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Allison & Busby, Oct 2006
Reviewed by Sunnie Gill
Solicitor Eric Ward is defending Dieter Barschel, a retired
semi-professional soccer player who is charged with drug dealing at a
Newcastle racecourse. Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Spate is in charge
of the investigation. When the suspect is acquitted, Ward knows he hasn’t
made a friend in Spate. Spate himself is in hot water because of some
inconsistencies in the case. He is suspended from duty because his
superiors believe the suspect could have been the victim of a set up. The
arrest was made on the basis of a tip off from a prostitute Spate has been
seeing, but he can’t tell the powers that be this information. Spate
realises Barshel isn’t the only one who has been set up.
The best way for Spate to clear his name is to talk to Barshel, but
Barshel has been murdered. Spate and Ward find they have to overcome their
dislike of each other and work together to discover who murdered Barschel.
DEATH SQUAD is the fifteenth Charlie Spate novel. Perhaps I suffered from
not being acquainted with earlier books in the series. I didn’t
particularly warm to Spate who didn’t seem to be a fully developed
character. The mystery was engaging enough, but the ending felt rushed. It
was as if the author was suddenly told he only had a dozen pages to wrap
everything up and in doing so things had to be squashed in to fit. It is
difficult to explain exactly why I felt this way without spoiling the
ending. Suffice to say that it was anti-climactic and unsatisfying.
May 2008 review originally posted on Murder and Mayhem
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