Book Review: The Ten Commandments

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Ten Commandments     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Anthea Fraser
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: David Webb # 14
St. Martin’s, Mar 2000, $23.95, 192 pp.

A body is found between two cars parked in a lot of an Ashmartin, England pub. There is nothing on the deceased to identify him until his wife calls in a missing person’s report. The dead person is social worker Simon Judd who was socially meeting a client at the pub. DCI David Webb learns that this case parallels another murder case that happened six years ago when an unknown assailant murdered a real estate agent. Webb concludes that the same person killed murdered both victims.

Frederick Mace, a renowned crime writer and criminologist, reviews both cases and decides that two different killers committed the acts. Mace’s theory turns him into a media celebrity that leads to someone breaking into his study and knocking the writer out cold. Everyone assumes that the culprit wanted to see what information the author held. Webb is out to get the person responsible for Mace before he tries again.

Fans of British police procedurals will want to read the TEN COMMANDMENTS because the story line provides an up close look at how an English homicide investigation works. The secondary characters co-starring in the two subplots add a richness and complexity that makes for a stronger plot. The fascinating mystery proves Anthea Frazier is a fantastic storyteller who knows how to entertain her audience with a cerebral puzzler.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner