British author H.R.F. Keating has long been recognized for his willingness to experiment with the conventions of detective fiction. A number of his recent novels, for instance, have addressed the motives and lifestyles of his sleuths as much as they have crimes. He continues that pattern with A Detective in Love, in which Harriet Martens--the so-called Hard Detective--is undone by her passion for a colleague with whom she probes the slaying of curvaceous teenage tennis star Bubbles Xingara.
The "Brit with a Hit," as Bubbles's American fans know her, has been found on her Leven Vale estate, stabbed through the throat. Due to this victim's prominence and the shorthandedness of the local police, Detective Superintendent Martens is seconded from adjacent Birchester to take charge of the case. Her best suspect may be a "shambling mess of a man" given to exposing himself. Other likely murderers include Bubbles's secretary, a once-wealthy classmate involved with the decedent's stepfather; a French gangster whose affections Ms. Xingara too publicly rebuffed; and a computer geek who hoards Bubbles images from the Internet. As weeks pass without a breakthrough, however, Martens worries for her future with this investigation as well as her ability to resist Anselm Brent, a country constable of dubious talent, who nonetheless makes the hardened Harriet go all soft inside. Keating's persistent attention to his protagonist's sex life begins to grate, as his principal plot bounces repeatedly between hope and failure. But this novel--the second part of a trilogy, following The Hard Detective--compensates somewhat with a delightfully peculiar cast of secondary players and Martens's comical impatience toward everyone and everything around her, even her own media-made reputation. --J. Kingston Pierce
From AudioFile
Keating's detective novel revolves around a theory he posits: the most powerful determinant in human destiny is sexual attraction. That question is not only the central mystery in Detective Superintendent Harriet Marten's investigation into the murder of tennis star Bubbles Xingara, it also plagues the inspector herself as she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of her own subordinates. Although a topic with much promise, it soon becomes a tiresome refrain in Keating's work. Despite a veil of sophistication, Keating's story doesn't rise much above the juvenile. Sheila Mitchell is a thoughtful and witty reader, but she cannot overcome such inert material. M.O. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
Keating, with more than 40 novels to his name, may be best known for his atmospheric mysteries starring Inspector Ghote of Bombay, but his fairly new series, starring "the Hard Detective," Harriet Martens of the Greater Birchester Police, has been gaining steady acclaim. Martens is a fascinating character, a combination of professional toughness and private vulnerability. Unlike many novelists who offer tough-talking, hard-living stereotypes of women detectives, especially women cops, Keating is able to achieve a complex, human characterization. In this latest Keating, Martens' hard-won professionalism and carefully constructed personal life are cracked open by a surprising love affair. The mystery itself centers on the high-profile murder of Bubbles Xingara, media darling, tennis star, and Britain's best hope at Wimbledon, on the grounds of her country estate. Martens falls madly in lust with a fellow officer, threatening both the investigation and her marriage. Well crafted and riveting. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
In that mythical Victorian piano-legs -in-pantaloons era people, at least in the respectable classes, may have convinced themselves that sex was something that manifested itself only when a baby had to be made. But in fact it's us, the sophisticated, we-know-it-all generation, who still don't really acknowledge how we're all in a every way all the time at the mercy of that louring cloud.
Detective Harriet Martens--the title character from The Hard Detective--returns in this newest police procedural from a master of the genre, H. R. F. Keating. Detective Martens has a well-deserved reputation for unyielding toughness. In The Hard Detective, she led a Stop the Rot campaign against local crime and faced down a brutal killer on a spree of cop killing. Now, she has been called on to lead the investigation into the murder of Bubbles Xingara, Britain's number one tennis star and media darling, who was found dead on the grounds of her sprawling country home. The case is sure to draw worldwide attention.
The mystery, however, isn't what tests the Hard Detective's strength. It's the fact that Detective Martens, devoted wife, has fallen madly and passionately in love with a subordinate officer. From her first meeting with that subordinate, Martens must struggle not only to solve a perplexing homicide, but also to control her increasing urges and to withstand temptation. Her difficulties are made no easier by her husband regularly commenting on the unavoidable power of "amorousness."
About the Author
H.R.F. Keating is well-versed in the fiction, and non-fiction, worlds of crime. He was the crime books reviewer for The London Times for fifteen years, as well as serving as the Chairman of the Crime Writers Association and the Society of Authors. His repertoire is expansive and includes the well-known Inspector Ghote series. He lives in London.
A Detective in Love FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Detective Harriet Martens - the title character from The Hard Detective - returns in this newest police procedural from a master of the genre, H.R.F. Keating. Detective Martens has a well-deserved reputation for unyielding toughness. In The Hard Detective, she led a Stop the Rot campaign against local crime and faced down a brutal killer on a spree of cop killing. Now, she has been called on to lead the investigation into the murder of Bubbles Xingara, Britain's number-one tennis star and media darling, who was found dead on the grounds of her sprawling country home. The case is sure to draw worldwide attention." The mystery, however, isn't what tests the Hard Detective's strength. It's the fact that Detective Martens, devoted wife, has fallen madly and passionately in love with a subordinate officer. From her first meeting with that subordinate, Martens must struggle not only to solve a perplexing homicide, but also to control her increasing urges and to withstand temptation. Her difficulties are made no easier by her husband regularly commenting on the unavoidable power of "amorousness."
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Det. Supt. Harriet Martens, last seen in 2000's The Hard Detective, makes a welcome return in British veteran H.R.F. Keating's A Detective in Love. A high-profile investigation into a top tennis star's murder gets even more complicated when Harriet, hitherto a model wife and mother, falls in love with a fellow police officer.
AudioFile
Keating's detective novel revolves around a theory he posits: the most powerful determinant in human destiny is sexual attraction. That question is not only the central mystery in Detective Superintendent Harriet Marten's investigation into the murder of tennis star Bubbles Xingara, it also plagues the inspector herself as she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of her own subordinates. Although a topic with much promise, it soon becomes a tiresome refrain in Keating's work. Despite a veil of sophistication, Keating's story doesn't rise much above the juvenile. Sheila Mitchell is a thoughtful and witty reader, but she cannot overcome such inert material. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Because you never know when Eros may strike without warning or pity, John Piddock has an unusually broad-minded agreement with his wife, Det. Supt. Harriet Martens of Greater Birchester: occasional extramarital sex won't affect their relationship. Minutes after she arrives at neighboring Leven Vale to take charge of the investigation into the murder of tennis star Bubbles Xingara, stabbed to death just a few feet from her own bailiwick, that agreement is sorely tested when Harriet becomes instantly and rapturously infatuated not with Leven Vale's lothario DI ("Handy Andy") Anderson but with DI Anselm Brent, her stolid local subordinate on the case. Harriet struggles womanfully to throw herself into the details of the case, but every suspect that pops up-Bubbles's legatees, her empty-headed mother and her stepfather/coach; the possible resentment of the suddenly impoverished school friend she made her secretary; the French gangster whose advances Bubbles publicly disdained; the cracked poet who elegized her in doggerel; the California coach sacked by the stepfather; the Leven Vale roofer who abruptly quit the neighborhood when he heard of Bubbles's death-turns out to be a red herring. And in truth, Keating is much less interested in wrapping up the mystery than in tracing the stages-predictable but by turns touching, amusing, and painful-in the course of a forbidden love that can't possibly run smooth. Transcends Harriet's debut (The Hard Detective, 2000) to join Keating's trenchant studies of The Rich Detective (1993), The Good Detective (1995), The Soft Detective (1998), and The Bad Detective (1999).
Art & Photography
Book Info
