Lee Allen's Blog, page 3

Lynda La Plante's Getting Away With Murder - Review

Getting Away with Murder: My Unexpected Life on Page, Stage and Screen by Lynda La Plante

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An insightful and entertaining memoir from the legendary crime writer.

Lynda La Plante has created some of the most iconic crime dramas and leading characters in crime fiction – amongst them DCI Jane Tennison of ‘Prime Suspect’, the first high-ranking female detective to lead a series on British television; Dolly Rawlins and her fellow widows, who took the lead on an audacious robbery at a time when women leading a television drama was scarce; and the innovative and groundbreaking ‘Trial and Retribution’. She has written and produced countless hours of television and published over fifty novels and novelisations since ‘Widows’ first hit the screen in 1983. I have been a huge fan of her work since my early teenage years, eagerly devouring every novel and television drama over the last two decades.

In ‘Getting Away With Murder’, Lynda looks back on her life and her career, from her early childhood where her desire to tell stories began, going on to train at RADA and embark on her early career as an actress on stage and television, interspersed with tales of her family and friends, her marriage and dreams of having a child, and how she first decided to write a script of her own. Given the opportunity by producer Verity Lambert, Lynda discovered her true passion for writing as she developed the story that would become the first series of organised crime drama ‘Widows’. Following two seasons of ‘Widows’, she went on to write her first novel, family saga ‘The Legacy’, these two early works beginning an illustrious career as both a screenwriter and novelist. A prolific body of work followed in the next three decades, including organised crime epic ‘Bella Mafia’ (1990), police procedural drama ‘Prime Suspect’ (1991-93), psychological thriller ‘Entwined’ (1992), prison drama ‘The Governor’ (1995-96), police procedural and legal drama ‘Trial and Retribution’ (1997-2009), police procedural novels featuring Anna Travis (2004-13), and so much more.

Her dedication to research has been a cornerstone of her work since the beginning – whether exploring the dangerous underbelly of the criminal world, the ingenious intricacies of forensic science, the technicalities of police procedure and the criminal justice system, or the unspeakable, inhumane horrors of the Holocaust. Never one to shy away from the true horror of her subject matter, Lynda has often tackled this darkness in her stories, exploring compelling characters, intricate plots, and often the most shocking crimes. Through her company La Plante Productions, she was able to take full creative control of her projects, a rarity for a screenwriter in the days before the role of a lead writer showrunner became more mainstream. So often ahead of the curve and with a keen eye for spotting acting talent, her work became event television and her name synonymous with quality crime drama.

Featuring many anecdotes from throughout her career, with multiple guest appearances – including Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Ann Mitchell, David Hayman, and many more – Lynda takes us behind the scenes of her most famous dramas and novels, told with laugh-out-loud humour, poignant moments, and insights into the entertainment industries, including personal and professional challenges she has faced and the battles she has overcome – amongst them her dyslexia, the struggles of the acting industry, the fight for screenwriters to earn respect, and suffering the realisation that she didn't own the rights to some of her most popular characters.

In more recent years, since adopting her beloved son, Lynda’s focus has primarily been on her novels, with a triumphant return to Jane Tennison with the prequel series of books (2015-24), and the creation of new detective Jack Warr, through whom we made a return to the world of ‘Widows’, in her ongoing series that began with ‘Buried’ in 2020. Having recently reached her milestone eightieth birthday, Lynda continues to write, and long may she gift us many more gripping stories!

‘Getting Away With Murder’ gives us a fascinating insight into Lynda’s world, in a riveting, moving, and inspiring life story of an incredible writer and icon of crime fiction.



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Patricia Cornwell's Identity Unknown - Review

Identity Unknown: The gripping new Kay Scarpetta thriller for 2024 by Patricia Cornwell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A riveting forensic thriller featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

In the midst of a harrowing investigation into the death of a child, Scarpetta is summoned to another murder scene by the Secret Service – a man dropped from the sky from an unidentified aircraft into the heart of an abandoned theme park.

The murdered man is Sal Giordano – an astrophysicist and old friend of Scarpetta’s, with whom she had a romantic relationship early in her career.

As the team delve deeper into Sal’s murder, they recognise the signature of a malign evil at work, a nemesis from the past who will stop at nothing to wreak havoc.

