Shattered - Gabrielle Lord

With 2 popular series on the go at the moment it seems that the title of "Australia's First Lady of Crime" is fitting for Gabrielle Lord. (who's responsible for bestowing such titles, by the way?) April 9 saw the release of the 4th book in the Gemma Lincoln series titled Shattered (pub. Hachette Australia). This is a private investigator / thriller series set in and around Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and is not afraid of tackling some pretty sticky issues.

Shattered tends to focus much more closely on the personal life of Gemma Lincoln as she faces a range of personal crises. Regular characters and friends reappear to lend their assistance while she helps the police with a murder investigation, tracks down a couple of missing women and one runaway girl.

Once again lord delivers a quality thriller with the move towards a more character-driven plot giving the series greater complexity with a refreshing development of several relationships. Oh yearh...and the mystery itself comes together following a carefully arranged list of possible suspects are sorted through, dismissed, reconsidered, accused, arrested, etc. The problem for me - I picked the killer the moment they were introduced into the story, so all the coy hiding of the identity until the great announcement fell a bit flat.

On another little prickle, my hackles rose when I read the blurb on the front cover of my copy which states "Lord is as good as Patricia Cornwell" which, in my opinion, is NOT a compliment.

Anyhoo, definitely another strong entry into a very good series which is comprised of the earlier books: Feeding the Demons, Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing and Spiking the Girl.

For those of you who are wondering about her other series? It's a forensic thriller featuring troubled technician Jack McCann. Death Delights, Lethal Factor and Dirty Weekend are the titles to look out for.