I suffered slightly by not having read the preceding book - much of the interaction between Duncan and Gemma is fall out from the clearly having slept together, but how many times and how far their relationship had gone is unknown, but the story starts with her deciding to shut the relationship down.[return][return]Meanwhile, they get called out to investigate the murder of a commander in the Met, found bludgeoned to death in his kitchen, and the investigations start. Overall a good procedural ( )

3.5 stars, too easy to figure out "who dunnit" ( )

La muerte violenta del comandante de la policía Alastair Gilbert, a golpes de martillo, en la cocina de su casa, convulsiona la aparente tranquilidad de Holmbury St. Mary, un pueblecito de Surrey cercano a Londres. El historial opaco de la víctima, poco apreciado por sus convecinos y por algunos círculos de la policía, hace que el trabajo de los investigadores de Scotland Yard, el comisario Duncan Kincaid y la sargento Gemma James, emprenda dos direcciones. Cada paso de la investigación revela nuevas evidencias de confianzas traicionadas, repulsivos secretos y odios ocultos.

The mystery itself was so-so and there was no subtlety in how the clues were worked into the case, but those aren’t the things that keep bringing me back to this series. It’s the characters and their drawn-from-real-life interactions that have me hooked, along with the way they address real world issues such as domestic violence, abandonment, and workplace discrimination. I just hope the next book picks up with the unresolved secondary case from this one. ( )

Ein Fall der Sonderklasse aus der Erfolgsserie mit Inspector Kincaid und Sergeant Gemma Jones: Der hochrangige Polizeibeamte Gilbert wird in seinem Haus erschlagen aufgefunden. Was zuerst wie die Tat eines Einbrechers aussieht und sich dann als Eifersuchtsdrama präsentiert, entwickelt sich zu einem der verzwicktesten und rätselhaftesten Fälle für die beiden Ermittler.