‘Identity Unknown’ is the twenty-eighth book in the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. Scarpetta is investigating the tragic death of a child, a death the parents claim to have been accidental whilst having begun a campaign of harassment against Scarpetta’s office as she has not yet signed off on the cause of death. Scarpetta’s niece and Secret Service agent, Lucy, contacts her with devastating news – a friend and old flame has been found dead in suspicious and suggestive circumstances. Due to the highly classified nature of the investigation, Scarpetta and Marino must take charge of the recovery of his body from a closed down, crumbling theme park themed on ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and then conduct the autopsy in an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, following the shock return of a past villain in the previous novel, the threat continues to close in and remains never far away.

Cornwell continues the trend of her most recent Scarpetta novels in blending forensic science and crime investigation with speculative fiction and a political edge – crafting a superb thriller for the post-pandemic and new space age, with an additional sliver of intrigue with alleles of unexplained and paranormal phenomena infused within the narrative’s DNA – this time exploring UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Tightly plotted and lightning-paced, Scarpetta’s narrative draws us in to a disturbing and unsettling investigation. The autopsies always prove fascinating, while the retrieval of bodies within the abandoned theme park and beneath the Chesapeake Bay heighten the suspense and claustrophobia in thrilling action sequences with detailed focus on medico-legal procedure. Cornwell grounds her fiction in realism, the driving narrative of the plot focusing on Kay’s role as medical examiner, hinging on the forensic science and her advisory capacity to law enforcement and the government, her insights into elements outside of her role via her family and colleagues.

In the vein of the most recent additions to the series, ‘Identity Unknown’ once again conjures a sense of nostalgia, referencing events taking place in and around the early books in the series in Scarpetta’s early years as Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia. This time, we delve into an unexplored chapter of Kay’s past, looking back to a summer she took a teaching sabbatical in Rome, where she met Sal Giordano. At the time struggling with her feelings for Benton, who was married, Kay had a brief relationship with Sal, one that was always doomed to fail. But they remained friends. Sal’s death raises a lot of raw emotion for Kay, as well as proving a personal and professional struggle for Benton. Since the beginning of the series, I’ve loved Kay and Benton’s relationship – despite the challenges of their professional lives, there has always been a depth of emotion between them; and, no matter how they may have begun and the trials they’ve faced along the way, they belong together. I always enjoy the moments when we get an emotional insight into their relationship, this investigation bringing past and present emotions bubbling to the surface, not only for Kay and Benton, but also for Marino, Dorothy and Lucy, as the past continues to haunt them all.

An engrossing and gripping read, ‘Identify Unknown’ is another superb novel and a particularly emotional chapter in the series, delving into our hearts as it looks beyond the stars. I shall be eagerly awaiting another entry in this long-running saga.



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Charles Dickens' The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain - Review

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain: Classic literature by Charles Dickens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A Yuletide parable of loss and love.

In the days before Christmas, Mr. Redlaw is visited by a spirit, whom he begs to bestow upon him a gift - to remove his sorrow, wrong and trouble from memory.

But with pieces of his past missing, it changes Redlaw beyond recognition. Not only that, but his gift comes with a price - that he will spread its effect to whomever he meets.

As Christmas Day arrives, Redlaw grapples with the curse he was once desperate for, praying its power spreads no further and leaves no one else a mere fragment of themselves.

'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain' is the fifth and final Christmas book by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1848. Originally subtitled ‘A Fancy for Christmas-Time’, this is a tale told in three acts, a warning to be mindful of what you wish for, of a gift desired without full consideration of its repercussions. The story returns to the theme of ghosts of Dickens’ original classic Christmas book, following forays into goblins and fairies, and lacking any supernatural phenomena in its predecessor, but this time with a difference - the spirit being a shade of the central character's own self, perhaps his darker half, or his higher consciousness.

Probably the darkest of Dickens’ Christmas novellas, the prose is fused with stunning imagery, deeply atmospheric and composed of gothic images, some passages feeling like rich portions of tales of horror, toying with concepts such as a bargain struck with spirits who bestow our wishes at a cost, or the duality of our natures and life’s circumstances, feeling like a precursor to later stories such as Robert Louis Stevenson's ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. Creating an intricate sense of place and contemporary society, the prose is at moments intensely bleak, with touches of humour gesturing towards farce with certain characters, and in parts dense and descriptive, perfectly conjuring a sense of the early Victorian era almost two centuries later.

At the story's centre is chemistry professor Mr. Redlaw, his benevolence and kind-hearted nature marking him as an antithesis of Ebenezer Scrooge. Lonely and grief-stricken, he desires to forget his pain. Yet, without it, his character sours, with the loss of the memory of events of his past that played their role in creating the man he is today – the gift effectively altering time, as if the entire course of one’s life is changed, creating an entirely different version of oneself. It plays well as a metaphor for aging and declining, perhaps even an observation of what we would today diagnose as dementia, or alternatively for amnesia associated with mental illness, the mind's attempt to protect itself from trauma and subsequent slow regaining of these lost pieces.

