Above Suspicion
Lynda La Plante
Touchstone, Dec 2005. $14.00
ISBN: 074327685X

Having just graduated from Oxford with no experience, Anna Travis knows that the only reason that Detective Chief Inspector James Langton hired her as Detective Superintendent is who she knew. When James was a newcomer, Anna's late father Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Travis mentored him, so the DCI pays homage to the man who made him a cop by hiring his daughter. Anna plans to work diligently to prove that James was right to take a chance on her.

A serial killer has murdered six prostitutes over twelve years, but apparently the seventh victim has no record of selling herself. DSI Langton and DS Travis find a suspicious link between the latest fatality, a seemingly innocent teen, and film actor Alan Daniels. Widening the geography of their inquiries, Anna and James analyze homicides at Daniels' movie shoot locations where similar deaths to their case occurred in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Though the evidence is impelling against the actor, no beyond a shadow of a doubt proof surfaces; instead the charming Daniels turns his attention on Anna.

This is a terrific British police procedural that pulls no punches on why Anna gets the job. The investigation on both sides of the Atlantic is fabulous, as both cops and other law enforcement types feel that Daniels is their killer, but there is nothing substantial to take before a jury. The triangular relationships adds suspense as the audience wonders whether the naive rookie will fall for the seductive charm of the polished actor, or will she act on her admiration and attraction to her superior. Lynda La Plante, author of the delightful Prime Suspect series, provides a marvelous first act to the elation of the sub-genre.