Unbeknownst to me when I picked this up, it's actually Book 2 in a series (or maybe just a duet?) featuring Inspector Harri Schroder of the Kriminalpolizei, the German Criminal Police stationed in Hamburg. He first appears in The Hidden Storyteller, and the heroine of that book, Georgie Young, puts in a few brief appearances in this story in a secondary character capacity. I definitely got the clear message that this book was part of a series, but it stood alone well and I had not trouble keeping up.
It's 1952 and much of Europe is still recovering from the devastation of World War II. Harri spent the war years working as a cop, and was SS by default.
"All Kripo employees were SS - that bastard Himmler saw to that, tainting us with his vile ideology. I was a police officer through the entire war, nothing more. God knows how, but I managed to stay out of all that shit."
The war over, his wife and young daughter dead, the widower Harri is still a cop, until he's called into his superior's office and told he's going to London. He was personally requested and Harri chalks it up to a goodwill mission. Utterly pointless really when he has a pile of cases on his desk. But off he goes to London because it's a chance to catch up with friends and have a little holiday.
He's told to report to London Metropolitan Police's West End Central station and that's where he meets WPC (woman police constable) Helen "Dexie" Dexter. Widowed during the war, Dexie becomes a police officer and dreams of joining the Criminal Investigative Division (CID), the road block, of course, being that she's a woman. Sexist colleagues, glass ceiling, yada yada yada. Dexie spends her days walking a beat, dealing with hookers and johns, and intervening on "domestic cases."
Harri soon finds out why he was personally requested. MI5 wants him to find James Remington, an influential money man with connections in British political circles. They think this Remington is really Helmut Praxer, a former high ranking Nazi official who ran underground after Germany's surrender.
"He was the Nazis' money man, the key to juggling millions in Reichsmarks and dollars, turning stolen gold and artwork into hard currency. It's not an overstatement to say that, without him, Hitler could never have financed the war."
The wrinkle is that if Remington is Praxer he's had extensive cosmetic surgery and worked on changing his accent and speech patterns. Harri and Praxer went to the police academy together and knew each other fairly well before their ideologies took them on very divergent courses. MI5 is hoping Harri can find and confirm Remington is Praxer, and do so discreetly before he becomes further entrenched in British politics and matters of governmental finance.
Harri agrees to help but knows he'll need someone riding shotgun. Someone who knows London better than he does. Someone who knows the streets. And that someone turns out to be Dexie, who jumps at the chance to prove her mettle and hopefully move a step closer to CID.
Of course it all gets complicated in short order. They have a very short window to find Remington, confirm his true identity and just as they start to run him to ground, the Great Smog of 1952 descends on London, a four day event of toxic pollution that killed thousands of people.
This started a little slow for me as the author lays the groundwork to get Harri to London, meet Dexie, and get his case. Once they're dispatched to find Remington things pick up steam and I had no trouble staying invested and flipping the pages. The setting against the Great Smog was truly inspired and really adds to the overall atmosphere of the story.
The suspense and hunt for Remington/Praxer is really the driving force of the story, but as promised we get "romantic elements" in the relationship between Harri and Dexie. These are two characters who fit together well. They like and respect each other, and this is nothing to overlook with Harri - who is the first man (well, ever) who treats Dexie as a valued colleague. Someone who is good at her job, with a keen mind, and capable of more than just making tea and filing reports.
That said, liking and respecting is a good foundation but getting from that to romance and love isn't developed as well. I totally got that they liked each other, even admired each other, but getting tingly in their private bits? Not at all. You can't even call this book "just kisses" because there are no kisses. There's not even "heated looks," or "sparks" when their hands accidentally brush up against each other. They share a bed a couple of times out of necessity, and warmth, but literally that's all it is. I mean, I'm happy they're together at the end. I wanted them together at the end. I just wasn't really sure when or how they "fell in love." Yes, the romantic component of their relationship is secondary to the overall story, but just a stolen kiss, a heated glance - a couple of small moments was really all that was missing.
Some "telling" does creep into moments of the narrative, but it's not egregious and the overall story is well executed. I'm not sorry I read it in the least and I enjoyed it enough that I likely will read the first book at some point. But oh, if only a little teensy oomph had been added to the romance. Just a smidge. A mere modicum. And well, it would have been closer to perfect.
Final Grade = B-
1 comment:
Missed the opportunity of adding just enough sexual tension the reader buys the romance, then.
(And now one wonders what happens next, what with him a cop in Hamburg and she wanting to move on in the police force in London)
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