As is one of Dickens' signature components, the narrative features a supporting cast of eccentric characters from across the spectrum of Victorian society, illustrating the divide between rich and poor, the privileged and the destitute, the gift soon diffusing through this group, while a mystery presents itself with the curse proving to have no effect on some of the characters while having such a profound effect on others. The novella is primarily message driven, the moral of the story taking centre-stage over plot and character, exploring the concept of true appreciation and gratitude being found in the juxtaposition between joy and suffering - that without the latter, we can never truly appreciate the former; an observation that life and love are an entwined complexity of light and dark. For to forget one's grief, one must forget their love.

Becoming my second favourite of Dickens' Christmas books, ‘The Haunted Man’ is a thought-provoking piece of philosophical fiction, depicting the polarity of the season with its shades of dark and light, good and evil; an astute observation of society, comprised of metaphor and moral complexity. It’s a welcome return to the supernatural manifestation of Christmas magic and the concept Dickens so artfully and more distinctly developed in 'A Christmas Carol' of past, present and future co-existing during the season, also as much a time to reflect and acknowledge the ills and terrors of the world as to rejoice in its beauty and pleasures, and ultimately conveying the enriching salvation of the power of love.

While Dickens may not have succeeded in re-creating the power and majesty of his classic story in the succeeding four fables, though this a feat perhaps impossible to achieve, he once again presents an enjoyable and timeless tale with a resounding moral in ‘The Haunted Man’ - we can either allow the ghosts of our minds and memories to haunt us, or we can embrace them as part of us and our histories and seek to make peace with them.



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Kim Newman's A Christmas Ghost Story - Review

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An Advent countdown of psychological dread and supernatural terror.

Rust and his mother Angie are preparing for Christmas at their family home Six Elms House.

The first anonymous Christmas card addressed to Rust arrives on December 1st, reminding Angie of the time as a child she stayed up late to watch the annual 'Christmas Ghost Story' on TV - only her memory is of an episode that never aired.

As the sinister cards continue to arrive and other strange occurrences haunt mother and son, they fear the arrival of Christmas will bring with it cataclysmic terror.

'A Christmas Ghost Story' is a novella by Kim Newman, a tale of paranormal phenomena and impending doom, laced with trauma and spite, taking inspiration from weird and gothic fiction and Victorian Christmas horror and ghost stories, a classic feel deposited in a modern setting complete with paraphenomenological flourishes of the social media age.

A slow-burning and atmospheric tale of mystery and dread, the novella brims with an off-kilter strangeness, paranoia and hysteria bubbling beneath the surface, as both characters get sucked into the anxiety and threat posed by the mysterious sender of the cards and malevolent spirits push through the veil. As the days pass, the isolation intensifies, counting down the days to Christmas Eve and a climatic venture into an amalgamation of nightmarish childhood imagination and the stresses and shadows of Christmases past.

Creepy and entertaining, 'A Christmas Ghost Story' is a bittersweet treat for the final days of the year.



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Shani Struthers' Wildacre - Review

Wildacre: A Christmas Ghost Story by Shani Struthers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A festive tale of isolation and penance.

Isla Barrow is dispatched to provide urgent live-in care to the elderly Jessica Lockhart over the Christmas period.

Arriving at Wildacre, an estate left to live up to its name, Isla finds Jessica alone and in peril.

Cut off from the outside world, Isla struggles to care for Jessica, while discovering that Wildacre hides a vengeful darkness.

'Wildacre' is a Christmas Gothic ghost story by Shani Struthers, following Isla's experience at the eponymous house over several days leading up to Christmas. Atmospheric, chilling and emotive, the prose draws us into its grasp as we find ourselves trapped with Isla following a car accident shortly before her arrival at Wildacre, finding there no supplies and no way to make contact with the outside world. We meet Jessica, frail, ailing and declining rapidly, left to rot even as she still breathes, as it becomes clear she is suffering from dementia and perhaps has little time left to live.

Slowly building the suspense as Isla finds herself isolated from the outside world, trapped here not only by the weather and the distance from civilisation, but also the secrets that spread through the shadows of the house like a cancer; exploring the largely abandoned and uncared for home and discovering the history of Jessica's family and the tragedy that befell them, their spirits still haunting the house.

