When I was browsing through Amazon looking for a new author to read I came across this introductory paragraph
“An Alcoholic, sex addicted detective finds herself fighting her superiors in a bid to bring down a local crime boss”
It caught my attention but for the wrong reasons. My initial thought was “another one”. But something about the cover, or the description in the rest of the gumph, peaked my interest and I downloaded it.
Thank God I did
What a book. The Detective is DS Esther Penman. In her immediate bosses words “the best police officer he’s ever worked with” but it comes at a cost.
She has a brilliant analytical mind, when it’s not rugged with vodka.
She puts in hours of work but is often late.
In her words she’s woke up under too many strange ceilings, not knowing how she got there, again because of the vodka.
Her attitude toward people can at best be described as sketchy.
Her general admin is awful but, when it counts, when files are sent to the CPS, or Court Files need preparing, she is brilliant.
Esther as a character is superbly written.
Flynn understands the psychology of the functioning alcoholic. The sex addiction is just another form of self harm. The conflict between knowing what she is doing is wrong, and actually stopping is a fight played out in her head, and on the pages of the book.
I enjoyed every page and was happy to see there’s going to be another featuring Esther Penman released sometime late 2023.
The Publishers Gumph
Detective Sergeant Esther Penman is a mess. She drinks too much. She sleeps around. And now her chief inspector is threatening to kick her out of CID and send her back to uniform because he doesn’t like her attitude.
Luckily for Esther, if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s solving cases…
When a woman is killed in one of Belfield’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, Esther quickly realises that it’s no straightforward homicide. The husband has an alibi, but he’s hiding something, and Esther is determined to find out what.
A few days later a man is found hanging in nearby woodland, and her suspicions of a deeper conspiracy begin to grow.
It isn’t long before Esther’s discoveries set her on the trail of forces far more sinister than she imagined…
And put her on a collision course with the man they call the Art Merchant…
Pages: 285. Publisher: Chingola Publishing
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