Though I am a librarian at Naperville Public Library, I read because I love to, and where better to get my hands on the kinds of books I love the most -- mysteries, crime and suspense -- than the library? In "The Crime Scene", I will review titles both old and new that I have recently read and greatly enjoyed. To me, a good mystery keeps the reader on their toes at all times; these books do exactly that!
In two works, Irene and Alex, Pierre Lemaitre created a complex and memorable detective, Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven, who will look for justice at any cost. Verhoeven's wife Irene was murdered by a sadistic serial killer, and history seems to be repeating itself when Anne Forestier, the new woman who has entered his life, is shot three times. As Verhoeven investigates, he discovers shocking connections between Anne, the attackers, his "trusted" colleagues, Irene's murder and himself. Lemaitre ties up the strands of this series in a thrilling conclusion, and I thoroughly enjoyed how he brought all the pieces together.
Cop Town by Karin Slaughter is a gritty and compelling mystery set in Atlanta in the 1970's. Kate Murphy is totally unprepared for the tough life of a policewoman in an Atlanta police department that is hostile to women. She is teamed with another policewoman, Maggie Lawson, whose family members are all career cops. After the death of a fellow police officer, the two begin to suspect "The Shooter", an expert marksman who has already slain four other officers. Frantically looking for a connecting thread, the team also struggles against racism and gender issues, and the conclusion leaves the reader wondering if times have really changed in the workplace today.
This is the first in the "Rizzoli and Isles" series by Tess Gerritsen, and those who only know the television series would expect this to be about them both. Yet in this debut novel, Dr. Isles is completely missing. Instead The Surgeon is a gruesome serial killer who collects his victims and has over the years become quite skilled in his craft. Dr. Catherine Cordell is a trauma operating room doctor who tries to save one of his victims and when she does, she in turn becomes his next target. When the investigating detective Jane Rizzoli meets Catherine Cordell, she observes, "There's cool, and then there's ice". This was a great start to the series, fast moving and with quite believable characters and I found it fascinating to see how Dr. Cordell is morphed into Dr. Maura Isles in the next title in the Rizzoli and Isles series (The Apprentice).
