Jo Bannister, Requiem for a Dealer

Requiem for a Dealer

Jo Bannister

St. Martin's, December 2006, $23.95

ISBN: 0312362110

In Dimmock, England, Finder Brodie Farrell provides driving lessons to her friend school teacher Daniel Hood. However, they barely are in the car when a girl runs into their vehicle. Half hysterical, she accuses driver Daniel of trying to kill her, which seems odd to Brodie, as the pedestrian raced out of nowhere into their car. The girl flees into the night leaving behind two bewildered people.

Brodie mentions this incident to her boyfriend, Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon, but he is preoccupied as a new designer drug Scram is inundating Dimmock. He must find the manufacturing plant/lab to shut it down before more deaths occur. His prime concern is to find the Scram factory and stop the drug at its source before more people die. When the girl who hit the car turns up in Dimmock General Hospital from a Scram overdose, Jack visits her to see what she knows. She is Alison Barker, a former show jumper until the death of her father, who allegedly committed suicide, but she insists he was murdered and that the culprits are coming for her. While Daniel accepts her word, Jack thinks she lies; Brodie decides to learn the truth one way or another.

Brodie's sixth mystery is a terrific mystery that focuses on the illegal designer drug industry that makes billions on the backs of teens and young adults. Brodie's investigation is more professional than amateur, as her work as a professional finder is similar to that of a private investigator. Jo Bannister provides a delightful mystery enhanced by the romantic triangle.