Murder on the British Isles

The Complaints
By Ian Rankin

Malcolm Fox is a cop in Edinburgh, Scotland. He's a member of the Complaints, the ones who watch the rest of the force and bring them to task if they break any rules. Unfortunately, this means he's not very popular among his fellow cops. Add to that a former drinking problem, a sister with an abusive boyfriend, and guilt over putting his dad in a nursing home and you've got a classic cop-with-problems story.

Only this isn't a standard-issue crime drama. When he's between cases Malcolm is asked to look into another officer. This is fine and dandy until his sister's boyfriend is murdered and the cop he's watching, Jamie Breck, is one of the officers on the case. Despite the ethical dilemma, he finds himself becoming friendly with Breck. And soon Malcolm discovers that Breck isn't the only one being watched.

What does a cop do when he finds himself on the wrong side of the law?

In The Woods
By Tana French

The book, the first in the Dublin Murder Squad series, starts with a bizarre and bloody scene in the woods with one survivor. That survivor, we learn, grows up to become detective Rob Ryan. Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox are assigned a case that might tie into the unsolved mystery that haunts Ryan's childhood. Will he find out what happened in those woods? Character-driven and full of twists, this is literary mystery at its best. Don't come looking for detectives who do everything right and tie things up with a bow. These people are flawed and it shows, and the book is more interesting for it.

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Review by Danny Hanbery