“Blue Blooded” by Emma Jameson

Lord and Lady Hetheridge have temporarily moved out of their home in London’s Mayfair. The house was heavily damaged when Kate Hetheridge’s autistic brother tried to light a Lego block with a lighter. No one was hurt, but Tony Hetheridge, Kate, Richie the 27-year-old brother and Kate’s nine-year-old nephew Henry are temporarily living in a rather posh condo at 101 Leadenhall, in Westminster not far from Victoria Station. 

Tony and Kate met on the job at Scotland Yard, when he was her boss. He’s also old enough to be her father.

He’s gotten his private investigator license, and is looking for a young man who’s disappeared, following the death of his twin sister from a fall from 101 Leadenhall when it was under construction. Kate, at the moment a detective sergeant in Scotland Yard, is investigating a car bombing (via hacked computer) that killed a fringe candidate for Parliament. Richie’s mourning the loss of his Batman Lego set. Henry’s developing his own detective skills by investigating the condominium building.

Emma Jameson

And then who should surface in Tony’s and Kate’s investigations but Sir Duncan Godington, sociopath, psychopath, and killer who’s gotten away with murder several times. He loves to play and toy with his victims. This time it looks like he’s playing for keeps, and Tony and Kate are the prime targets.

Blue Blooded by Emma Jameson is the fifth (and, so far, last) in the Lord and Lady Hetheridge series. It’s the best in the series yet, with action popping on almost every page and a wild climax at the end.

In addition to the Hetheridge series, Jameson has a second series of novels featuring the amateur detective Dr. Benjamin Bones. The series begins in Cornwall during World War II, and it has a companion series called “The Magic of Cornwall.” Jameson is currently working on the third Dr. Bones mystery, and she says there will be more Lord and Lady Hetheridge novels.

Related:

My review of Ice Blue by Emma Jameson.

My review of Blue Murder by Emma Jameson.

My review of Something Blue by Emma Jameson.

My review of Black & Blueby Emma Jameson.

Louise Penny’s “A Rule Against Murder”

I’ve now read the fourth of Louise Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache detective mysteries, and it may be the best yet.

In A Rule Against Murder, Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie are celebrating their wedding anniversary at the Quebec lakeside resort of Manoir Bellechasse. It is an old (and somewhat refurbished) resort built in the days of the 19^th century Robber Barons. It has become a place of quiet, beautiful views, outstanding food, and equally outstanding service.

The Gamaches discover that a family, the Morrows, is also staying at the resort, occupying the best rooms in an annual family reunion. It is not an attractive or engaging family: a distant elderly mother and stepfather; Thomas and Sandra. a son and daughter-in-law who seem to be made of equal parts obnoxiousness and meanness; Marianna, an unmarried daughter with Bean, a 10-year-old child of indeterminate sex; and Julia, a recently divorced daughter whose husband has been imprisoned for stock fraud. They are waiting for the fourth sibling and his wife, whom they refer to as Spot and Claire. Spot and Claire turn out to be the Gamaches’ artist friends from Three Pines, the quaint village an hour away where Gamache has sold the crimes in the three previous books.

Louise Penny

This reunion is to be different – the family is installing a statue of the patriarch Charles Morrow on the grounds of the resort. The ceremony is held and the statue dedicated, and the next morning it is found toppled, with the body of Julia underneath it. An examination of the statue’s pedestal reveals that there is no way the death could have happened. What had looked like a tragic accident instead becomes a case of murder.

Penny is a master at creating characters that the reader can almost taste; they’re that vivid and real. She is also a master at burying the roots of crimes in the distant past, in this case the past of a family that seems to hate itself. And as the investigation progresses, Gamache learns something about himself and his own family past.

A Rule Against Murder is a a thought-provoking, engaging mystery, a mesmerizing story of pain, grief, anger, and revenge.

Related:

My review of Penny’s A Fatal Grace.

My review of Penny’s Still Life.

My review of Penny’s The Cruelest Month.

Photograph: Lake Johnston, Quebec, like the like in A Rule Against Murder.