Chris Lloyd (4)

A thoroughly enjoyable crime novel. It's the setting that makes this one work, the Catalan city of Girona, and the simmering tension between Spanish and Catalan identity and language. The strong female lead character is a bonus, although Elisenda is haunted by the death of her young daughter, and is fighting prejudice and misogyny in her own department. OK, the general cast of characters are pretty generic to crime fiction, but the plot rattles along at a good pace, the body count is suitably and gruesomely high, and it opens readers' eyes to a new city. Definitely worth a read, and I will be setting off on the next two books very shortly.… (meer)