So….2 big announcements to kick off this review. For the first time in ages I picked up a book that sent me into hiding so I could read uninterrupted by those pesky people who claim to be family.

Second, we have an early front runner for my world famous “ Dickhead of the Year ” Award * (* fiction category, not to be confused with the one bestowed on a real person). You know those characters you love to hate? Well, keep your blood pressure meds nearby. This book has one that made me wish I could reach through the pages and smack the daylights out of. More on that later.

This is book #2 in the series & DI Luc Callanach has been in Edinburgh for 8 months now. It’s festival season & the downtown is hot, loud & heaving with music fans. In the midst of the crowd, a young man quietly sinks to the ground. Before long, Luc & his crew are on scene trying to figure out how a man was killed without anyone noticing.

Meanwhile, DI Ava Turner is called to a very different murder. There’s nothing subtle about this one. Only the question of who would want to kill a hospice nurse.

And that’s just the beginning of a spree that soon has Edinburgh’s panicked residents locking their doors. These aren’t your “typical“ victims of crime & Luc & Ava are soon reeling from an abundance of bodies but few clues. To make matters worse, someone is leaking confidential info to the press. Adding to the fun is the presence of a cyber crime task force that is taking space & staff from the murder squad. It’s led by DCI Joseph Edgar (our DOTY award nominee), an ambitious cop intent on rekindling his history with Ava.

With Ava distracted by personal issues, Luc has no choice but to go outside the department for help & winds up with a couple of unlikely partners who add an interesting edge to the story.

What a great read. I’ve been waiting for this ever since I read “Perfect Remains”. Luc & Ava are complex, compelling characters & the fact it’s set in one of my favourite cities is a bonus. Much of the colourful peripheral cast is back, adding smart & humorous dialogue to the suspense. It’s a true head scratcher as the big picture slowly begins to take shape. The author provides several credible paths to follow & you’ll have to decide which trails lead to the killer & which are clever misdirection.

At the 3/4 mark, my condolences to anyone who tries to come between you & the story. The pace ramps up as investigations reach a critical point with some of the answers falling into place. Others are reserved for the final pages as Luc & Ava deal with sudden changes to their personal & professional lives. An unexpected twist throws a spanner in the overall story line & guarantees I’ll be watching for book #3.

This works as a stand alone but I’d recommend reading the first one so you fully understand references made to the characters’ pasts. It’s the perfect “make-the-world-go-away” book, ideal if you’re stuck for several hours in a plane/train/automobile at some point this summer. Who knows, by the time you look up all bleary-eyed, you might be in another country. Bon voyage.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advance copy of Perfect Prey, the second Edinburgh based police procedural to feature DI Luc Callanach and DI Ava Turner.

Callanach is called out to a murder scene. A young man has been stabbed at a festival. When the initial flurry is over it is discovered that the victim is a charity worker with no known enemies and the killing is particularly vicious and professional. In the meantime Turner is called to another murder scene where a palliative care nurse has been crushed to death. As the killings continue Superintendent Overbeck brings her own touchy feely brand of supervision to the case, adding pressure and Turner rekindles an old relationship putting her friendship with Callanach in jeopardy.

I thoroughly enjoyed Perfect Prey as it seems that Ms Fields has hit her stride. I wasn't overly impressed with the first novel, Perfect Remains, but this is much better. It has good pace and plenty going on, the investigation, the fraught relationships and the machinations of Turner's boyfriend, hotshot cyber crimes investigator Joe Edgar. The first half of the novel is a straightforward narrative from the police perspective. It sets the scene, introduces the characters and gives a good overall picture of the problems facing the investigation and the politics involved.The second half offers several different points of view. I really like this approach and think it works extremely well. I'm not a big fan of alternating points of view but this is excellent. I had time to identify with Callanach and Turner and get absorbed in the story before I was distracted by a subject switch, which given its placement later in the novel serves to enhance and enrich the narrative because by then I know what I'm dealing with, rather than the more usual wondering what the point is when they're introduced from the start.

The plot is fairly twisted with a few surprises so it was difficult to guess where it is going. There is nothing particularly original about it but Ms Fields puts her own stamp on it with some gruesome methods of murder and the relationships between the characters. As befits fictional detectives both Callanach and Turner have their problems but apart from the simmering will they, won't they potential romance they are background noise to explain some of their actions rather than front and centre. I think Ms Fields has the balance right this time.

Perfect Prey is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Oh my word what can I say? I loved the first book Perfect Remains, and I was worried that this one would not measure up, I had no need to worry, it was superb. I seriously could not put it down, so much so I actually contemplated taking the afternoon off work in order to finish it. I have told everyone I know that they must read this book when it is released.