate tried to blackmail, and finally Drury himself follow Billy down that last mile. Armed only with her trademark truculence, which spares herself no more than her antagonists, Leah works overtime (well, without pay) to uncover a new variation on one of the oldest scams in the insurance game--and save another street kid from Billy's fate. Leah's patter is more than a shade sententious and depressive in this third case (File Under: Missing, 1994, etc.), and her detective work consists mainly of keeping count of corpses and trying to avoid becoming one herself. Below average for this mouthy series. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Easily worth a read,
This review is from: File Under: Arson (Hardcover)
The whole series is a good read. There's lots of action in all three books. Leah is a dogged investigator, even ignoring the advice of her sometimes-overbearing lover, Inspector Nicolls. I liked that her job was unusual--Inland Revenue inspector. Provides a good way for her to get clues and also an interesting background (rather than some of the typical cozies that contain caterers, quilters, etc.)
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