Malice by Lisa Jackson
It is not very often that I receive a book one week and get the review published by then next. But for some reason this Lisa Jackson book appealed to me, so I thought I would get it read and reviewed before the publication date for a change.
Detective Rick Bentz is back, or at least those who have managed to read her US backlist. But as he comes out of a coma, he is certain that he sees his ex-wife in the room. Ex-wife as in buried twelve years ago. As he goes through physio and tries to get back to work, the woman appears again and again, always on the edge of his vision. But then the photos arrive…
Bentz heads to California to get to the bottom of everything. Unfortunately he has history there. He was a cop caught in bad press and with the death of his wife, he sought comfort in the bottle. When a double murder investigation turned cold, Bentz was made a scapegoat for LAPD and left town. When he comes back, no one wants to know.
So he starts off on his own investigation. He is a detective so he does what he knows best. But then the witnesses he interviews start turning up dead, and Bentz becomes a suspect.
I thoroughly enjoyed this who-dun-it. I never picked the bad guy, right to the end. And the climax was riveting. Even when the baddie was revealed, there was good suspense as Bentz tried to rescue the last innocent victim. The motives for everybody were believable and the characters were well drawn. I was a little confused about Montoya’s involvement, but everything else was so good I can forgive that.
