Malcontenta (Paperback)

Kathy has been working light duty for the last few months after recuperating from her injuries sustained in THE MARX SISTERS. Her commanding officer gives her and her partner instructions to go investigate an alleged suicide at a posh health spa. When Kathy starts to investigate she finds inconsistencies with the suicide finding and suffers from obstructions of justice brought by the staff of the spa. When Kathy starts creating waves she is yanked off the case by her commanding officer.

Kathy decides to visit Brock. Since their work together in the previous novel they share a mutual respect for each other. Kathy tells Brock about the case and her concerns and he decides to join the spa in order to find information.

Kathy grows in this novel after the foolhardy way she worked her previous case. I like that the author is taking his time in exploring her characters as he did with DS Kolla this time. He describes her home as well as her neighbors and introduces a possible love interest for Kathy. Brock is still mysterious and in every book we get to know a little more about him but not much about his personal life.

The supporting characters are rather diverse but very interesting. Everybody seemed to hate the dead victim and everyone had an opportunity to kill him in one way or another. It is interesting in this book how one person can affect a whole group of people in ways that affect them indirectly. The story is very involving till the very end.

My only complaint in this book was Kathy herself. There were several characters that were hindering her investigation that she should have arrested for obstruction. Maybe the English have a different way of doing things than the Americans or perhaps the author thought it would have served no purpose. No matter, I enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to reading THE CHALON HEADS.

Kathy and Brock still make a good team and I am looking forward to reading more of these books.

"The Malcontenta" is set in a Health Spa. I have found, over many years, that although Health Spas and Cruise Ships would seem to be ideal settings for mysteries, they usually disappoint.

Nonetheless, this is a good read and I would not hesitate to recommend it, particularly to lovers of English mysteries.

But what makes it an enjoyable five-stars is the wit and the characterization. Maitland sees his world from a distance, a perspective which allows him some irony and wry humor as the novel unfolds...and gives him the latitude to create a bevvy of characters who are charming, intriguing, and very human.

This is a suberb mystery. Don't miss it.