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Magson, Adrian - 'No Kiss for the Devil'
Paperback: 266 pages (June 2008) Publisher: Creme de la Crime ISBN: 0955707811

Investigative reporter, Riley Gavin is called in the middle of the night to a crime scene in Essex, where tragically she finds the body of a fellow journalist friend of hers, Helen Bellamy. She identifies the body, which appears to have been tortured before death. After returning home she informs her associate, Frank Palmer, a former Military Policeman now private investigator, of her experience as they have worked together before on other cases. Palmer is extremely shocked as Helen was a former girlfriend of his.

Riley works as a freelance writer and the following day, her agent tells her that someone has requested her to write an article on a Middle Eastern oligarch for a private subscription-only magazine. She attends the interview and is offered a huge fee upfront to take the job on. However, she reserves the right to think it over for a couple of days and then discovers that the magazine seems to be owned by some very shady people, perhaps even the Russian Mafia. The owner of the magazine takes some unusual steps to try to persuade her to accept his generous offer.

I'd better not give anymore details of the plot or I'll spoil the story. Suffice to say this novel was absolutely a sheer pleasure to read. It is essentially a financial mystery written in a straightforward, old fashioned way. Adrian Magson has written four other books from the same publisher and he has a real gift with his characterisation and plot. This is the first I've read of his, but I will look out for his name in future.

Terry Halligan, England
April 2009

Details of the author's other books with links to reviews can be found on the Books page.
More European crime fiction reviews can be found on the Reviews page.



last updated 19/04/2009 09:14