Bloodless Shadow

By Victoria Blake

Book Overview

Victoria Blake's debut novel introduces Samantha Falconer, a private eye whose personal life is every bit as fascinating as her cases. When she left Oxford, Sam Falconer thought she had put the ghosts of her past behind her. But, while working in London as a P.I., she is summoned home by her brother to investigate the disappearance of a young woman-and confront the trauma she's tried so hard to forget. The closer she gets to Oxford, the more uneasy she becomes. Then, out of the blue, Sam receives a letter from a man who's been dead for 28 years-her father. As Sam copes with emotional chaos and investigates her case, she finds that every trail leads back to the university. But academia is stingy with its secrets, and its pursuit of truth is limited by a self-protective instinct that could turn lethal at any moment.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425203093
• ISBN13: 9780425203095
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Berkley Trade
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.9" x 0.9" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

I hope Blake continues to write such high quality books

THis is a "first" for this author, and I always fear that the quality will drop over time, particularly after the publisher (and the public) start putting the pressure on to get books written. THis is a particularly well-written book, and my only hesitation in giving this 5 stars is that the lead detective is an angry, unhappy, and troubled person (not unusual in a certain genre of mysteries -- think Rankin, for example), and after a while, it got to be a bit much. Samantha (Sam) Falconer is a London-based private detective who is a retired Judo world champion. She has a bad relationship with her mother and does her best to ignore her stepfather (her father was in the SAS and killed when she was 4 -- or so she was told). Sam's gay brother, who teaches at Oxford, is the only bright spot. He refers a client to her, a psychoanalyst in Oxford whose wife has disappeared -- he is dissatisfied with police efforts and wants Sam to find out what happened to her. Meanwhile, Sam gets a note -- ostensibly from her father, saying he will be in contact with her. If that weren't enough, she's dealing with the psychologically impact of having discovered a dead child in a previous assignment. And did I mention other threatening events happening to Sam, but she's unsure who is threatening her and how dangerous they really are? Heavy stuff indeed. But this was a mystery I could hardly wait to get back to -- well plotted and well written. I only wish it had been a little less gloomy, particularly by the end. I think Europeans are less averse to books filled with existential angst than most Americans are.

A really terrific first novel

I picked up this book to read this afternoon and finished it a few hours later having not been able to put it down. It is a really terrific story with a very compelling lead character. Sam Falconer is a flawed heroine and extremely compelling. The mystery itself was good, but most of the drama was in Sam's life as she dealt with her ghosts. I look forward to reading Victoria Blake's next novel.