Staying Power (Kate Power Series #2) Book

Detective Sergeant Kate Power of Birmingham CID has had bad luck with romance, so when a polite stranger flirts with her on an airline trip home from Florence, she's more than a little suspicious. She gives the man her business card and forgets all about him. Two days later he's found hanging from a canal bridge-with Kate's card in his pocket the only means of identification.

The easy conclusion for the investigating officers is suicide, but Kate isn't convinced. As her subsequent investigations prove, the cause of Alan Grafton's death-and it's consequences-are more serious than she and her colleagues could have imagined. Still regarded as a newcomer in the Birmingham police force, still battling against prejudice and intimidation among the ranks, still fighting to prove that she's got what it takes, Kate is determined to stick to her guns until she finally uncovers the shocking truth.

Judith Cutler's keen insight into the contemporary police force and her winning sleuth Kate Power are a recipe for excellent crime fiction, and Staying Power is the second compelling novel in a gritty modern cop series that's been praised by critics and fans alike.

Kirkus Reviews

Barely accepted as one of the boys at the West Midlands station house, DS Kate Power confronts sexism, racism, spousal abuse, fraud, burglary, drug manufacture, and perhaps murder. Kate returns from an Italian holiday to find Alan Grafton, the man who'd sat in the plane seat next to her, swinging from a rope, his handsome new sweater and shoes dotted with his blood. Although the amorous pathologist, who wants to have sex with Kate astride a motorcycle, thinks it's suicide, she opts for murder. An anonymous phone call from a terrified woman leads her to suspect civic nabob Howard Sanderson, who controls his wife Isobel's every movement, locks up their son Nigel, and forces him to doctor purloined vitamin tablets so they look like Ecstasy. As if that weren't enough to keep a girl busy, two of Kate's fellow officers are hassling the newest female recruit; married DCI Graham Harvey, who owns a piece of her heart, is running hot and cold; her aged auntie is acting up in the nursing home; and the firm redoing her kitchen may be robbing her. If not for the support of gay Constable Colin Roper, Kate would be well and truly overwhelmed. As in Kate's debut (Power on Her Own, 2003), Cutler concentrates on chauvinism, racism, and the almost inexplicable allure of certain men. With all that on her mind, it's no wonder she can't quite keep control of her plot.