Publication Date: October 12, 2012
In The Red Suitcases: An Inspector Castle Investigation by Lyndsey Norton, Inspector Rebecca Castle has a full plate — with terrorist Fakesh in town, Geoff marrying a woman she’s sure is after his money, and her husband on leave from Iraq. Can she juggle her busy life and stop a terrorist who is leaving red suitcases in transportation terminals. The Red Suitcases: An Inspector Castle Investigation is the first novel in the Rebecca Castle series.
On Amazon, this novel is classified “thriller/suspense. I would have thought that it realistically falls within the cozy mystery category. The main character is a detective, but the primary focus seems less mystery and more daily life.
Rebecca’s husband, who she doesn’t seem to know well, has returned from Iraq and they’re on a getaway together when she’s called away because of a suspected terrorist threat. What follows is a lot of sex and daily life. From time to time Rebecca is called into the mystery story line, but those breaks are less common than the tracing of bare skin and erotic kisses.
The dynamic between the main characters tends toward the petulant and catty. Characters talk about how snooty Geoff’s potential bride is and how she’s after his money, although never having met her. There is a scene in which the husband has a nightmare in which he’s having sex with the bridesmaid’s sister when Rebecca walks in and shoots the woman. The woman in question is one neither have met and both assume that she will be licentiously after Rebecca’s husband. When they actually meet the sister, it is clear that the nightmare scene does not serve a purpose within the story line beyond leading to further intimacy between the two main characters.
Inspector Castle is a bit fabulous. She can shoot a grenade launcher and hit a mark; she solves a case with ease and she turns her husband on like no other woman ever has.
This novel has a market. There are people who love the heavy-handed personal life aspect. They like seeing a character being human and shopping at Sainsburys. I thought this novel was mmmmm kay. This is not a series that I will pursue.
Curious? Read an excerpt and buy The Red Suitcases: An Inspector Castle Investigation (Book 1) by Lyndsey Norton on
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