There are so many pairs of Scotland Yard detectives out there in book-world solving intriguing mysteries all over Great Britain. To my mind, this series covers the exploits of two of the best. Brock represents the senior detective, iconoclastic enough to annoy the bureaucratic hierarchy of the Yard, and Kolla represents young Britain, a female making her way in what remains, in spite of modern history, the man's world of crime and punishment. The puzzles set before them by author Maitland are fascinating and usually incorporate the political and cultural clashes of our day. Topics like corporate greed, immigration, technology, medicine, changes in what we see as art, etc., find their way woven in among the murder and mayhem. The protagonists are developed fully as characters with interesting lives and complicated personal histories. I find myself thinking about these books long after I finish them something rare to say about mysteries I view mostly as entertainment.

Share/Like this Review?