A mysterious fire at a Somerset manor house leads to a complex and intriguing case for Bristol detective David Vogel. When Sir John Fairbrother, head of one of the world’s biggest private banks, burns to death, along with his nurse, in a catastrophic fire at his Somerset manor house, Detective Inspector David Vogel finds himself dealing with a complex and mystifying sequence of events. If arson … sequence of events. If arson was involved, as Vogel believes, the obvious suspect is Sir John’s chauffeur/gardener, George Grey … but is he guilty?
Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and bring those responsible for the fire and two further suspicious deaths to justice, Vogel uncovers a tangled web of intrigue which exceeds anything he at first imagined.
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If You Didn’t Like Deadly Dance, Do Try Wheel of Fire
This is the second novel in the David Vogel Mysteries. If you were turned off by the first book in the series, Deadly Dance, this novel is a solid story that captured my imagination and could not put it down. I finished it faster than normal and even read late into the morning to complete it.
The novel starts with a terrible fire in the home of Mr. Fairbrother, CEO of the family international bank. The business and home go back to the 18th century. Mr. Fairbrother had been sickly and reportedly near death from Parkinson’s disease. He and his nurse died in the fire. Since the 999, British version of 911, call mentioned armed intruders and the Officer in charge of the responding fire unit suspected arson, DCI David Vogel was called in to investigate. With his partner DC Dawn Saslow and other members of his Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT), they discovered that both of Fairbrother’s children were estranged from the father and themselves. Also, the long standing land keeper and his wife had been replaced abruptly. The new lands keeper was stabbed by the intruders on the night of the fire. He was taken to the hospital, but quickly left and disappeared. All of these events made Vogel view that this fire really looked like murder. The main storyline starts off from here and runs with intriguing twists and turns as Vogel and his team tries to figure out what happened, by whom, and why. The investigation expands to include London.
Within the B-story, the reader learns more about Vogel’s likes, dislikes, and the relationship with his now promoted boss at the London MCIT. Besides Saslow’s interaction with Vogel, more is revealed about her. Even though this novel is set a year after the first novel, she is still affected by the events that occurred during that investigation. Note that you do not have to read that novel first. This novel can stand alone and be your first read without any loss of understanding of the current novel.
Some readers object to vulgar language and sex scenes. There was very little use of vulgar language and not any sex scenes so there should not be any barriers to reading this novel unless you have an absolute zero tolerance. I do recommend reading this novel on a Kindle unless you are very familiar with nuisances of British informal language. I found with this novel that I had to use the Internet on the Kindle much more than usual to find the meaning of some words and phrases.
As this novel captured my imagination, read it must faster than usual, and I really enjoyed reading it, I rate this novel with five stars. I do recommend reading it even if you have not read the first novel first. Enjoy.
I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Severn House with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Severn House for the opportunity to read this novel early.