It’s one of those nights where sleep has been dogging my steps, and there’s a part of me that’s not sure how coherent this will be (I’ve read and reread and rewritten a few times to help with that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I missed the mark a time or two. Hope not!
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Death Wore White by Jim Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
At the end of the day, there was a lot more going on here than there is in a typical detective novel — police procedural or not; British police or American police — most just don’t have as much happening. This makes for a richer, although not necessarily more satisfying, police procedural.
Like most mystery novels, there are really 2 things going on here — you’ve got a character story, and a mystery storyline. In this case there are five mysteries, technically — and it’s unclear for most of the book just how related they are (or if they are). Sure, given the fact that three bodies are found with suspicious causes of death in pretty much the same area within a day or two of each other, odds are pretty good they’re at least semi-related, but one can’t be sure until everything has been solved — another body shows up after the investigation has gone on a day or two. Each method of killing is radically different, there are doesn’t appear to be any tangible connections between the victims, adding another puzzle. I briefly lost the thread on a couple of the murders a time or two, but I think that’s more my fault than Kelly’s (although, he could’ve worked a little harder to prevent that).
The fifth mystery is really tied into the character story. DI Peter Shaw is a very (almost too) talented and by-the-book detective, recently partnered with DS George Valentine, a more experienced detective still laboring under the weight of scandal and infamy due to his not-so by-the-book ways. It should be noted, that DI Shaw’s equally scandal-ladened father used to be Valentine’s partner. While trying to solve the other crimes, these two men try to decide if they can — and how they can — work together, and maybe even trust and rely on each other. This is where the weight of the book lies. Eventually, Shaw will try to reopen the case that forever altered the careers of his father and Valentine.
Kelly weaved a very complex story — maybe a touch on the too-complex side, but not so far as to render this unenjoyable. Not a laugh-a-minute type of enjoyable, but a good puzzle or five to figure out.
There were a lot of extraneous materials added into this book — which points to Kelly’s intention to make this into a series, more than it does a weakness. He’s making sure the main characters, as well as the supporting characters, are well-rounded, with complex back-stories that he both establishes and draws upon here. This is a real strength of the novel, although you’re frequently wondering “who cares?” to some of this — it slows the narrative a bit, and occasionally seems extraneous. Which is kind of is, and Kelly just doesn’t care. This time out, anyway, it works. I’m not sure it would every time.
It’s not the strongest procedural, or mystery novel in general, that I’ve read this year — but it did what it was supposed to, and introduced the readers to what I bet will be pretty interesting series, populated by characters that seem real enough that you’d be half-tempted to expect to see at the police station in the flesh.
Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith
