The Last Good Place: Krug and Kellog Thriller Book 4 by Robin Burcell

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

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Police Procedural, Strangling

Marcie Valentine believes her husband, Devin, is having an affair with Trudy Salvatori, the next-door neighbor. She hires someone to rough up Trudy to scare her. She hears her husband calling Trudy and sees her come over before going for a run. Ahead of her on the trail, she hears someone yelling. When she gets to the scene, Trudy is dead on the ground. The rumor is she is the latest victim of the Landmark Strangler. The man is being chased and runs into the street where he is hit by a vehicle. Sergeants Casey Kellog and Al Krug are the investigators on the case. They do not believe he did it even though he was at the scene. They do not like the coincidence of Marcie finding the body.

The book has a fast pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. I like how Marcie has regret of her actions. I love the twists in the story that make you see, think, and feel one way and then lead you in another direction. If you like mysteries with twists, you will enjoy this one.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Sgt. Al Krug and his younger, college-educated partner Casey Kellog are investigating a string of strangulation killings when another victim is found at the Presidio…but a surprising, violent incident at the crime scene makes them wonder if everything is what it seems. The two miss-matched cops, with sharply conflicting approaches to detective work, are under intense pressure to get results. It’s a race-against-the-clock investigation that propels them into the deadly intersection of politics, real estate, media and vice… the fertile, fog-shrouded killing field of a ruthless murderer.

What a very good opening story to a new series of mystery / police procedural novels. Former cop, hostage negotiator, and FBI-trained, forensic artist, Robin Burcell has written a story that parallels those of Carolyn Weston’s groundbreaking series of books that were used as a basis for the TV show, The Streets of San Francisco.

What works really well here are the characters. The first thing to get right when doing something like this is to get the characters right, and the author has done this very well. Al and Casey were near perfect for me as the old cop/rookie combination. The plot itself had all the hallmarks of both the classic 70s story-telling, as well as modern sophistication. The final thing that was a real standout for me was the development of Casey's character - although Al shows a lot of the tricks of the trade throughout the story, the real lessons are learned by Casey throughout this mystery novel. And that was a real pleasure...


Paul
ARH

This book continues The Streets of San Francisco books by Carolyn Weston. Burcell does a great job of recreating this whole thing with the two San Francisco detectives. A good storyline and a great police procedural. I would recommend it to anyone who liked the show on TV or who read the books, or just enjoys police procedurals.

very interesting book. this is first book i have read by this author