At Death's Window

Starred review from December 22, 2014
Kelly’s superior fifth Shaw and Valentine police procedural (after 2012’s Death’s Door) kicks off with a man being killed in the so-called samphire wars, in which organized crime gangs take over the lucrative business of picking samphire, a much-prized edible plant grown on the Norfolk coast. Det. Insp. Peter Shaw and Det. Sgt. George Valentine must also contend with a possibly related problem: pricey second homes along the coast have been vandalized as part of a political protest. The top brass has kept the lid on news of these crimes, but it’s bound to come out eventually. Meanwhile, Shaw is ambivalent about his wife’s desire to open a restaurant on the beach. The shadow of Shaw’s late father, also a cop, hangs over the case, and the sea itself is a living, breathing entity, as potent as any other character. Long after the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, the mystery of the human psyche remains. Agent: Faith Evans, Faith Evans Associates (U.K.).

January 1, 2015

The discovery of a body floating in the waters off the North Norfolk coast indicates a turf war for samphire, a prized sea asparagus that fetches a lot of money. But then a second corpse turns up. As DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine dig into the deaths in their fifth case (after Death's Door), they discover far more sinister doings in the coastal community.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015
Detective Inspector Peter Shaw of the West Norfolk Constabulary is a triple threat: he heads up the CID Unit, crews a lifeboat, and pilots an inshore rescue hovercraft. His partner, Detective Sergeant George Valentine, is more a threat to himself: depressed, chain-smoking, solitary, a broken man who used to work with Shaw's cop father. There's a nice balance to the duo of semi-superhero and falling man that's one of the pleasures of this series. In the fifth Shaw-Valentine procedural, Shaw commands a daring hovercraft rescue of a father and three small children who have been cut off from the mainland by high tide. Just behind them is the body of a murdered man, fastened to a buoy. The victim's pockets are filled with samphire, an in-demand sea asparagus that grows wild in the marsh. Shaw suspects the murder is tied to London organized crime moving into the profitable trade. In addition, their tiny coastal town is hit by burglaries of second homes and an inundation of deadly adulterated cocaine. Darkly atmospheric, fast-paced, and involving.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)