OLD SINS

In 1929, DCI Henry Johnstone proves a string of suicides to be anything but.

When Otis Freeland, a mysterious government agent who’s crossed his path before, visits Henry claiming he wants to check out the view from his apartment across from the Thames, the veteran detective knows better. Sure enough, the wily Freeland happens to mention the recent deaths of two of Henry’s retired colleagues, DS Walter Cole and DCI Hayden Paul, who helped put away the dangerous villain Richardson when Henry was just a pup. Both died in a way that suggested self-dispatch, Paul after some dramatic financial reversals, but autopsies easily revealed that neither of their fatal wounds was self-inflicted. While puzzling over the two deaths, Henry attends a masked ball at the home of his sister, Cynthia, whose husband, Albert, has also suffered losses in the latest market crash. While he’s there, a reveler in flamenco costume presses a note into his hand warning that things are not as they seem, and presto: Albert tells Henry that a shocking number of his friends have also done away with themselves rather than face the consequences of their portfolios’ having vanished. Soon, Henry’s left wondering whether anything is as it seems. With his bagman, DS Mickey Hitchens, at his side, he interviews a series of grieving widows and bereaved mothers. There’ll be bodies to be exhumed, shady financial deals to be exposed, and a clandestine visit to Henry from Diamond Annie, leader of a gang of female thieves called the Forty Elephants.

Perhaps too replete with incident for many procedural fans.