Deadly Echo [Large Print]

After reading this book, I've started reading more in the series -- this book is kind of in the middle of what Green has written in the Kate Kinsella series. Kate is kind of a Kinsey Milhone in Britain detective. She is living above a funeral home in this book, and her unusual buddy is an older man -- Hubert, the undertaker who is her landlord. They have a dog that's technically his, but when she's walking the dog one rainy night, she -- or rather the dog -- finds a young girl under a bush. The girl isn't making a lot of sense, but Kate takes her home to dry off. This girl has a strange story to tell about a half-remembered childbirth and a baby she never saw -- born dead, she was told. The conception of this child is even less remembered that the birth -- and it sounds very fishy to Kate, who believes the girl's story. She sets off to find a man who might be behind all of this -- a man who is with the police. Green is great at plotting, and Kate and her friends are likeable and interesting. I look forward to the rest of the series.

It looked like a load of rags and Private Investigator Kate Kinsella tried to pull her dog away from it--but then it moved. The rags turned out to be a young woman, recently pregnant, and close to suicide. Kate drags her back to her apartment but Megan appears nearly frozen with fear. Surely her story of date rape, a kidnapped child, and drugs is the crazed imagination of a woman with no life but her television. Except Kate hears the very real death threats over Megan's phone. Against her will, Kate is dragged into an investigation of a crime that might not have happened. If it did happen, the criminal is a senior London police officer--someone who appears beyond Kate's reach. Kate's client is easily confused, never made a report of the rape, and is the type that would be confused on the witness stand. And the threatening caller seems willing to do anything to stop Megan--and Kate. English author Christine Green has written a fascinating and compelling story. Kate Kinsella makes a wonderful character. She is just incompetent enough to be human, with a mother who would embarass anyone and a love life that wouldn't even fill a short story, but she is also plucky, brave, and a good sport (most of the time). As Kate lurches from danger to danger, hoping to find evidence before her suspect can find her, I found myself nearly holding my breath waiting to see what disaster would hapen next. DEADLY ECHO is a top-notch mystery with a fine private investigator lead character.