Customer Reviews

The Marx Sisters

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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I have read quite a few mysteries in my time, but only a very few that were as good as this one. The detectives are very likable and three-dimensional. The cast of suspects are very colorful and also well-developed. I liked the way Maitland takes his time developing his two main characters; he allows the reader to become curious about what Kathy and David are really like, and then slowly reveals their personalities and backgrounds. The plot is satisfyingly complex, taking many twists and turns until the final surprising conclusion. The thing that makes this book unusually good is the fact that it combines the great plotting of British mysteries with a faster, more American-like pace. I will definitely be reading this entire series, assuming it continues to be even close to as good as this installment.

Kathy Kolla is sent to Jerusalem Lane to investigate the suspicious death of an elderly woman named Meredith Winterbottom. She is surprised when she is teamed up with David Brock, a hotshot from Scotland Yard, who has been in the news lately for solving notorious cases. The author throws a few red herrings in the plot but in the end everything turns out right with the world.

I appreciate that the author split the book in two parts. In Part One, Maitland teams up Kolla and Brock in the first book of his series. He comes up with a reason to team them up and investigate the crime. It is not until Part Two that we learn the real reason that Brock wanted to meet Kolla. Kathy is not happy at first, but later understands the reasoning.

I liked the characters on this novel and am planning on trying to read the other three books in the series. The characters are fresh as well as human. Kolla is having an affair with a married man and she does not like it. There is still more to be learned about Brock. There were some hints near the end but it just makes me want to read THE MALCONTENTA and learn more about these detectives.

It came as no suprise to me that Barry Maitland has an architectural background, as this book is as much about place as people. His fictional Londan street, "Jerusalem Lane" springs to life through his masterful descriptions. Jerusalem Lane to my imagination was a slice of Central Europe set down in London, with all of that region's tangled politics and ethnic tensions.

When one of three sisters living together in one of the old houses on the street is found dead, Kathy Kolla on her first murder case is unable to find enough evidence to continue the investigation, even with the assistance of one of Scotland Yard's finest, Inspector Brock. However, when the second of the three sisters is found dead in similar circumstances, Kolla and Brock know that it must be murder.

Whether the murders were done by greedy property developers, greedy relatives, alienated neighbors or perhaps a victim of obsession is the puzzle. It should keep you guessing to the end. Even though Kolla and brock would seem to be stock characters, "rookie and old-timer", they both are interesting, complex and intriguing. I wonder why this series, so long known in England and Australia was so slow in being published here. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Jerusalem Lane, a strange 19th century remnant in a most desirable section of London, is home to an unusual group of people. When one of them is found dead, DS Kathy Kolla and DCI David Brock investigate. After several days, it is decided that foul play was not involved, so the investigation is called off. Six months later, the second of the three sisters dies, and Kolla and Brock are called in to investigate.

Maitland's training as an architect is obvious in this, the first of 5 books in the series. By using real street names, just moving them around a bit, and changing them slightly (there is a Jerusalem Passage near the area in which he places Jerusalem Lane), giving the street and buildings a history, (Marx and Engels purportedly lived in one of the houses on the Lane) and even describing the geography of the street, he makes the area one of the protagonists in the story, at times, the main protagonist in the story.

I enjoyed this to the extent that I went out and bought the other 3 books available in paperback by this author(in the UK). I understand that the 5th in the series has just been published in Australia.

Maitland has succeeded in creating an intact universe. The depiction of Jerusalem Lane is atmospheric and consistent, with some great throwaway, tantalizing details. The characters by and large react to each other consistently with the action, the plot requirements and the setting.

Until the end.

It is totally unbelievable that an injured police officer would put him/herself in jeopardy not once but twice in such an insane manner, particularly struggling out of a hospital bed when already seriously injured to explore, unassisted, and in pitch darkness, a hazardous building site. This puts us in the land of the inanities of the "Had I But Known" genre. All that was lacking was the billowy white nightie. Any police officer guilty of such a phenomenal lack of judgement would find him/herself jobless at the very least.

The Marx Sisters is the debut novel of Barry Maitland, a police procedural mystery that is set in London and introduces Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla and Detective Chief Inspector David Brock.

An old woman is found dead in her bed with a cursory examination suggesting that she has been suffocated which prompts a post-mortem examination. Why would someone murder a harmless old woman? Ok, she was a bit of a busybody and some people could find her loud nature abrasive but surely that's no reason to top the old dear.

