Thread of Evidence

This is my first DCI Paget mystery novel, and I will definitely be backtracking to read previous books in this series. What a tremendous find! Frank Smith has done an excellent job of mixing the exciting aspects of police work with the more back breaking and mundane ones, so that you really get a more complete picture of what police detecting is. There are three subplots in "Threads of Evidence." This would have been unwieldily in someone else's hands, Frank Smith however capably fuses these subplots together so that they juxtapose seamlessly. At the heart of this mystery is the Bolen family, with all their secrets and private vendettas. Jim Bolen, a building contractor, is determined to bid for a particular job that could bankrupt him and his family, and all because he wants to destroy a rival contractor, Keith Lambert. His brother, Harry, and Jim's wife, Laura, have both tried to talk him out of this chancy act, but Jim stubbornly refuses to budge much to Harry's anger. The novel then cuts to the other subplot involving a very vulnerable teenage prostitute, Vicki Lane. A man hires her off the street to go to the hotel room that Jim Bolen is in. Vicki goes to the hotel room and is knocked out. And when she comes to, she finds that she has been badly beaten up, and that there is the dead body of a man next to her. Vicki has no idea what took place in the room, but afraid that she'll be accused of the murder, she takes to her heels. And that's when Paget and his team come into the picture: to investigate the murder of Jim Bolen. The room looks as if a tornado hit it: obviously some kind of altercation took place -- there's blood everywhere, and some articles of woman's clothing are found around the bed. Could this be a case of a prostitute killing a violent client? But preliminary forensic evidence as well as interviews with a few witnesses seems to throw some doubt onto this scenario. And this leads to the third subplot -- the private thoughts of the murderer. Who cannot understand where all his careful planning went wrong, and why the prostitute he especially chose to take the fall has not been arrested. It doesn't take long for both Padget and the murderer to come to the conclusion that this girl must be identified and found, for she alone knows what happened that night in the hotel room. But who will find her first?"Thread of Evidence" pays special care to forensic evidence, more so than most other police procedurals, but not in an overly technical way so that you can't really follow what the detectives are saying, and this adds to the interest quota in this mystery novel. The mystery unfolds at an orderly pace, and all the characters are very well developed, from DCI Padget, to the members of his investigative team and to the members of the Bolen family. But what I found especially brilliant was the manner in which Frank Smith was able to move from one subplot to the other without losing steam or confusing the reader. This is indeed a very w

Although not the best or worst book I have ever read, "Thread of Evidence" is worth the time and effort that goes into writing a review. Why? Because it is a perfect example of how enjoyable a good old fashioned British police procedural can be. Frank Smith's DCI Neil Paget is not an Inspector Morse or a DCI Lynley, but he does deliver the goods if you want to spend some time in the English countryside trying to solve a murder or two. Take a couple of corpses, a horde of suspects, clues, red herrings and a little romantic side story and you have the makings of an "afternoon delight." When you have finished reading this book, you may not give it a second thought. In fact, it is very probable that you will have determined who the killer is long before the book is over. What you will do, however, is walk away feeling relaxed....as if you had just spent the day at a spa.

Upon immediately entering the crime scene, a hotel room in Broadminster, the amateur sleuth (apart from a cozy) would react by saying a hooker killed the victim. However, the police believe otherwise. They feel the killer hastily set the room up to appear as if a prostitute stabbed building contractor James Brolin to death during a rough sex exchange.Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget heads up the investigation team looking into who had the motive to kill James. He starts with family members such as the victim's sibling who had a nasty public argument over a business deal. A second murder of a prostitute follows that complicates an already difficult case to solve as Neil and his team have found several other family members and professional colleagues with motives to murder James.THREAD OF EVIDENCE provides undisputed proof that the Neil Paget British police procedurals are consistently some of the best sub-genre entries. The latest tale is a cleverly designed, very enjoyable story line starring a likable lead character that is the epitome of a British police officer. Anyone who relishes a well written, complex mystery with a solid cast will derive joy from this novel. For that matter, readers will also gain pleasure from the previous three Paget books (see CANDLES FOR THE DEAD) and Mr. Smith's other stories also.Harriet Klausner