April 24, 2017
In Bannister’s thoughtful fourth mystery featuring former government security analyst Gabriel Ash and Constable Hazel Best (after 2015’s Desperate Measures), Middle East native Rachid Iqbal, armed with a weaponized spray can, turns up in the English town of Wittering during the opening of the new Museum of the Crusades. Best is there to protect historian Oliver Ford, a TV personality who’s speaking at the event. When Iqbal approaches Ford, Best recognizes the danger and pushes Ford out of harm’s way. Ford later charms Best, and soon she’s in his thrall. Her faithful friend, Gerald Ash, and Saturday, the 17-year-old boy who boards at Best’s home, find Ford’s odd behavior suspect. Are their suspicions founded? Meanwhile, is Iqbal a terrorist, or was his attack more personal? This book can be enjoyed on its own, but those new to the series may wish to check out earlier entries to learn more about the principals, such as how the platonic friendship between Best and Ash evolved and what created the empathy and kindness that allowed Best to take in Saturday. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.).
June 1, 2017
A famous television personality, Oliver Ford, has come to the town of Norbold, England, to film a documentary about a new museum honoring Britain's role in the Crusades. A young Arab man turns up at the museum and, brandishing a homemade flame thrower, nearly kills Ford, whose life is saved by Detective Constable Hazel Best, who shoves him out of the way (and gets a nasty burn as a result). Questions abound: Is the young man a jihadist, out for revenge against Britain for the Crusades? Was the museum the target, or was it Ford himself? And will Hazel's developing personal relationship with Ford put her own life in jeopardy? This is the fourth in the Hazel Best and Gabriel Ash seriescostar Ash is a former government investigator whose own skills come in pretty handy hereand it's a cracking-good read. Whether you're a fan of the series or a newcomer, you'll be hooked from the get-go (and, since the book operates nicely as a stand-alone, familiarity with the previous books isn't a requirement).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
August 1, 2018
Seventeen years earlier, during a bungled robbery, wealthy businessman Jerome Harbinger's wife and driver were killed. Deranged by grief, Harbinger threatened to kill not only the supposed killer, Edward Cho, but also Cho's entire family. Cho's two teenage children were forced to assume new identifies and flee the city. Even after 17 years, Harbinger is apparently still seeking revenge and will stop at nothing to find the two now-grown Cho siblings. Meanwhile, an apparent kidnap attempt on bookshop owner Gabriel Ash's nanny leads Ash's good friend, Police Constable Hazel Best, into making connections between that case and the still unresolved matter of Cho's children. Before long, Hazel finds herself involved in a tragedy of near-Shakespearean proportions. Aided by Hazel's boss, DI Dave Gorman, Gabriel and Hazel race against the clock to try to keep Harbinger from carrying out his final act of revenge. Bannister's cleverly plotted, gripping story offers an effective combination of straightforward procedural and suspense thriller. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
July 30, 2018
Bannister’s fanciful fifth mystery featuring former security analyst Gabriel Ash and Constable Hazel Best (after 2017’s Other Countries) finds Ash, who was invalided out of the British intelligence service due to a nervous breakdown, running a newly opened bookshop in Norbold, England. Since he doesn’t need the money, he’s not concerned about attracting customers. He soon has something important to worry about when his two young sons are involved in a kidnapping attempt outside their school. Fortunately, Hazel is on hand to save the day. She investigates and discovers a connection between the kidnappers and a murder case 17 years previously. The friendship between the two leads develops at a snail’s pace in each successive book. Will they? Won’t they? Should they? The strongest supporting character is Patience, a dog with whom Ash holds long conversations. Ash thinks these exchanges may be a residual effect from the posttraumatic stress he suffered. Patience—to whose thoughts the reader is privy—considers this interpretation hogwash. This is a book for lovers of high-class soap opera and intelligent canines. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Co. (U.K.).
July 1, 2018
In their fifth outing, damaged ex-intelligence operative Gabriel Ash and his friend PC Hazel Best (Other Countries, 2017, etc.) tackle an abortive kidnapping that gradually, gradually reveals murderous depth.Since his spiteful ex-wife, Cathy, already abducted their sons once and held them for four years, there's every reason for Gabriel to assume she's behind a second attempt to grab them as their school is being dismissed, an attempt foiled by the quick, decisive intervention of Hazel. But the obvious explanation can't be true if, as 9-year-old Gilbert Ash maintains, the kidnappers' real target was his nanny, Frankie Kelly. "I am not kidnap material," Frankie robustly assures DI Dave Gorman. And she's right; this second theory of the attempted crime turns out to be as flawed as the first. Shortly after Hazel finally figures out who the intended target was, the woman vanishes, leaving behind a lack of bona fides that show she'd been living a lie for 16 years. Undaunted, Hazel tries out a third theory: The kidnapping was one step in a deep-laid plot to avenge the death of Jennifer Harbinger, shot back in 2001 by police officers who weren't supposed to be present while she was handing off 1.5 million pounds to the thieves who'd stolen 15 million pounds worth of paintings from her husband, road transport owner Jerome Harbinger. Harbinger's now retired and confined to a wheelchair, but that's not to say he couldn't have hired the hapless pair who bungled the latest kidnapping. Is that the truth Hazel seeks, or is her third theory wrong as well?Not much mystery here, and you'll forget the culprit before you return Bannister's latest to the shelf. What continues to shine in this series is the warts-and-all friendship that makes her hero and heroine, each one a perfectly reasonable sleuth, such an unlikely team.
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