Freeze Frame: The Fourth of the Enzo Files [Paperback]

Peter May (Author)

Book Description

Series: Enzo Files | Publication Date: March 1, 2010

A promise made to a dying man leads forensics ace Enzo Macleod, a Scot who's been teaching in France for many years, to the study which the man's heir has preserved for nearly twenty years. The dead man left several clues there designed to reveal the killer's identity to the man's son, but ironically the son died soon after the father. So begins the fourth of seven cold cases written up in a bestselling book by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin that Enzo rashly boasted he could solve (he's been successful with the first three). It takes Enzo to a tiny island off the coast of Brittany in France, where he must confront the hostility of locals who have no desire to see the infamous murder back in the headlines. An attractive widow, a man charged but acquitted of the murder--but still the viable suspect, a crime scene frozen in time, a dangerous hell hole by the cliffs, and a collection of impenetrable messages, make this one of Enzo's most difficult cases.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. May's excellent fourth Enzo McLeod mystery (after 2008's Blacklight Blue) takes the Scottish forensics wizard, who impulsively bet his daughter's boyfriend he could solve seven cold cases, to the Ile de Groix off the coast of Brittany, where he may finally meet his Waterloo. The quaint island is the site of the notorious 1990 slaying of tropical disease specialist and entomologist Adam Killian in his study. For two decades the crime scene—and the cryptic hints Killian supposedly left to identify his killer—have remained as undisturbed as an insect frozen in amber. Can Macleod, distracted by personal dramas that involve his sometime lover, Charlotte, and a menacing stalker, decipher the message—and stay in one piece? With its intricate plot, compelling characters, and bombshell denouement, this unsettling Enzo Files installment is a must-read. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Prolific May’s fourth book in the Enzo Files series (Blacklight Blue, 2008) finds the forensic scientist on one of the small Channel Islands, which are more like his home country of Scotland than his current home in Southern France. Enzo uses a deft combination of cutting-edge forsenic technology, his own insight, and traditional detecting to solve his latest cold case, which involves an elderly man dying of cancer, shot in his own study, whose will stipulates that nothing in the study be touched until his son arrives home to receive a secret message. But the son dies soon after the father, and when Enzo arrives, the room has sat virtually untouched for nearly 20 years. Enzo is a fascinating character in his own right, and his complicated personal life only adds to the appeal. Readers new to the series may not be entirely sure why Enzo is dedicated to solving a series of cold cases, but since the majority of the book and the entirety of the mystery stands alone, anyone who enjoys forensic mysteries should be able to leap right in. --Jessica Moyer --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1St Edition edition (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590587170
• ISBN-13: 978-1590587171
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frozen in Time, May 14, 2010

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Freeze Frame: The Fourth of the Enzo Files (Paperback)

Enzo MacLeod has solved three cold cases and undertakes to clear up another in this series which began when he accepted a bet that he could find the solution to seven cases described in a friend's book. This novel involves a 20-year-old murder on a little island off the coast of France. The victim, a retired British scientist, implored his daughter-in-law to maintain his study just as it was in the event of his death so that his son, for whom he left an enigmatic message, could "finish the job."

Unfortunately, the son died a short while after the man's murder, and the study has been kept unchanged for two decades, while various attempts to unearth the secret message failed. Now it is Enzo's turn.

This novel gives the author the chance to exhibit the techniques of a forensic biologist, the intuitive analysis of an investigator, as well as his tastes in food, wine and women. Just as important are the descriptions of the locale and the emotions of the characters.

Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Cold Case Resolved, March 13, 2010

By 

carl brookins "Carl Brookins" (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Freeze Frame: The Fourth of the Enzo Files (Paperback)

The man's conceptual skills just keep getting better and better. At the same time, the novel requires patient and thoughtful attention in order to follow the twisting paths of logic which lead to an inevitable and disturbing conclusion.

Reviewers of crime fiction always face a dilemma. In order to adequately discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a given work of fiction, it is usually necessary to reveal important elements of the plot, thus reducing the pleasure of the novel for many readers.

So this reviewer chooses to be somewhat obscure while suggesting that this novel, rooted as it is in psychological pain and certain major historical events of the Twentieth century, presents an awful reality which visits the sins of parents on their descendants.

What this novel does is send the transplanted Scottish forensic specialist to a small obscure island off the Breton coast. He is in pursuit of the solution to yet another cold case, the fourth in the compelling Enzo files. Here, even more than in the earlier novels in this series, the main story competes with the emotionally painful personal life of the charming Scot, Enzo McCloud Rich with descriptive phrases that forcefully draw the reader into the scenes, we feel the rain, the damp cold, the shudder of cold sheets when passion turns to revulsion. We are in the presence of a writer in complete control of his subject and his characters, and not just at the level of day to day activity. This is a truly multi-level work with thoughtful excursions into the painful inner lives of the characters, even as we follow them to inevitable and tragic conclusions. A most satisfying novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb whodunit, March 5, 2010

By 

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

This review is from: Freeze Frame: The Fourth of the Enzo Files (Hardcover)

Expatriate Scotsman forensic scientist Enzo McLeod continues his pursuit to solving the seven-case bet he made with his daughter Kirsty's boyfriend Roger Raffin though he has some personal issues that could curtail his efforts. He heads to the Ile de Groix off of Brittany where septuagenarian widower Adam Killian was murdered in 1990 in his study.

Killian was a noted tropical disease expert and entomologist who allegedly used his skills to leave clues to identify his killer to his son Peter who was returning from Africa and had directed his wife Jane to touch nothing until he "reads" what his father left behind in death. However, he but died before he could do what his dad wanted of him. As such Jane has insured the den has not been touched since her husband and father-in-law died. However, the island locals want Enzo to leave as the cold case has brought a negative light on the island while someone takes a more drastic approach to make the forensic expert leave.

The latest McLeod cold case mystery (see EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE, THE CRITIC and BLACKLIGHT BLUE) is a superb whodunit as a distracted Enzo seeks the clues left behind by the victim. The story line is fast-paced with Enzo's personal problems re his former lover Charlotte that distracts the hero but enhances the plot for the reader. The Enzo Files are a great series that is four for four.

Harriet Klausner