The Justice Factory
Mark Campbell

The opening chapter of Paul Charles's new DI Kennedy book serves up a deliciously morbid image - a pair of open eyes poking out from the bottom of a rain-spattered grave. The 'official' body is Daniel Elliot, a friend of Kennedy's ex-girlfriend Ann Rea. During the course of Kennedy's enquiries - and they are, as you would expect, as meticulous as ever - he falls in with WDC Anne Coles. But it's not long till Kennedy falls for her in other ways too. And with Ann Rea as strong a force as ever, the course of true love is never going to run smoothly, at least not as far as Kennedy's concerned. Set in the North London environs of Camden and Primrose Hill, The Justice Factory makes a virtue of its believable locations by staging here some of the most effective scenes yet witnessed in this series.

Technically superlative, Paul Charles's brilliance as a storyteller extends to the emotional journeys of all the familiar characters who populate Camden CID's HQ at North Bridge House. And this time it's DS James Irvine who's in it up to his neck when the inevitable murder case turns up one unsavoury truth after another.

Posted at 12:00AM Monday 01 Jan 2007