Freeze Frame

FREEZE FRAME tells of a long-ago promise made to a dying man that leads a forensics expert to study a man murdered nearly twenty years ago. This begins the fourth of seven cold cases written up by a Parisian journalist - in which Enzo seeks to extend his track record for reviving and curing long mysteries. Mystery libraries will relish this.

Enzo MacLeod has solved three cold cases and undertakes to clear up another in this series which began when he accepted a bet that he could find the solution to seven cases described in a friend's book. This novel involves a 20-year-old murder on a little island off the coast of France. The victim, a retired British scientist, implored his daughter-in-law to maintain his study just as it was in the event of his death so that his son, for whom he left an enigmatic message, could "finish the job." Unfortunately, the son died a short while after the man's murder, and the study has been kept unchanged for two decades, while various attempts to unearth the secret message failed. Now it is Enzo's turn. This novel gives the author the chance to exhibit the techniques of a forensic biologist, the intuitive analysis of an investigator, as well as his tastes in food, wine and women. Just as important are the descriptions of the locale and the emotions of the characters. Recommended.

I must confess that this was the first of the `Enzo Files' that I had read, so I was a little worried at the outset that I may be lost without the previous three installments already under my belt. Happily, that wasn't the case, though I might have understood Enzo's relationship woes better had I read the others first. At any rate, I was attracted to the whole forensic science aspect of the description, expecting detailed crime scene investigation and a peek at modern scientific techniques utilized in criminal justice. Based on the description, you would expect something similar, wouldn't you? Actually, very little science or forensic technique played a role in this book. In fact, checking fingerprints on a wine glass is about the only forensic science that got applied within its pages. So you think I'm disappointed, right? Not at all! While my first `Enzo file' turned out to be completely different than I expected, what it did turn out to be was a fun little puzzle mystery full of twists and turns and hidden clues that kept me interested right up to the tidy (if not entirely unexpected) ending. Sure, it's unusual to have actual forensics play so little a role in a mystery centered around a forensics expert. But what Freeze Frame lacked in scientific detail, it more than made up for in intrigue, believable characters, and a setting drenched in well-crafted Channel Island charm. Peter May clearly did a lot of research for this book, both regional and historical. The result is a very enjoyable modern mystery. The Bottom Line: The kind of mystery that I would describe as a "fun" read. Nothing overly gritty, no deep science, but an intriguing puzzle with a likable lead character: a cozy, lazy-Sunday kind of book. I'll be adding the first three to my TBR list, for sure. [My sincere thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book for review. This review originally appeared on my blog. See profile for details.]

The man's conceptual skills just keep getting better and better. At the same time, the novel requires patient and thoughtful attention in order to follow the twisting paths of logic which lead to an inevitable and disturbing conclusion. Reviewers of crime fiction always face a dilemma. In order to adequately discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a given work of fiction, it is usually necessary to reveal important elements of the plot, thus reducing the pleasure of the novel for many readers. So this reviewer chooses to be somewhat obscure while suggesting that this novel, rooted as it is in psychological pain and certain major historical events of the Twentieth century, presents an awful reality which visits the sins of parents on their descendants. What this novel does is send the transplanted Scottish forensic specialist to a small obscure island off the Breton coast. He is in pursuit of the solution to yet another cold case, the fourth in the compelling Enzo files. Here, even more than in the earlier novels in this series, the main story competes with the emotionally painful personal life of the charming Scot, Enzo McCloud Rich with descriptive phrases that forcefully draw the reader into the scenes, we feel the rain, the damp cold, the shudder of cold sheets when passion turns to revulsion. We are in the presence of a writer in complete control of his subject and his characters, and not just at the level of day to day activity. This is a truly multi-level work with thoughtful excursions into the painful inner lives of the characters, even as we follow them to inevitable and tragic conclusions. A most satisfying novel.

Expatriate Scotsman forensic scientist Enzo McLeod continues his pursuit to solving the seven-case bet he made with his daughter Kirsty's boyfriend Roger Raffin though he has some personal issues that could curtail his efforts. He heads to the Ile de Groix off of Brittany where septuagenarian widower Adam Killian was murdered in 1990 in his study. Killian was a noted tropical disease expert and entomologist who allegedly used his skills to leave clues to identify his killer to his son Peter who was returning from Africa and had directed his wife Jane to touch nothing until he "reads" what his father left behind in death. However, he but died before he could do what his dad wanted of him. As such Jane has insured the den has not been touched since her husband and father-in-law died. However, the island locals want Enzo to leave as the cold case has brought a negative light on the island while someone takes a more drastic approach to make the forensic expert leave. The latest McLeod cold case mystery (see EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE, THE CRITIC and BLACKLIGHT BLUE) is a superb whodunit as a distracted Enzo seeks the clues left behind by the victim. The story line is fast-paced with Enzo's personal problems re his former lover Charlotte that distracts the hero but enhances the plot for the reader. The Enzo Files are a great series that is four for four. Harriet Klausner