A captivating thriller of clashing cultures, the code of honor, the power of mercy, and the tangled lies between friends and family, Honor Role follows the quest of a fearless detective determined to do what she believes is right—no matter the cost. It should have been an open-and-shut case: suicide by cyanide. But when Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley pries open the hidden parts of Freddy … hidden parts of Freddy Hayworth’s life, she uncovers his complicated battle with mental illness and the parade of spurned women left in Freddy’s wake. Quickly, a full-blown homicide investigation ensues, where nothing is as it seems.
Outside of her demanding police work, DI Grantley seems to have outrun the secrets of her past. She is raising her son in a loving home, in a quiet London neighborhood, embraced by a tight-knit, supportive community. And while she might occasionally have different ideas about child-rearing than her Pakistani-born nanny, Jabirah Rahman, Tessa and Jabirah develop a bond not easily broken . . . until Jabirah disappears. Then, Tessa must use her intuition and investigative skills on two fronts. What she finds puts her on a collision course with ideas of justice and righteousness that dangerously conflict with her own.
In this thriller from the author of Still Death, the boundaries between Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley’s career and her family fatally blur, causing her to question everything she believes in.
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Will give a full review on release date, late September, 2019. I liked it.
I received a free electronic copy of this British police procedural from Netgalley, Tim Hoy, and Random House Publishing Group – Alibi. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Honor Role of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I very much enjoyed this novel, the first of a series, and will want to read the next installment of DI Tessa Grantley.
This story is peopled with folks of all sorts, most understandable and likable. Tess is widowed shortly after discovering that her husband Alec was responsible for many murders both before and during their marriage. She and her five-year-old son Jonathan live in a four-story home she bought after shedding all signs of her married life, and she has had the second and third floors converted into two apartments, not so much for the added income as a way to add a sense of family to their lives. When her nanny quits her, she finds herself, almost against her will, hiring 19-year old Pakistan immigrant and deeply religious Jabirah Rahman to fill that roll in their lives. In no time both Tess and Jonathan adore her, and the tenants on the second floor, the Obinna family, only add to the sense of warmth and family. Chika and Ben were in England for graduate studies and needed a place they could bring their son Ogueri from Nigeria to be with them. Ogueri is losing his sight and needs special attention and care. He and Jonathan are 11 months apart in age and get each other very well. Tess is pleased with companionship offered to herself and Jonathan by both the Obinna family and Jabirah, because her job is demanding, and often time-consuming as well. She is a policeman in London.
Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley and her partner DI Peter Lazarus catch the cyanide poisoning – possibly murder, perhaps suicide – of a wealthy playboy bachelor. None of the details fit well with Tess. Cyanide is a very difficult poison to acquire. And though fast, it is not without pain nor does it leave a pretty corpse. Victim Freddy Hayworth is a buff, very pretty womanizer and very much an egoist, friends and family alike have nothing good to say about him except that they liked him despite his OCD habits and sheer over the top self-love. And nobody thinks he would ever have taken his own life. He was much too fond of it. Tess knows if she had been one of his many discarded women she might have poisoned him. Unfortunately, his recent exes have alibis, as do the four other bachelor’s he ran with through their shallow life. Or do they, really?
And who can understand or condone honor killing? How can that happen in jolly old England?
DI Tessa Grantley is called upon to investigate the death of Freddy Hayworth. The official report is suicide by cyanide. But Tessa has her doubts. When she starts talking to friends and family, she finds that Freddy had a history of mental illness and a long line of spurned women.
Meanwhile, on the personal front, there’s another mystery brewing. Tessa hires a young Muslim woman to be her son’s nanny. Pakistani-born Jabirah Rahman and Tess and her young son form a bond of friendship. Yes, there are cultural differences but they highly respect each other.
But then, Jabirah disappears.
This is a well written mystery with more than one case needing solved. While Tess investigates one possible murder, is there another possible murder in her personal life? Boundaries blur making Tess rethinking about everything she knows. I really enjoyed how her personal and professional lives blended.
This is second in a series and I highly recommend starting with the first book. In book 2, there are references to book 1 that may spoil the reading of book 1. Also, there is a slight cliff hanger that goes back to book 1.
Many thanks to the author / Random House – Alibi / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.