I love this series, so this was bumped right to the top of my reading list as soon as my review copy landed on my Kindle. Thanks to NetGalley for granting my request to read. This book will be published on 24th April, 2025.
This is the twelfth book in the series featuring DS Maeve Kerrigan of the Met Police and her partner, DI Josh Derwent. Regular readers will know the back-story of these two and enjoy the ongoing saga of their will-they-won’t-they romance, but for everyone else, this works as a brilliant standalone police procedural.
This novel opens with what looks to be an impossible crime – a glamorous woman arrives for her weekly tryst with her lover in an exclusive hotel, captured on the hotel’s CCTV. When the lover arrives, he finds his partner murdered – even though the only visit to the room before his arrival was a super-quick champagne delivery – again, all seen on CCTV. Indeed, no-one has had the time to create the complex crime scene that greets DI Maeve Harrigan when she arrives to investigate alongside her old (but recently elusive) partner, DI Josh Derwent. As Maeve begins to dig around in the seemingly impossible circumstances of the crime, Derwent faces his own troubles at home – troubles that could cost him his job and his reputation.
The novel is told from Maeve’s point of view and it’s to her that we readers really warm. She’s a tough, confident and extremely capable detective who is occasionally led by her heart into making some unwise choices – as she does here to help out Josh Derwent. I love the fact that she’s fallible, as well as being a bright and warm character who is a great focal point for the book. Di Derwent is more of an acquired taste, I suspect – of course I’ve been rooting for them to get together for many books now (and no spoilers here about the progression of their relationship), but there’s only so much brooding machismo and pig-headedness I can deal with!
The mystery itself is inventive and cleverly plotted – I don’t think I’d have got anywhere near the answer, which is why I’m not a detective. There’s the usual sprinkling of red herrings and misdirection, but the central crime feels like a modern day Agatha Christie puzzle – intricate and difficult to foresee until all the pieces fall into place, and then just right. The second plotline, based around Josh’s issues, is interesting, but I really wanted to hear more about the intriguing hotel murder.
I think it’s worth flagging a trigger warning for domestic violence – not a spoiler, but it is a major element in the story.
If you already love this series, you’ll love this too – it’s up there with my favourites in the series. If you haven’t yet met Maeve, I’d start at the beginning because there’s a lot of series you’ve missed. However, if you pick this up as a standalone, you’ll find a satisfying and clever murder mystery with a side order of sexual tension – worth a read.
Header photo by David von Diemar on Unsplash
