Overview
Enzo MacLeod, a Scot who is teaching forensics at Cahors in southwest France, confidently bet that he could use his expertise to crack seven notorious murders described in a book on cold cases by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin. Enzo has in fact solved the first two crimes. But the third is far from his mind at the moment. He’s just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and now it appears he’s the target of someone intent on destroying his credit, his relationships, and getting him arrested for murder. It’s enough to bring out his Scottish stubbornness. In this Job-like situation, it serves him well. Establishing a safe house to protect his loved ones, besieged now as it were, he sets to work. Are his woes connected to the digging he’s done into the brutal murder of a rent boy in a Paris apartment sixteen years ago? What further remnants of evidence can he review? Can he stay alive long enough to catch the long-hidden killer?
Synopsis
Enzo MacLeod, a Scot who is teaching forensics at Cahors in southwest France, confidently bet that he could use his expertise to crack seven notorious murders described in a book on cold cases by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin. Enzo has in fact solved the first two crimes. But the third is far from his mind at the moment. He’s just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and now it appears he’s the target of someone intent on destroying his credit, his relationships, and getting him arrested for murder. It’s enough to bring out his Scottish stubbornness. In this Job-like situation, it serves him well. Establishing a safe house to protect his loved ones, besieged now as it were, he sets to work. Are his woes connected to the digging he’s done into the brutal murder of a rent boy in a Paris apartment sixteen years ago? What further remnants of evidence can he review? Can he stay alive long enough to catch the long-hidden killer?
Publishers Weekly
In May's dark, intense third mystery to feature Scottish forensic scientist Enzo Macleod, Enzo takes on his third cold case described in a book by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin-the murder of a "rent boy" 16 years earlier-but Enzo's investigation runs into trouble after he's diagnosed with terminal cancer and he's framed for murder. Evidently, the rent boy's killer fears Enzo will solve the crime if he ever gets a chance. May makes the French settings sharply real, while creating a seething tangle of emotional conflicts between Enzo and the people around him. By novel's end, the overall plot, like the emotional relationships, isn't really settled, which may feel frustrating-or may hook readers into following the developments of an unusually compelling ongoing saga. Those already familiar with the previous two books in the series, Extraordinary People(2006) and The Critic(2007), will be at an advantage. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
In May's dark, intense third mystery to feature Scottish forensic scientist Enzo Macleod, Enzo takes on his third cold case described in a book by Parisian journalist Roger Raffin-the murder of a "rent boy" 16 years earlier-but Enzo's investigation runs into trouble after he's diagnosed with terminal cancer and he's framed for murder. Evidently, the rent boy's killer fears Enzo will solve the crime if he ever gets a chance. May makes the French settings sharply real, while creating a seething tangle of emotional conflicts between Enzo and the people around him. By novel's end, the overall plot, like the emotional relationships, isn't really settled, which may feel frustrating-or may hook readers into following the developments of an unusually compelling ongoing saga. Those already familiar with the previous two books in the series, Extraordinary People(2006) and The Critic(2007), will be at an advantage. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
In his third outing (after Extraordinary People and The Critic), Scottish forensic specialist Enzo MacLeod, who teaches at a university in southwestern France, is investigating a set of cold cases outlined in a book when he becomes victimized by someone who wants to destroy him and all that he holds dear. Enzo scoops up his extended family and gets them to a safe house while he focuses on one case, the murder of a Parisian rent boy, that might be to the key to his troubles. This complicated tale weaves threads of the past into the present, presenting MacLeod with challenges that he could never have foreseen. An engrossing mystery, especially for readers who like their crimes solved in foreign settings.
—Jo Ann Vicarel