Perfectly poised for the season, this darkest of days which we fill with such light and joy as we celebrate the promised return of the light, both Isla and Jessica find themselves facing the trauma and shame hidden in the past, ghosts so often locked away within our own minds, while the spirits of the dead linger awaiting the day of reckoning, the narrative building to an intense climax where old sins are revealed and old wounds find their time to heal, pondering whether, perhaps, no one ever truly dies alone.

Poignant and bittersweet, 'Wildacre' is a short and enjoyable supernatural yarn for Yuletide.



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Death Comes at Christmas - Review

Death Comes at Christmas by Marie O'Regan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A festive selection box of murder and mystery.

'Death Comes at Christmas' is a anthology of eighteen short stories, all written by crime and thriller authors, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. From stories in the style of Golden Age classics to gritty modern thrillers, set in the snowy English countryside to the heat of Bombay, India, we are treated to a delightfully gripping mix of brutal crimes and complex puzzles, with flourishes of comedy, romance and creepy chills, all with a sprinkling of seasonal fun.

My personal favourites were:
'Christmas Yet to Come' by Helen Fields, for its strong characters and devious plotting [a legacy sequel to Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'];
'The Red Angel' by Russ Thomas, for its gothic isolation and chilling atmosphere;
'The Midnight Mass Murderer' by Alexandra Benedict, for its twisty plot, deranged killer, and returning characters [a sequel to Benedict's own 'The Christmas Jigsaw Murders'];
'A Deadly Gift' by Angela Clarke, for its classic locked-room mystery complete with festive trimmings.

Overall, this is a collection of well-written, thrilling tales, many in the tradition of much-loved and classic Christmas tales and mysteries, and a fantastic showcase of writers from the world of modern crime fiction, each tale an enjoyable slice of Yuletide magic. Highly recommended reading for these cold nights as we count down to Christmas.



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M.L. Rayner's Echoes of Home - Review

Echoes of Home by M.L. Rayner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A captivating Gothic ghost story of old shadows and secret sins.

Leslie Wills unexpectedly receives an offer to move to a remote property nestled deep in the Scottish Highlands.

However, from the moment he arrives, he feels something is amiss with the house as strange disturbances begin to trouble him.

Les finds himself haunted by his new home’s past – a ghost that cannot rest until overdue justice is served.

'Echoes of Home' is the debut novel by M.L. Rayner, a ghost story set in a secluded village in the Scottish Highlands, a close-knit community with a long and troubled history. Written in the tradition of classic Gothic horror, and largely narrated by lead character, Les, Rayner deftly layers the novel in swirling mists of stunning imagery and Gothic atmosphere, history and folklore, and paranormal phenomena as we explore the natural wilderness and witness her merciless ferocity, glimpsing the tragic events of the past as it relentlessly haunts the present.

Les makes for an interesting character, not immediately endearing, yet dealing with grief at his mother’s passing, perhaps teetering on the brink of depression after struggling for many years as the only one his siblings who remained in his home town to care for his mother, never truly having lived a life of his own. Offered an opportunity to begin anew by his estranged brother, he grasps the bizarre offer and takes to the road without planning or forethought to move to Scotland and into Elphin Cottage, a property that has been abandoned for many years, save for a few occupants who vacated it very quickly. Throughout the novel, we witness the evolution of his character arc, largely through the friendship he forms with elderly local Coull, and how curiosity and bravery ultimately combine to show us, and himself, the true capacity of his character.

With Les becoming determined to find out the secrets of Elphin Cottage, the ruined home he can see across the valley, and the surrounding village, we discover the cruelty and tyranny of original owner of the house, Peter Daily, towards his tenants and staff and his belief that he and his wealthy friends were superior and more worthy than those whom he had power over, while uncovering the agonising legacy of a lost soul caught in an eternal quest, unable to find peace, the novel building to an intense and thrilling climax, and an emotional denouement that neatly concludes the story.

Yet, the tale is far from over, and will continue in both the past and the future in 'Wretched: An Echoes of Home Story', which I'm very much anticipating!



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Stephen King's Holly - Review

Holly by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A chilling and poignant crime thriller.

Holly Gibney is enlisted by a distraught mother to find her missing daughter, the police having made no progress in three weeks.

As Holly investigates, she fears the young woman must have been abducted, and is now, more than likely, dead. But the missing woman is only one of multiple missing persons.

Holly has stumbled upon a sinister series of murders, unknowingly now on the trail of a ruthlessly evil killer couple.

