Dangerous Games Book

The new Inspector Woodend mystery - A man is found hanging from a bridge. A second is found hanged from a crane. DCI Charlie Woodend soon discovers that the men did military service together in Cyprus. When a third ex-soldier disappears, DS Monika Paniatowski is sent to Cyprus, where she uncovers a long-buried tale. Back in Whitebridge, Woodend is determined to solve the case before tragedy strikes again . . .

Kirkus Reviews

DCI Charlie Woodend (Stone Killer, 2005, etc.) and his crew track a serial killer bent on displaying his handiwork in increasingly public venues. The first corpse, found floating, decapitated, in the Whitebridge canal, had originally been hung from seldom-used Locke Bridge so inconspicuously that Chief Constable Henry Marlowe announced the death as a suicide, seriously hampering Woodend's investigation. Still, as they met over pints at the Drum and Monkey, Woodend, his sergeant Monika Paniatowski, his former sergeant Bob Rutter and recently-promoted DC Colin Beresford all agree that Terry Pugh, with a good job and a baby on the way, didn't top himself. Reg Lewis's body, found dangling from a crane at a construction site, only confirms their certainty that someone wants to wipe out men in their late 20s leaving his victims for all to see. The connection isn't hard to find: Pugh and Lewis served in Cyprus together during the Cypriot uprising of the 1950s. But finding the connection isn't quite the same as stopping the killer-a lesson not lost on Monika, dispatched to the Mideast; Rutter, embarking on a dangerous relationship with unscrupulous reporter Liz Driver; and ever-persistent Woodend, caught in the political toils of his superiors. The intrigue grows but the detection wanes, making Spencer's latest entry feel like a transitional piece, a stopgap between reminiscences of past adventures and plans for future outings.