The Ten Commandments

A well written mystery with an intriguing plot and well developed characters.When the body of a dead man is discovered in the parking lot of a pub, DCI Webb is reminded of a similar case from six years ago that has yet to be resolved. But has this current murder been perpetrated by the same person or is it a case of a copy-cat killing? Both cases come under some uncomfortable scrutiny and notoriety when a well known criminologist, Frederick Mace gets involved. Mace is working on the theory that both murders were committed by different men and for different reasons entirely. And then Mace is attacked, and his study ransacked. DCI Webb is more determined than ever to resolve both cases before Mace ends up dead.What makes this novel so intriguing is the different approaches that Webb and Mace use to get to the heart of the crime. Webb deals mainly with facts and a small amount of speculation, while Mace uses a more imaginative approach: his current premise is that a large part of why certain crimes are committed are because of the personalities of the victims. Using photographs of the victims, he paints an accurate picture of their characters and moves on from there to try and figure the reason why the murders were committed and who could have committed them. Another moving force of the book is the very friendly competition that builds up between Mace and the police to see who can solve the crimes first. Usually I'm on the side of the police coming out on top and I am a big DCI Webb fan, but in this instance I was totally won over by Federick Mace. Anthea Fraser has created a really charming character in Frederick Mace.A good mystery and well worth reading.

A body is found between two cars parked in a lot of an Ashmartin, England pub. There is nothing on the deceased to identify him until his wife calls in a missing person's report. The dead person is social worker Simon Judd who was socially meeting a client at the pub. DCI David Webb learns that this case parallels another murder case that happened six years ago when an unknown assailant murdered a real estate agent. Webb concludes that the same person killed murdered both victims.Frederick Mace, a renowned crime writer and criminologist, reviews both cases and decides that two different killers committed the acts. Mace's theory turns him into a media celebrity that leads to someone breaking into his study and knocking the writer out cold. Everyone assumes that the culprit wanted to see what information the author held. Webb is out to get the person responsible for Mace before he tries again.Fans of British police procedurals will want to read the TEN COMMANDMENTS because the story line provides an up close look at how an English homicide investigation works. The secondary characters co-starring in the two subplots add a richness and complexity that makes for a stronger plot. The fascinating mystery proves Anthea Frazier is a fantastic storyteller who knows how to entertain her audience with a cerebral puzzler.Harriet Klausner