There’s a gruesome start to the day for DI Leon Peterson when he’s called to an airline catering company: the boss has been knifed in his own kitchen. With few people seeming to regret his passing, Leon is spoilt for suspects. But witnesses are by turns defensive, distraught, and drug-addled, leading to frustrations for his newly-formed and sometimes fractious team.
Pressure to solve the case is piled on by Leon’s new boss – who happens to be his controlling ex-lover. Just as Leon thinks he has his murderer, one shocking discovery is followed by another, this one too close to home. Now he struggles to deal with family fall-out, with striking parallels to his case.
Poor Leon just cannot catch a break in this third installment. After being missing for decades, his father’s body has finally been discovered—and, as it turns out, the murderer might be a little closer to home than anyone could’ve guessed. The new case on his desk is horrifically bloody, and not a single person seems willing to cooperate. His brand-new team is fragile (too many personalities in one room), and he’s hoping against hope they come together before they implode. And if that wasn’t enough, his emotionally abusive ex is now his boss—and still thinks he can pull Leon’s strings like he used to. All this while Leon’s just trying to hold onto a new relationship.
If I were Leon, I’d have checked myself into a padded room by now, begging the world for a year of peace and quiet. But Leon handles it all with a kind of quiet strength that I can’t help but admire—though there’s definitely a little bit of avoidance mixed in for good measure. He’s the type of detective whose mind works methodically, clue by clue, until the whole picture forms (and that picture is never wrong). He throws himself into every case, whether it’s considered “important” or not, guided by an unshakable moral center. Watching him work is genuinely a pleasure.
Leon’s a joy to spend time with, and the people around him (well, not the ex) are just as compelling. The cases keep me hooked, and I find myself fully invested in every twist and turn. Here’s hoping Leon catches a break soon—but honestly? I kind of hope he doesn’t, because I never want this series to end.
1 comment:
This sounds like a good series and the best mysteries are the ones with detectives or private investigators we want to follow from book to book and Leon is in that mold. We are really in a new golden age of mystery novels.
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