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Simpson, Ian - 'Murder on the Second Tee'
Paperback: 320 pages (June 2014) Publisher: Matador ISBN: 1783065869

The murder takes place in St. Andrews Scotland - Bank director Hugh Parsley is found dead early in a morning. He has been killed with a golf putter sometime the previous night.

Felicity (Flick) Fortune, a newly promoted detective inspector, is in charge of the investigation along with detective sergeant Lance Wallace (a local). Flick is nervous, full of doubts and pregnant; her husband Fergus Maxwell is an experienced local detective inspector.

She establishes that Parsley was one of several Bank officials on a business weekend away. Belinda Parsley the widow is naturally distraught. Flick and her team interview the remaining five directors, including the Chairman, Lord Saddlefell, two senior employees of the bank and wives and a partner. All have alibis.

Flick is made aware of detective sergeant Bagawath Chandavarkar (Baggo) who is working undercover, investigating the bank on behalf of Serious Organised Crime, suspecting them of money laundering on behalf of an American corporation. Events are further complicated with the arrival, at the request of Saddlefell, of Noel Osborne formally of the Met. and a one time boss of Flick; known as Inspector NO.

Flick is under pressure from her Divisional Commander to solve the case without causing problems. However her task is made harder when there is another murder relating to the bank. Can Flick and her team, with Baggo's help, solve the case before she is replaced by a more experienced police officer – perhaps her husband?

The title did not fill me with enthusiasm, but the book is an entertaining police procedural and full of well-drawn characters. The author was formally in the legal profession, and sat as a Judge in High Court murder trials. He comes from the area and this is his second book. Recommended.

Geoff Jones, England
August 2014

More European crime fiction reviews can be found on the Reviews page.



last updated 17/08/2014 11:39