For the Dignified Dead by Michael Genelin

374 Pages
Publisher: Brash Books
Release Date: November 3, 2015

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, European, Police Procedural, Serial Killer

A woman is found frozen in the Danube. Jana Martinova is a police commander in Bratislava. She and Pavol, one of her investigators are sent to the scent of a drowning by Inspector Seges. He believes it is a suicide and is ready to close the case even before the coroner confirms cause of death. The coroner tells Jana the victim was murdered with something like an ice pick to the back of her head. With events in Bulgaria and Zurich, she travels around Europe using her own type of justice while investigating banking discrepancies related to the murders.

The story is fast paced, the characters are well developed, and it was written in the third person point of view. Jana has a dominate personality. She is the type to kick butt and take names later. If you like books with strong women characters, you will love this book.

This is the fifth book in the Commander Jana Matinova series, but it can be read as a standalone. There are two storylines going on simultaneously and eventually they come together. The story takes place in Slovakia, or at least that is where it begins, but as this story progresses, there is a wild chase across Europe with many stops along the way. With a murdered woman, an Albanian Ponzi scheme, a kidnapped child and attempted murders of Jana, there is a lot of action. Jana Marinova is a tenacious investigator who has to work with other inept investigators as well as taking chances in order to find justice, in fact somewhat reckless. I found the story intriguing, but at times the writing was a bit cumbersome. There was so much happening that I should have been glued to the pages, but I wasn’t. I didn’t connect with the characters and found them somewhat unlikeable. I also found there was a lot of violence that I didn’t really like, although for those who don’t mind that, it did add to the story’s action. Overall, I have to say this story was too much for me, the crimes, the crooks and the cops are on a whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe – too many places, too many players and too many twists to keep up with. Just not my cup of tea.

Liked the book. Matinova is an interesting character in an unfamiliar part of the world.. Was surprised that this was book 5 in a series. I am interested enough to start with book 1 and see how it goes.

My feedback comments have gone missing! I reviewed this title previously yet it still appears in my list, "GIVE REVIEWS"