If you like police procedurals set in London, you will definitely enjoy this book, which is the seventh in the Inspector Slider series.  Here the star of a television antiques show is stabbed to death in his west London home.  A missing Impressionist painting and a Faberge box suggest that it was a burglary gone wrong. However, as Slider and his team dig into the case, they find that the victim’s complex social life provided many more reasons for murder.

Harrod-Eagles does a fine job with this type of story.  The dialogue is witty, each member of the investigating team is clearly delineated, and their personal life at least hinted at. Slider’s home life is particularly well developed and plays an important part in the subplot. Aside from the occasional Britishism that may leave you scratching your head, this book travels well while remaining true to its origins.

If Jane Austin were writing mysteries today, they would be much like Althea Fraser’s, which are studies of upper middle class family life with an occasional element of mystery thrown in.  You keep reading along, not primarily for the solution of the mystery, but because the development of the characters and their relationships are inherently entertaining.

This is the ninth book in the Rona Parish series, and it features a woman who is a biographer and sometime magazine writer who meets a man who thinks he may have been at the scene of a crime. Although some may think the plot serendipitous, it holds together well and is deftly related to the changing relationships in the characters’ lives. Cozy readers and those not too taken with mysteries who enjoy stories set in contemporary England should give this one a try.

I had never read this popular author, and just happened across this book, which is to become the first in the Amos Decker series.  The premise of this series and the title of the book are based on the idea that following a terrific hit playing in an NFL game, Decker technically dies twice and when revived is unable to forget anything.  Actually his whole personality has changed, and he has little affect and serious difficulties relating to others.

The plot centers on who murdered Decker’s family sixteen months before the book’s opening, and how it relates to a school massacre that takes place in the present. Baldacci develops an intricate plot, and Decker is entertaining as he uses his unique memory to discover clues that lead to the solution of the puzzle. Baldacci’s writing is unadorned and presents both action and character with few unnecessary words.  It is intelligent and crisply written with a satisfying ending.  I would recommend taking a look at this book.