Wrongful Death by Lynda La Plante, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Detective Chief Inspector Anna Travis is involved in not one but three investigations that span the Atlantic from London to Washington DC, in Wrongful Death, the ninth mystery in this series by Lynda La Plante.

First there is a suicide, which it may not be; next is the search for a missing girl in the US, who may be dead; and finally the case of Anthony Fitzpatrick, a notorious drug lord and murdered labeled internally as the "one that got away", who is being sought by the FBI in the US. This latter investigation was flawed from the start by the team at the Met, and the reason why Travis's boss, DCS James Langton, did not receive a promotion.

Travis has been invited to take a course at Quantico in Virginia, but before she can leave, she's asked to review the case of a nightclub owner, Josh Reynolds, who had been found dead, presumably the result of a suicide. However, new evidence suggest this might not be the case. Travis is working with a new team that includes an exchange agent from the FBI, Jessie Dewar, a crime scene expert. They soon discover there is indeed more to Josh's death than originally believed. A tangled web began to unfold with the complicated family history of Josh's widow and her family, especially his mother-in-law, Lady Gloria Lynne. With time short and the case unexpectedly complicated, Travis has to rely on her team to carry on without her as she travels to the US. While at Quantico Travis meets and works with one of the agents to try to solve the mystery of a missing girl while Langton is determined to close the file on Fitzpatrick once and for all. With both US-based cases coming to a close, Travis and Langton return to London where the complex case of Josh Reynolds continues to unfold.

Three separate cases in one mystery may seem like a lot — and indeed it is — but the author deftly handles each in such a way that it is fairly easy to keep track of the subplots. Still, there are plenty of twists and turns in each of the cases to keep readers wary as to what might happen next. More troublesome is the sheer number of characters involved. At the center of it all, howver, is Anna Travis, a strong, independent and intelligent police officer, who keeps readers engaged in her activities, both professional and personal. On the whole, a solid entry in this entertaining series.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Wrongful Death.

Acknowledgment: HarperCollins provided a copy of Wrongful Death for this review.

Blind Fury
Touchstone (Hardcover), July 2011
ISBN-13: 9781439139318; ISBN-10: 1439139318

Wrongful Death

An Anna Travis Mystery by Lynda La Plante