BLOODLINE by Lynda La Plante is Book #7 of the Anna Travis Mysteries series.
It is a chilling narrative - a narrative which uncovers layer after layer of lies, false identity, misrepresentation and deceit.
I find the ‘police procedurals’ of Ms. La Plante to be fascinating - lessons in patience and investigative research.
The characters and background information are interesting to read about. Alan Rawlins is a shadowy figure - Who is he, really? How did this MisPers (Missing Persons) case come to demand so much interest?
This is a highly recommended series. ( )

Blood Line by Lynda La Plante is the seventh novel in the Anna Travis series. In this case a missing person's report turns into a complicated murder investigation. DCI (Detective Chief Inspector ) Anna Travis heads the investigation. Alan Rawlins, a mechanic, is missing. After reporting his son as a missing person, his father, an employee of the court system, prods Scotland Yard into looking at it as a murder investigation - but there is no body and little obvious evidence to support this supposition. Alan's fiancé, Tina Brooks, seems unconcerned that he is missing and may believe he ran off with a girlfriend.

What began as a few inquiries into a missing persons case soon turns into a ever-expanding murder investigation as everything and everyone may not be exactly what they claim. Evidence pointing to foul play and Alan's secret life begin to add up. At the same time Anna is struggling with her personal emotions and trying to not allow them to get in the way of the investigation.

Obviously, Lynda La Plante is an accomplished writer of mysteries and especially police procedurals. Among her accomplishments, she writes the "Prime Suspect" series which stars Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison and airs on the PBS program Mystery! in the U.S.A.) Blood Line follows suit as a methodical, step-by-step procedural, so at times it felt as if new evidence and information were slow to emerge. Even though you know right from the opening prologue that someone has died, you don't know for sure who it was, until the end.


This procedural novel published under the new HarperCollins Bourbon Street books label, which is exciting. (Look for more upcoming titles under this new imprint.)

I enjoyed the slow-pace working through the investigation step by step, but I can see where some people might want a quicker pace. Highly Recommended- http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/



( )

I have always enjoyed LaPlante’s police procedurals. She wrote a series called Trial and Retribution, Prime Suspect and now the Anna Travis series. They are very competent police procedurals that hold your interest as the investigation takes multiple twists and turns.

Allan Rawlins has been reported missing and his father is sure he's been murdered, but there’s no body. DCI Travis, who had a previous relationship with her boss, Superintendent Langton (this kind of highly inappropriate supervisor/supervisee relationship seems almost de rigueur in British crime police novels) is assigned the case even though it’s still just a missing person.

Kim Hicks provides excellent narration. ( )

A solid, complex police procedural with a gradually building intensity that carries through pretty much to the end. I started reading with the expectation of something Prime Suspect-y (having seen some of the original British and most of the American show), and wasn't disappointed. ( )

I’ve always enjoyed the Anna Travis series that Lynda La Plante writes; they’re detective thrillers with page turning action. In Blood Line, Anna is back as a new Detective Chief Inspector, which means being in charge of a murder case for the first time. Unfortunately, Anna doesn’t have it too easy – she doesn’t have a body or even a victim. How will she handle the pressure? Will the team match the blood to a missing person, or are they looking for a murder that doesn’t exist?

I haven’t picked up a Lynda La Plante for about a year – I fell behind in reading the series when the publication switched from Christmas to mid-year – but this book felt a little differently written to previous books. Maybe I was forgetting something, but something felt different. The dialogue felt very stilted in places – unnatural, robotic and I felt the character of Anna had changed too. Perhaps it was a natural progression due to her different work role and her recent bereavement, but she was tetchy and annoying at times in the way she acted towards her colleagues and general public. I found her less likeable and more difficult to relate to than previous books.

This series is more about the action, rather than exquisite prose and description. It’s the case, the twists and turns that saved this book for me, along with one of the suspects. Tina is the partner of suspected victim, and boy, does she put up a good fight. She’s two faced and in your face. She also ‘one-ups’ Anna several times with her catty but wry observations. The introduction of a new police team (Paul, Brian and Helen) also breathes new life into the series. Brian is annoying (in a different way to Anna) – he’s rude and prejudiced. Paul is the sweetheart of the team (so sweet and lovely), while Helen hangs around on the fringes. It would have been nice to see Helen play a larger role to compare against Anna.

The mystery itself is unusual – a murder with no body or definite victim. The plot twists and turns in unexpected fashion until the team find themselves chasing a lead away from London on the coast. I found that the action became less interesting after that as everything slowed right down. Saying that, I’ll still be reading the eighth book in the series, Backlash, to enjoy another mystery and see if Anna’s increasingly exasperating character is part of a larger plot arc.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )