Cath Staincliffe: Dead to Me
Minotaur does a good job picking up and publishing British police procedurals and this is one of their latest finds – a genuine, no-holds-barred procedural with not one central female character, but three, which makes it a bit different. The men in the book are either villains, eye candy, present or ex husbands, or sidebar co-workers. It’s the women Staincliffe is interested in and that sets this novel apart.
It’s labeled on the cover a “Scott and Bailey” novel which gives things away a bit as the two main characters, Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey, are immediately front and center. Janet’s boss, Gill, encounters Rachel on a crime scene and likes her enough to ask her to join her elite homicide team, which is Rachel’s dream job. Janet is older, seasoned, experienced and irritated with Rachel, who is like an overeager puppy, charging in and acting without thinking. Part of the novel is definitely concerned with Janet and Gill’s efforts to “train” her to act like a grown up police officer.