One Little Mistake
One Little Mistake by Casey Hill 2014 Mystery
This is a modern mystery with the author developing the characters thoroughly with the solving of two criminal cases moving along in the background. I prefer this method to the old tradition of the crime being the most important aspect of the story and the detective resembling a stereotype instead of a real person.
There are previous books in this series, but I didn’t feel like I needed to read them first, although this one made me want to go back and find out more about the lead character, Reilly Steel, who works in forensics in Dublin, Ireland, although she grew up in California.
Reilly was poisoned in her last case and spent a few weeks in Florida where she had a wild fling with her mentor’s son, Todd Forrest. In Dublin, her relationship with her partner, Chris Delaney, is heating up into more than a professional relationship, but she keeps backing away. We meet her other detective, Pete Kennedy, and forensic techs, Lucy and Gary. Lucy’s sister disappeared 18 years ago and she asks Reilly to open the cold case for her. This is one investigation in the story line. The other is about a chef who poisons career women too busy to have children and a family.
The author gives us short insights into the killer’s mind which explains the motive for his killing and hints to his identity. I liked this method, and there is plenty of background to satisfy the reader about why the killer is risking all.
Like any mystery story, the detectives do a lot of interviewing but the pace is fast and eliminates suspects, although the police arrest the wrong man more than once. The tension mounts up at the end as the killer picks the victim he’s been practicing for and sets up the murder scene.
The author wraps up the two crime stories and leaves the reader with a few questions about Reilly to be answered in the next book. We hope.
Casey Hill knows how to write a mystery story with more than one interesting crime, plenty of suspects, personal problems among her detectives, and a criminal that is dangerously evil and smart enough to evade capture. The bad guy is a challenge to Reilly and tests her skills as she solves the crime. For any writer, this is a necessary jumbling act in a mystery story and hard to achieve. Hill does it.
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