Good Wife

December 15, 2018
In their third outing (following Death Scene, 2017), DCI Henry Johnstone and DS Mickey Hitchens suspect that the bodies they keep finding are tied to East End gangster Josiah Bailey. The problem is, nobody wants to go on record saying anything about Bailey for fear of becoming the next victim. Flashbacks from 1928 back to 1918 reveal that Dalla Beany may be the key. When Bailey's men killed Dalla's husband, Dalla took her son and daughter back to the Romany community where she was raised. In late-1920s England, Johnstone's investigation keeps leading him back to the same camp. This engaging procedural may also appeal to fans of Marjorie Eccles and Jacqueline Winspear.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2020
Dr. Clive Mason and his wife, Martha, are enjoying a day at the races with their friends Dr. Ephraim Phillips; his wife, Nora; and their children. The year is 1929, the place, Southwall, England. Both men are police surgeons. When officers summon Mason to examine a body found in a horse stall, he is shocked when he realizes the victim is his wife. Her friend Nora said Martha recognized someone in the crowd, went to say hello, and never returned. The local constables need help with the investigation, so they call Detective Chief Inspector Harry Johnstone and his sergeant, Mickey Hitchens. They immediately rule out a robbery gone wrong and begin looking into the victim's life. She was a popular, respected member of the community, but her past reveals dark secrets. The author's vivid depiction of England in the twenties and her well-constructed plot will appeal to the Downton Abbey crowd.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

March 2, 2020
Set in 1929, Adams’s solid fifth mystery featuring Det. Chief Insp. Henry Johnstone of the Metropolitan Police (after 2019’s The Clockmaker) takes Johnstone and his sergeant, Mickey Hitchens, to Southwell, Nottinghamshire, to investigate the murder of Martha Mason, who left her physician husband and the friends she was mixing with at the local racecourse to go in search of an acquaintance she had supposedly spotted. Her body was later discovered in a horse box away from the track, her skull smashed by a single blow. Who would kill “a woman that everyone accepted was a good wife and model citizen”? The two detectives soon figure out that Martha had an ambiguous and possibly murky past; they also uncover various criminal activities among suspects who range from members of street gangs to lords of the realm. Mickey, who “usually mitigated what was often referred to as Chief Inspector Johnstone’s sharpness and lack of tact,” does the heavy lifting, while Henry quietly ponders the clues. Appealing characters compensate for a convoluted plot. Fans of historical police procedurals will be satisfied.