Silvermeadow by Barry Maitland

Publisher's Synopsis

Two Cases. One location. The first case, a girl gone missing, seems a decidedly local affair. The second, the return of a violent criminal who had fled the country, instantly attracts the interest of Scotland Yard and Detective Inspector David Brock.

When he learns that his longtime nemesis, the amphetamine-juiced killer and thief known as "Upper" North, may have surfaced, Brock assembles his team and summons Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla. Their manhunt centers on Silvermeadow, the supermall on the outskirts of London where North was spotted. Brock and Kolla camouflage their search for North by taking on the case of the missing girl--a mall employee. They lie in wait, hoping to catch North before he can strike with a new crime. Yet what should they make of rumors of other young girls disappearing from Silvermeadow? Is there a predator on the loose within the apparent safety of a carefully orchestrated aura of order and control? Very quickly, the mall itself--and its colorful cast of characters--becomes key to the dual investigations.

My Review of Silvermeadow by Barry Maitland

The 5th book in the DCI David Brock and DS Kathy Kolla police procedural series carefully intertwines two investigations together. The hunt for a violent criminal and the investigation of a murdered girl centre around a huge shopping mall on the outskirts of London. Brock and Kolla, as part of Scotland Yard's Serious Crimes Branch are called in for another tense investigation. Barry Maitland has continued his popular series with another solid mystery that re-establishes Brock and Kolla as a highly effective team.

Silvermeadow is the big new shopping mall outside of London that promises a grand new shopping experience. But the rumour being passed around by some of the locals and the children at school is that it's a place from where some of the local girls have gone missing.

When Kerri Vlasich disappears her concerned mother mentions these stories to the police adding that Kerri had a part-time job at Silvermeadow and the two could be connected. The police, who have also heard the rumour but have never had a case that was connected to the shopping mall, assure the distraught mother that the stories were nonsense. Then a body is discovered in a dumpster that had originated at the Silvermeadow shopping mall and the body is wearing a ring that looks very similar to the ring worn by Kerri Vlasich.

DCI Brock finds himself roped into the murder investigation due to his presence while following up the reported sighting of 'Upper' North an extremely violent criminal who had gone to until sighted at the mall. His expertise is seized upon by Detective Chief Superintendent Forbes, an incompetent pen-pusher with no field experience who was given the case and was clearly out of his depth. His proposal is for Brock to use the murder investigation as a kind of cover while tracking down North.

So Brock's team, including DS Kathy Kolla descend on the Silvermeadow shopping mall where they set up base and commence their murder investigation. Their first job is to try to confirm that Kerri was at the mall to begin with, after that begins the tedious task of working out who would want to murder her.

The team is also fighting the impatience of the shopping mall's management who aren't too impressed with a bunch of coppers prowling the floors disturbing their tenants and customers.

Being a police procedural and starting with a case with very few clues, the pace is slow and methodical as statements are gathered, suspects are considered and forensic evidence is examined. Eventually though, pieces begin to fall into place and as they do the speed of the story accelerates with it until we are hurtling towards a frantic showdown of an ending.

Spicing things up while the investigation runs its course is a relationship that has been building over the last few books of the series finally blossoms between Kathy and forensic technician Leon Desai. At last, it looks as though Kathy is going to have some sort of outside distraction from the job, the only question remains is whether the new affair will distract her too much from her job. As a special treat, it appears that even the enigmatic DCI Brock is having a little luck in the romance game, just to liven proceedings a little.

Now, it may have sounded as though I thought the book was rather slow and boring, but it's really anything but. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful characters who pass through in the course of the investigation, regulars who lurk at the mall, sleazy men with grimy pasts, know-all boors who love to stick their noses in and your usual juvenile delinquent types. They add up to an amusing passing parade, not all of whom will survive. The huge array of people also means that there is any number of possible suspects to choose from.

The main strength of the book, and this is largely the case with the earlier 4 books, too, is Kathy Kolla's highly developed detective's instinct. She asks the right questions, knows when to back off from a suspect and is able to make the all important leap in logic once enough clues have been laid out before her. It's on the back of her detective work that we find ourselves making most progress and it's also where we, the readers, get the opportunity to try to work out who the murderer is.

Silvermeadow is probably the most slowly paced of the Brock and Kolla books but thanks to the more unusual setting of the shopping mall, an interesting array of people plus a highly charged ending I still found it a very engrossing story. I'd say it could be best enjoyed after reading the earlier books in the series, although those who haven't yet read the earlier books can still enjoy it as a stand-alone.