'Holly' is a crime thriller novel by Stephen King, featuring private investigator Holly Gibney, who previously appeared in the Bill Hodges trilogy, novel 'The Outsider' and novella 'If It Bleeds'. It follows Holly’s investigation into a series of missing persons, murders perpetrated by a devious elderly couple desperate to cling to health and longevity. We approach the story from multiple perspectives - primarily through Holly’s investigation, but also through flashbacks to each of the victims and their abductions, tangential characters that become entwined in the case, and into the minds of the murderers - intertwined into a suspenseful and character-driven novel; King’s immersive prose immediately captivates, drawing us into a complex investigation.

Holly has always proved an endearing and relatable character, from her first appearance alongside Bill Hodges in ‘Mr. Mercedes’ to finally leading the narrative in ‘If It Bleeds’, and once again she makes for delightful company. This investigation proves to be a deeply emotional one for her – not least due to her own mother having just died of COVID, whose belief the virus was not real and opposition to vaccination gravely endangered her. Set in 2021, the novel is very much cemented in the US socio-political climate of the time, with references to political divisions, the horrific treatment of people of colour by authorities, and the ongoing global pandemic. We experience Holly’s emotional turmoil, both from the many memories her mother’s death brings to the surface, and in response to the unease in the wider world at this time.

Other returning characters include Pete Huntley, now Holly's partner in Finders Keepers after retiring from the police, and Jerome and Barbara Robinson. Barbara's relationship with aged poet Olivia Kingsbury is touching, their mentor-mentee relationship that becomes a close bond exploring the beauty and soul that can be found in art, juxtaposed perfectly with the insane and inhumane interpretations of science as believed by the Professors Harris, both impeccably realised villains, their cannibalistic folie à deux as enthralling as it is disturbing. One of the things I enjoy most about the ongoing series is the switch between supernatural and human threats, allowing us a deep exploration of the nature of evil, and how it's always the human depravity that proves worse than any otherworldly horror.

King has once again crafted an intense and riveting masterpiece, brimming with heartbreaking emotional depth and blood-curdling horror. Exploring themes of loss and grief, of aging, decline and disease, touching on the tragic reality of why serial murderers are able to evade capture – when they defy expected appearance, when their victims go unnoticed by society – and laced with thought-provoking social commentary, ‘Holly’ is a gripping thriller and a welcome return for Holly Gibney, who grows more as a character in each story, much like the character herself learning to come out of her shell.

Holly will return next year in 'Never Flinch'.



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London Clarke's House of Brutes and Angels - Review

House of Brutes and Angels by London Clarke

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A Regency Gothic of forbidden desire and apocalyptic horror.

Dunmoor stands abandoned, nature claiming dominion over its secrets.

Yet the sins of the past are far from forgotten, rising to the surface as Dunmoor's curse continues to blight the lives all who venture near.

Once again, darkness engulfs Dunmoor and Black Friars Forest as a night of final reckoning approaches.

‘House of Brutes and Angels’ is the second novel in the ‘Dunmoor’ duology by London Clarke, an intense blend of dark Regency romance and Gothic horror fantasy. We pick up the story in the aftermath of the first novel, 'Dunmoor', this time following the narrative from the perspective of Augusta Leonard, Drake’s sister and Helena’s sister-in-law, and Alex Jameson, Luke’s cousin. Following the events that ended the previous novel, Dunmoor is now empty, no longer a sanctuary for children, yet the danger is far from past as the Angel of Death stalks the forest and village.

Fulfilling a promise he made to his dying lover, Alex travels to Rome to take charge of her daughter, Arabella, currently under the care of nuns as the Casa del Sacro Cuore. The nuns' fear of Arabella's clairvoyance sets the tone for the religious, demonic elements that bubble beneath the surface of the narrative. Meanwhile, Augusta makes the journey to Dunmoor to reunite with her brother, who has been believed dead for some time, recalling memories of the suffering they endured as children, and the taboo desire that overcame them.

Clarke weaves a captivating tale of trauma, laced with Biblical imagery and touches of Greek tragedy, angels and demons haunting the characters as much as the spectre of the house of Dunmoor itself. The prose is steeped in gothic atmosphere, invoking a sense of evil and foreboding, as we explore themes of abuse, incest, obsession and betrayal. Delving into a dark and chilling antithesis to the opulence so often associated with the Regency period in fiction, Clarke crafts riveting dual plotlines that ultimately converge in a dramatic action-packed climax, also drawing on several sub-plots and threads remaining from the first novel, as we descend into the catacombs beneath Dunmoor for a final, destructive battle between good and evil.

