Last Boat to Camden Town (Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy, 1)

By Paul Charles

Book Overview

Paul Charles brings north London alive as he describes the routines and eccentricities of Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy. Kennedy's intimate knowledge of his patch of London, Camden Town, is needed when a body is discovered at the bottom of Regent's Canal. Doctor Edmund Godfrey Berry is a young, successful doctor with a thriving career and a beautiful wife and child. Suicide seems unlikely but he seems to have no enemies. The only blotch on his otherwise sparkling career is the mysterious death of one of his former patients, a schoolteacher named Susanne Collins. Could these two things possibly be linked? Beneath the surface of comfortable respectability, lies a shocking secret that pulls all of the pieces together. Obsessed with the quality of his beloved cups of tea, Kennedy is an orderly, civilized man who believes that crimes are best solved in well-organized, carefully though-out ways. His life, however, is turned around when he becomes involved with a sexy, vivacious journalist, ann rea. Maybe absolute order isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312318723
• ISBN13: 9780312318727
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.7"

Customer Reviews

Feels more like a gentle urban cozy than police procedural

Dr. Edmund Berry of St. Pancras All Saints Hospital seems to be living the idyllic English life as he enjoys his work and loves his spouse and child. In turn his family cherishes and adores Edmund. So why would Edmund, who seems to have no enemies and is faithful to his family, kill himself by jumping into the North London's Cumberland Basin?Camden Town Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy investigates the apparent suicide of Dr. Berry. He quickly learns that Berry misdiagnosed the symptoms of patient Susanne Collins, which probably led to the schoolteacher's death. Was the doctor so despondent over his blunder that he took his own life? Could someone who has cared deeply for Susanne have murdered Stephen in a revenge killing?This English police procedural feels more like a gentle urban cozy than a deep investigative tale. The story line is amiable as the inspector conducts his inquiries. Ironically, readers will find obvious clues that Christy at first missed and will know what is going on before the cop does. This technique adds to the overall pleasure of the novel, best served with tea filled with plenty of sugar. Readers will enjoy this tale due to the protagonist, a fine unassuming police detective steadily doing his job.Harriet Klausner