A Place of Safety: A Trish Maguire Mystery

I cannot agree with the reviewer who was frustrated by the presence of threads from earlier books in the series. I had read and loved an earlier one, not the one immediately preceding "A place of safety", and once I realised that I remembered that the author was one I'd vowed to follow. I was grateful for this chance find on the library shelves, and second chance to read more about 'Trish McGuire', because I regard Natasha Cooper as a very skillful drawer of characters, and as someone who has insights into human beings I've found enriching, as well as a great storyteller. Yes, I'll go back and re-read the earlier one, as well as tracking down intervening titles, but I urge anyone who gets the chance to grab this one - it's capable of standing alone, head and shoulders above many other mysteries.

Barrister Trish Maguire's Head Of Chambers asks her to do a favor for old friend Sir Henry Buxford. Buxford wants her to look into the worrying behavior of Toby Fullwell, the curator of a small art gallery. The gallery houses the art collection assembled before the First World War by Jean-Pierre Gregoire. She is reluctant because she needs all the time she can get to help her nine-year-old half-brother adjust to life after his mother's murder. Only Buxford's desire to protect the vulnerable people involved in the Gregory Bequest Collection convinces her to take on the task. She gives herself a crash course in the seemier end of the art market and she soon finds herself sharing his concern.Intermingled with the present day story are scenes from the First World War, where we see the terror of the war in France through the eyes of a young nurse and art colletor Gregoire, her French lover. When he fails to return for her, she keeps his collection safe till her death, entrusting his paintings to her son, who sets up the gallery with Fulwell as curator.What Trish doesn't know and has to find out is that Fullwell is being blackmailed. He and a friend successfully faked some Jean Clouet drawings back in the Eighties and made a lot of money. The blackmailer knows it as is using this information, and threats to his family, to persuade Fulwell to help him in a money-laundering-fake paintings scam. Pressures on Fullwell build and violence is never far away. Is he laundering the gallery's money? Are the paintings genuine or fake? What is driving him to a state where he might commit murder? And what about that dead body that is found in the river Thames?The First World War scenes are painted true to life and the characters are as real as any I've ever read. The relationship between Trish and her psychologically damaged half-brother, is especially well drawn. And there are enough twists and turns in this five star mystery to keep the reader guessing throughout the night.Reviewed by Vesta Irene