An epic conclusion to the tale of Dunmoor, ‘House of Brutes and Angels’ is a dark and brooding supernatural thriller that resounds with an unshakeable faith that, even in the face of monumental evil and cataclysmic tragedy, there is always hope, and there is always love.



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Lynda La Plante's Whole Life Sentence - Review

Whole Life Sentence by Lynda La Plante

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An engrossing final chapter in the ‘Prime Suspect’ prequel series.

Jane Tennison has achieved her goal of promotion to DCI and transfer to an elite new major investigations team.

But from her first day, her colleagues are intent on making her work and life difficult. Assigned a cold case her superior believes is a dead end, Jane is determined to prove everyone wrong.

But as her hard work continues to be undermined and credit taken away from her, Jane begins to question if her ambition and dedication has been worth it, or if she is simply fighting battles she cannot win.

‘Whole Life Sentence’ is the tenth and final novel in the Jane Tennison series by Lynda La Plante, and the direct prequel to ‘Prime Suspect’, following the previous nine novels exploring Jane’s life and career since joining the police in 1973 and her climb from naive WPC to a skilled and experienced detective and AMIT's first female DCI. We pick up Jane’s story following the events of 'Taste of Blood', with the murder trial finally reaching its conclusion and Jane preparing to face the promotion board. Having been filling the role of Acting DCI at her previous station, Jane secures her promotion and requests her transfer be to AMIT – newly set up for investigation of major and serious crime.

It is now 1991, only months before we originally met Jane in ‘Prime Suspect’, when she finally has the opportunity to lead her first major murder inquiry. The novel focuses on two cases that Jane finds herself investigating – a heartbreaking cold case concerning the disappearance of a teenage girl five years earlier, which her superior officer believes is unsolvable and only requests Jane investigate to waste her time; and the apparent suicide of a married woman, discovered by her husband when he arrived home from work, something about which strikes Jane as suspicious when she is asked to initially assist by a fellow DCI.

La Plante’s attention to detail is always superb – her thrilling plotting revolving on the intricacies of police procedure and forensic science, while creating a true sense of the time at which the story is set. We witness the misogyny Jane experiences from her male colleagues, exposing the systemic and institutional prejudice of the police force, as her superior officer and colleagues undertake a malicious campaign in the hopes she will quit, leading Jane to fear her entire career has been for nothing. But, against the odds, Jane is determined to fight for justice for the missing teenager and find closure for her mother, even if she will ultimately decide this is the final case she investigates.

With references to events of the previous nine novels and foreshadowing of events to come in the TV series, this is a perfectly poised final prequel novel, also introducing Jane to several characters whom we met in the first season of the series, including DS Bill Otley, WPC Maureen Havers, Detective Superintendent Kernan, and Peter Rawlins. Compelling and character-driven, ‘Whole Life Sentence’ is the culmination of a journey and final piece of the story – a captivating addition to the legacy of La Plante’s iconic and groundbreaking series, working brilliantly as both a conclusion to the prequel series and an immediate prequel to ‘Prime Suspect’ (it feels seamless, as if this was always the first part of that original story), and, of course, as its own standalone entry amongst the overall series of thirteen novels and the ongoing story of Jane’s life we witnessed in seasons four to seven of the TV series.

Throughout each novel, we have followed Jane’s development, unearthing her history and the many tragedies, trials and tribulations that led her to become the highly skilled and formidable senior police officer portrayed by Helen Mirren – full of passion and drive, an unwavering commitment to justice, and a burgeoning emotional attachment to each case that lies beneath the layers of her tough exterior and her learned need to survive in a man's world.

'Prime Suspect' was always ahead of its time, immediately striking and significant for being led by a senior female detective, in its first three seasons exploring institutional and societal sexism, racism, and homophobia and transphobia. The prequel series has honoured that tradition through its return to the 70s and 80s and now into 1991, exploring subject matter that remains as critical and timely over thirty years after the TV series began.

I still remember my excitement when ‘Tennison’ was announced and how I devoured it over a Christmas break. To have gone on to read a series of ten novels following Jane’s journey to ‘Prime Suspect’ has been a dream; it has been an absolute joy and I have loved every novel in this stellar series of gripping police procedurals. It’s a series I hope to revisit in the future (as I’ve done with several of Lynda’s other series), and in the meantime I now want to revisit the entire ‘Prime Suspect’ series to once again experience Jane’s story continuing from the conclusion of this novel.

Thank you, Lynda, for this fantastic series and such an incredible character!



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