Jill Downie

The title of this excellent mystery comes from a Shakespearean quote from the Scottish play. One of the means is that a smile may conceal evil intent. This story begins as a grand movie from a best seller is being filmed on the channel island of Guernsey. Before the work has progressed very far there is vandalism of the costumes, a possible threat to the life of the book's author and finally the murder of a wandering philanderer. In all of these situations similar ornate medieval daggers are implicated in the crime.

Detective Inspector Ed Moretti who is in charge of the investigation has been assigned a new partner, a young woman Liz Falla. Moretti feels that the origins of this murder come from the past and he follows his hunches back through the history of the island and it's WWII occupation by the Germans.

Moretti's father had been a POW from Italy who worked on the underground fortifications deep in the bowels of the earth. The knowledge of Italy and Italian helps Moretti pursue this case. This is a very well done mystery with enough backstory to make it very interesting. I am really looking forward to the next in the series.

… (meer)

This is the second outing for Detective Inspector Ed Moretti and his partner, Detective Sgt. Liz Falla. The Channel Island of Guernsey is a location at one time believed to be back of beyond. Now a center of high finance and banking because of it's favorable tax laws Guernsey had left the days of greenhouses, flowers and produce behind. Moretti and Falla are called to investigate the murder of a wealthy man in a luxury yacht . Mr. Masterson was a financier and there's more to his murder than meets the eye.

One thing that is not clear is why Masterson decided to come to the island in the first place and secondly who of the many people who had motives to kill him was a murderer. The detective duo make an excellent partnership and the plot of the story is interesting and engrossing. I hope there are more novels to come in this series.… (meer)