The case is Detective Kathy Kolla's to investigate but she is a little perturbed to find Detective Chief Inspector David Brock of Scotland Yard's Serious Crimes Branch has been called in to assist. Brock is widely admired as being an excellent detective, having solved some very high profile cases but Kolla can't work out why he would be assigned to such a low profile case such as this.

The thought processes of Scotland Yard's powers that be aside, Kolla and Brock begin their investigation in the apartment of Meredith Winterbottom, the aforementioned dead woman. She lived with her two sisters, Eleanor and Peg and the three of them are part of a small, rather isolated and insular London neighbourhood referred to as Jerusalem Lane. The neighbourhood is made up of an aging population, mainly refugees from Central Europe and at first glance it looks as though the residents all get on well together.

At first glance...

But an interesting fact about these people is unearthed in the course of the investigation. Almost to a person they are selling up their businesses and houses and leaving the neighbourhood. A developer is buying out Jerusalem Lane with plans of building a huge new business complex on the site. The only people who have refused to sell are Meredith, Eleanor and Peg.

Jerusalem Lane provides a number of suspects, both likely and unlikely, as does the stubborn immovability of the sisters in the face of the developers who want to buy their house. Speaking of the sisters, as the name of the book suggests, they are great-granddaughters of Karl Marx, the letters and inscribed books they have inherited could also be reason enough to motivate someone to murder.

DS Kolla and DCI Brock move steadily through the case rarely wavering into possible distractions of personal lives. While this keeps the story moving nicely it also means we learn very little about the two main characters. In fact, David Brock remains just as enigmatic at the end of the book as he was when he was first introduced, the longest description of the man came as the rumours that Kathy Kolla had heard about him.

The rapport between Kolla and Brock is one of the more appealing aspects of the book. They combine nicely as a team together to ensure that the investigation runs smoothly. The determined and driven Kolla pushes forward as hard as she can at every opportunity while the laid back experience of Brock throttles back the investigation at just the right time. It's a combination that I thought worked very well.

One aspect of many police procedurals that often drives me crazy but is thankfully missing in The Marx Sisters is any suggestion of police bureaucracy or political game-playing by the senior officers. The focus is always on the investigation which I found particularly refreshing and enabled the momentum of the story to be maintained throughout.

Far from being a single-dimensioned murder mystery, The Marx Sisters is a complex story with layer upon layer of unexpected twists told in an engaging style. Barry Maitland has started the Kathy Kolla and David Brock series with an outstanding story.

I thought the characters, atmosphere, plot, etc. were great. The only thing I could find fault with (and this is kind of a nitpick) was the explanation of the Marx family (Karl, illegimate child, etc.). I got so confused that I just gave up and finished the story. But the mystery DID NOT disappoint. Can't wait to read more Kathy and Brock!

All of Barry Maitlands books have been released in Australia for quite some time, so it's great to see they are now being released in the States.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys police procedurals and have to tell you the other two in the series are just as good.

I bought the first in this series based upon an Amazon recommendation - and I am glad! I don't know what I enjoyed most - the main characters, the suspects, the special neighborhood location ... the actual mystery itself or just how all of them are so evocatively described in the book. I already feel I am getting to know DS Kathy Kolla and I like her character, and am sure that the next books will reveal more about Brock, her bear of a superior officer. The second in the series is already on its way and now I just have to go back to discover how many more of these entertaining books await enjoying.

Three elderly sisters, great-granddaughters of Karl Marx, share a house in the quaint Victorian Jerusalem Lane section of London. Meredith Winterbottom is a successful capitalist. Peg Blythe believes that a strong Socialist party is the only answer to the economy. Eleanor Harper believes in scientific socialism. When Eleanor and Peg return from a walk together, they find their third sibling lying dead in her bed.

Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla investigates the case because the doctor of record feels foul play occurred. To Kathy's shock, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector David Brock accompanies her on her investigation. As they make their inquiries, they learn that First City Properties has been buying up the land for years in order to construct a major office project that would destroy the current neighborhood. Meredith was the solo hold-out. They learn more about the siblings and other suspects arise such as a Princeton University historian and the deceased's son. Each had motive and opportunity. However, the brass abruptly closes the case without solution until someone murders Eleanor.

The first American printing of the highly regarded police team of Kolla and Brock demonstrates why this series is so well received across the ocean. The story line is crisp, filled with twists, and never lets up for a moment. The characters, including the secondary players, are intelligent and their motives well defined. THE MARX SISTERS is must reading for fans of police procedurals, who will clamor for more of Barry Maitland's novels to be released in the states.

Harriet Klausner