I have read many of the author's other books and have enjoyed them. I received "Murder in Little Venice" as a gift from the author (member of his email subscription) and found it intriguing. Although, I regret not reading the prior three other books in the series, I felt a certain disconnect by not knowing any of the backgrounds and strengths of Isaac Cook and his team.

The story centers around Detective Inspector Cook and his team in trying to solve the murder of a floating torso in one of the London rivers. They soon find a witness to the killing and dismemberment event and soon learns the identity of the corpse. Information is hard to come by because members of the gang know that death is certain if somebody squealed about the operation. Soon after, the witness and person of interest soon end up dead and the team finds themselves back at square 1 to find the killers.

Turns out that a consortium of millionaires living in London are bankrolling a drug business that makes them much richer with none of the risk of being caught. Those followers at the low end of the ladder are getting paid good money to run the business but soon begin dying as retribution for double-crossing the "gang" or trying to skim off the top.

As Cook and company learn more, all roads begin pointing toward the consortium. Now some are getting cold feet and want out because of the killing and they don't want to get caught, lose everything and go to prison. The leader of the group swears that they will disband the group after this one final buy.

It's a race to the finish...will Cook expose and arrest the consortium or will they escape scott free and move on with their lives. Isaac Cook reminds me of Sherlock Holmes with his calmness and ability to read between the lines. Who will win in their quest?

Thanks for the opportunity to read "Murder in Little Venice" - I wish you well with the series and look forward to more of your upcoming works. ( )