Like a young colt dancing on eggshells, DC Kathleen Doyle
keeps apologizing over and over again. She could not
believe the incredible opportunity she had recently been
given to work with the famous Chief Inspector Michael
Sinclair, Lord Acton. She loves working on homicides and
was thrilled when Acton had arranged a few months to pull
her out from the First Year Detective Constable ranks to
work on his team. Why had she made such a newbie mistake?
Will he send her back to the basement at Scotland Yard just
to review boring surveillance tapes again?
Noticing every small detail about her, Acton had his own
reasons, both personal and professional, for keeping the
lovely and lively red-haired detective on his team. While
she still had skills that needed developing, Kathleen had a
special skill in Interrogations. Whether from deep
intuition or an innate talent, Kathleen usually could tell
if someone is telling the truth or not and Acton wants her
along when they interview witnesses and suspects.
As they investigate the murder of a horse trainer, more
murders happen as well as a series of strange events that
seem to have no discernible pattern. This not only makes
the homicides difficult to resolve, but there seems an
underlying connection and they just can't fit the puzzling
pieces together. What are they missing? Acton soon
perceives danger and worries about Kathleen's safety and so
with an interest that goes far deeper than that of a
supervisor, he makes an unromantic approach to romance to
stave off a killer. Will it work and for how long?
Well-regarded for her historical and mystery novels, Anne
Cleeland launches MURDER IN THRALL as the first book in her
new A New Scotland Yard Mystery series and it is
sure to be a winner! Right from the get go, Kathleen is
such an open, likeable and entertaining character that you
can just feel her every emotion as she deals with her own
professional and personal feelings for Acton, her love of
her job and efforts to improve and do as well as can while
also dealing with her small personal foibles and workplace
rivalries and friendships.
In an interesting and different manner, Cleeland starts
each new chapter with a short insight into Acton's personal
thoughts. He is a very complex character and yet, I
quickly warmed to him and really enjoy him as a
protagonist, despite some initial strangeness (It would be
a spoiler to explain, so you need to read the book). Acton
and the young Kathleen make a very unlikely and intriguing
pair, coming from quite different worlds. As a British
Lord, he has been entrenched with the elite from birth and
has developed an illustrious and still evolving career at
Scotland Yard while Kathleen, despite all her good efforts
at improving her vocabulary and education, stems from far
poorer working class and freedom fighting Irish roots.
MURDER IN THRALL is a very well-written mystery with a
unique storyline and a great "Who-done-it" with many
possibilities and a dramatic and unexpected conclusion. It
definitely will keep you turning pages as fast as you can
to find out what happens (I definitely was quite
surprised!). In addition to that, what I found to be
absolutely superb about the book is the wonderful and often
very humourous dialogues between Kathleen and her mates and
especially with Acton. Sometimes, you just can't help but
smile or laugh out loud as Kathleen banters with the more
serious Acton in her own unique personal and Irish style.
MURDER IN THRALL reads exceptionally well both as an
individual novel with a definitely different and unusual
romance happening and it augurs very well to be the start
of a great series that any mystery reader would not want to
miss! So, get on the case and enjoy! You will be glad you
did!
First-year Detective Kathleen Doyle is a plucky Irish
redhead. Chief Inspector Michael Acton is a British lord
turned cop. He's tall, handsome and enigmatic...to a fault.
Acton selects Doyle out of the newbie squad to partner with
him on a series of investigations because she always knows
when someone is lying - a trait that comes in handy when
interviewing suspects and witnesses. Acton and Doyle are
sent to investigate the murder of a trainer at a racetrack.
Soon, new killings related to the first start unfolding,
dragging the two into ever more perilous situations. But the
real danger is the unlikely attachment that develops between
the ultra reserved aristocratic Chief Inspector and his
plucky working class sidekick...a relationship that will
raise plenty of eyebrows-and hackles-among their colleagues
at the Yard.
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