Synopsis
When Detective chief Inspector Phil Benholme investigates the the baffling murder of Nobel Prize-winning Professor Unwala, he is disturbed to discover that his own teenage son could be the prime suspect in the crime.
Reviews
"Soft as a duck's arse," his sergeant observes of London's Detective Chief Inspector Phil Benholme, although not to his face. When Professor Unwala, an aging scientist who'd won a Nobel Prize in the 1940s, is murdered, Benholme's calm detachment faces a terrible test: his own teenage son emerges as a suspect. Conor Benholme was in the victim's neighborhood but he refuses to provide a credible explanation for his presence there. Inspector Benholme views his son's possible involvement in the murder as a rebuke to his own parenting. Was he too soft a father as Conor grew up? Dutifully reporting Conor to his superiors, Benholme is removed from the case and begins investigating scenarios that would clear the boy. Racism may have figured in the professor's death. A paramilitary group operated in the area. Unwala's late wife, an archeologist, discovered a legendary buried treasure, according to the local rumor mill. Conor's classmates frequented the scene of the murder to buy drugs. Within this solidly plotted story, Keating's compelling personal portraits stand out. Scenes of the police interrogating the teenage suspects are especially gripping. (Oct.) FYI: Keating, awarded the Crime Writers Association Diamond Dagger Award for Lifetime Achievement, writes the Inspector Ghote series.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
When Detective Chief Inspector Phil Benholme begins investigating the murder of a Nobel Prize^-winning physiologist, he can scarcely believe what he discovers: his own teenage son may be involved. Keating's latest is a gripping examination of one of a police officer's worst nightmares--a portrait of a man faced with the choice between defending his son and helping to prove he's a killer. Keating attacks the story from an interesting angle. Benholme, described by at least one colleague as "soft," isn't a tough-talking, take-charge, Dirty Harry^-like character who jumps in with both fists to protect his boy. He's quiet, gentle, possessed of just enough doubt to entertain the possibility that his son might have done something horrible . . . and because Benholme isn't sure, neither is the reader. A fine mystery from one of the genre's biggest names. David Pitt
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