Cutting Blades

Sam Falconer #2

by Victoria Blake

Increasingly paranoid over her feeling that she is being watched wherever she goes, private detective Sam Falconer undertakes an investigation into the disappearance of a young rower from Oxford University, uncovering a web of professional jealousy, resentment, vicious competition, and murder. Original. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 2, 2006

About the author

I was born and brought up in Oxford and went to college in the same city, studying history. Subsequently I worked in law, book selling and publishing before becoming a writer.

Reviews

[KeenReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be a formulaic thriller, in which a private investigator solves a crime. However, although it used some of the typical features of this genre - an investigator with a troubled past and a business that is on the verge of folding - Ms Blake had a fresh take on the "troubled past" motive. She also wrote good, complex characters that you could believe in which also lifted this out of the "formulaic thriller" category. It's difficult to write too much about this without writing spoilers.

One thing I really enjoyed was that she didn't just have the one case to solve, she was involved in three mysteries. I really liked this because it made the book more believable and the plot was agreeably complex as she switched from one to the other. There was one main mystery that she resolved by the end of the book, but this was not true of all of her investigations. Some will clearly feature in the next book (or maybe books). This wasn't a problem for me, because the solution to the main crime still gave the book a solid, satisfying ending.

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the Oxford setting and rowing details. The private investigator character Sam seemed a bit chaotic for the role, but the story improved.'Blades' in the title is deliberately ambiguous which is clever.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough depth or tension.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

CUTTING BLADES (Private Investigator-England-Cont) – G
Blake, Victoria – 2nd in series
Orion, 2005- UK Hardcover – ISBN: 0752860585
First Sentence: In the grey morning light, he looks like a giant standing on Putney Bridge in softly falling snow.
*** At four-years old, PI Sam Falconer had been told her father had died a hero. Now she finds not only that he is alive but had been part of an assassination squad for the British Government. His return has caused a major upheaval in her family, great anger in Sam and put them all in danger. But she needs to keep working having been hired to find a young man who may be the best stoke ever for the Blue Team in the historic Boat Race, and as a bodyguard by an estate jewelry dealer who lives upstairs and is being threatened.
*** While there were multiple cases to be solved, this was almost more a personal story for Sam. It was a good story; I liked it but I can’t say it was a good as her first book. I’ll hope for better from her third try.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think that I wanted to read another one of this series but it was in the library and so I couldn't resist. I confess to enjoying more than the previous story. Someone there was less self-obsession and more insight from the heroine and a richer collection of characters. Although I always feel slightly cheated when twins are used as a plot device.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend from Book mooch introduced me tot his author a sort of Sarah Paretski in Oxford ,i think this book is better than the first I look forward to reading more of the same!

[Bill Stiefel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good Sam Falconer story by Victoria Blake. Have enjoyed all four in the series.