Review: The Raven's Eye by Barry Maitland

A Mysterious Review of The Raven's Eye by Barry Maitland. A Brock and Kolla Mystery.

Review summary: This is a multi-layered crime novel, centered primarily on DI Kathy Kolla while DCI Brock deals with the new commander and all the politics that accompany any change in leadership. The multiple storylines are interesting in and of themselves, but how they are interwoven makes for an exceptionally satisfying mystery. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Raven's Eye
Barry Maitland
A Brock and Kolla Mystery
Minotaur Books (October 2011)

Publisher synopsis: DI Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard is called in as a matter of course by the local Paddington police when a woman turns up dead in what appears to be an accident. On her houseboat, Vicky Hawks is found by one of her neighbors having apparently succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning due to improper ventilation of the narrowboat's heating system. But while the cause of death seems apparent and there's no reason for Kolla to think otherwise, something about this death still bothers her.

Meanwhile, her boss, DCI Brock, is wrestling with harsh budget cuts and a new Commander who is determined to make fundamental changes to the system — including limiting resources devoted to investigations. Struggling against the limitations imposed by the new order at Scotland Yard, Brock and Kolla find themselves pulling at the loose strings in the death of Vicky Hawks, trying to find out who she really was, what she was up to, and how her death might be related to another earlier tragic accidental death.