The Amateur Historian
Julian Cole
Minotaur, Jun 22 2010, $23.99
ISBN: 9780312586591
Rick Rounder decides to return home to York, England after he failed to save the life of a nine year old girl while being a police detective sergeant. There he opens up a private investigative agency. His brother Sam , the local police chief, wants the former cop to shut down his business while his former peers display their outrage at his quitting which they think makes him weak and a betrayer.
The man hires Rick to follow a woman. However, nothing goes right on the simple surveillance when the woman’s husband (not his client) kidnaps Rick. Things turn even crazier as Rick follows leads on a girl's disappearance that shockingly leads him into solving a crime over a hundred years old. Even with teaming up with his brother on the missing girl case, Rick’s new line of work, though similar to his previous vocation, so far proves tough to make a living as the shortest distance between two clues is an arc.
The Amateur Historian is a terrific private investigative thriller filled with plenty of action, angst and a convoluted case. The history of York is interwoven into the present inquiry as Rick finds his new work as difficult if not more so than his previous job. He, his family and the York residents (circa 1901 and present) make for a fine complex mystery.
Harriet Klausner
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