Katherine Barker didn’t make it to her sister’s flat that night.  She was found murdered … the fifth victim of a serial killer who’d been nicknamed the ‘condom killer’.  The MO was the same as the others – a brutal hammer blow to the back of the head; rape; and chloroform burns around her mouth.  The residents of Hampstead in London are getting jumpy and the higher-ups decide to replace DCI Tom Allen with DS Simon Collison.  They need a break in this case.  They need it now.  On his own, and being fed information by DI Bob Metcalfe, Tom Allen decides to continue working it on his own.

They determine they need a profiler.  DC Karen Willis suggests Peter Collins, a psychologist and her boyfriend.  As it turns out, Peter is a great admirer of the fictional Lord Peter Wimsey, who had in the 1920’s began investigating crime as a hobby.  While the novel held merit, great characters, and unique twists, I do feel that the emphasis on Wimsey was a downside for this novel.  Technology was accessible, but a preference was placed on good old-fashioned cop instincts.  In some ways, this reads like a cozy except I felt it was just a bit more graphic than most cozies.  Rating: 3 out of 5.

I really enjoyed Death in Profile – whoever called it a love letter to the detective novel was spot on and I’m not sure that any review I write can say it better than that but hey, we’ll give it a go.

You have totally old school writing and atmosphere – think Christie and indeed Ms Sayers and you will probably get a sense of what this novel is like.  It is a bit like reading back in the golden age of crime writing to paraphrase Ruth Dugdall but with a superbly contemporary twist –  a modern day police force investigating a series of murders using a mix of current methods and, due to a superbly constructed plot, having to utilise a very old fashioned approach.

The characters are beautifully drawn, they feel like old souls in new bodies – all of them are intriguing, engaging and the author weaves some wonderfully quirky interactions into the narrative, some of the set scenes so to speak are a joy to behold.

Add to that a great mystery, that twists and turns and misdirects you the entire time, the centre of the story has an unconventional heart and soul that will totally absorb you. It is a bizarre tale in a lot of ways but GOOD bizarre, a little gem of difference within a genre of (brilliant but) similar stories and one that I would highly recommend.

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

    I honestly tried to finish this book, but the farther I read, the higher I could feel my blood pressure shooting. I generally expect detectives in a mystery novel, unless it's meant to be a comedy, to be somewhat intelligent. They don't have to be Sherlock level brilliant, but at the bare minimum they should be able to competently conduct an investigation. The detectives failed to meet this bare minimum for the first 27% of the book. While investigating a serial killer who rapes his victims, they should not be asking questions like, 'why would he wear a condom'. And while the suggestion that he might not want to catch an STD is an acceptable answer to this question, it should in no way be the first thought that pops into the investigating detectives heads. Seriously, they are stumped by this. Here's a hint, it's two words, twenty letters long and the three letter abbreviation begins with D and ends in A.

     I was already shaking my head over the stupidity of the investigating officers when one of the detectives, Karen, suggests to her superior they use her boyfriend to profile the serial killer. Ignoring the potential conflict of interest of using her boyfriend in an ongoing investigation, her superior asks Karen to tell him a little about her boyfriend, so he can put in an official request. Karen, responds as follows:

"He's a very intelligent man ... perhaps the most intelligent person I've ever met."

This means absolutely nothing after seeing the geniuses she works with.

"He was one of my tutors when I did my criminology diploma, actually. We started going out not long after we met, about six months into the course ... We had to keep it quiet until I left."

So there are two issues at play here. One, that information in no way shows that her boyfriend is in anyway qualified to profile a criminal. Two, her boyfriend has no sense of boundaries; he dated a girl he was tutoring. Her superior, instead of pointing out that none of this qualifies him to actually do any profiling, goes along as if this is all useful information. Eventually they do get to his actual qualifications, but her superior seems more concerned with how they met and is convinced that this totally useless information is just what he needs to get his superiors to bring him on board.

     The detectives further cement their incompetence by ruling out the latest victims husband because they're "looking for a serial killer, not a domestic dispute that's got out of hand." Apparently married people can't be serial killers or use a serial killer to cover up the murder of their wife? They then proceed to let the taxi driver, who was the last known person to see the victim alive, go after "they were able to agree on a location somewhere on Wood Green High Street at some time around midnight." It's always a good idea to lead witnesses in answering questions, it gives the defense attorney something to use for the mistrial. It's only after the taxi driver has left the building, that they realize he is a possible suspect. Of course, they waited just long enough for the taxi driver to steam clean his cab so, "If it's no good to you. I can get back in it and start earning some money..." I gave up at this point. I think everybody in this story is suffering some form of brain damage. I gave this book one star.

Taking place near where I used to live (so I understand all the geographical references), this novel is swift-moving about a serial rapist and killer operating in the North London area.

Tom Allen is taken off the case after 18 months of lack of success but keeps involved despite orders from above. The case takes many twists and turns and I thought that I could predict who the killer was from about hallway through: how wrong I was! The ending comes as a complete surprise and works well.

Relatively short (a good thing), the plot is engaging and well-written: I felt that a strange twist just after halfway through the book when an important character suffers a breakdown was unnecessary but others may appreciate its eccentricity.