The Raven's Eye
A Brock and Kolla Mystery
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
DCI David Brock and DI Kathy Kolla, of Scotland Yard, find themselves pulled into a case of murder, a mysterious death among the houseboats that line the canals around greater London, in Barry Maitland's The Raven's Eye.
DI Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard is called in as a matter of course by the local Paddington police when a woman turns up dead in what appears to be an accident. On her houseboat, Vicky Hawks is found by one of her neighbors having apparently succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning due to improper ventilation of the narrowboat's heating system. But while the cause of death seems apparent and there's no reason for Kolla to think otherwise, something about this death still bothers her.
Meanwhile, her boss, DCI Brock, is wrestling with harsh budget cuts and a new Commander who is determined to make fundamental changes to the system—including limiting resources devoted to investigations. Struggling against the limitations imposed by the new order at Scotland Yard, Brock and Kolla find themselves pulling at the loose strings in the death of Vicky Hawks, trying to find out who she really was, what she was up to, and how her death might be related to another earlier tragic accidental death.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Maitland's intricate 12th procedural starring Det. Chief Insp. David Brock and Det. Insp. Kathy Kolla (after 2011's Chelsea Mansions), a young woman's apparently accidental death in London's Paddington district proves more complicated than it initially appears. Kathy, resisting Commander Fred Lynch's push to reduce department expenses, decides to more thoroughly investigate the fatal carbon monoxide poisoning of Vicky Hawke aboard a houseboat. She discovers that "Vicky" was actually named Gudrun Kite and that her sister, Freyja, died the year before in an unsolved hit-and-run. Lynch is more interested in capturing fugitive Jack "the Butcher" Bragg, and enlists Kathy, who resembles Bragg's wife, to act as bait. Meanwhile, Brock discovers a link between himself and the poisoning case both sisters attended his alma mater, Trinity College, Cambridge and also finds out that Freyja was involved in computer security work. Maitland nicely ties together disparate elements to create a tale that is both a satisfying mystery and a telling comment on today's surveillance society.
