The Last Girl by Jane Casey

Oh, yes, I am really liking DC Maeve Kerrigan and Jane Casey's 3rd book in the series, The Last Girl, was lots of fun - for me anyway.  Not so much for the people that were killed.  I'm trying to think how I even heard about this series.  I know I read the 1st book, The Burning, last summer.  Just can't recall.  Well, if it means anything, I've already got the 4th book, The Stranger You Know, ready to go.  Back to The Last Girl.

Maeve Kerrigan is a young Detective Constable on Superintendent Godley's team.  Her partner seems to now be Detective Inspector Josh Derwent.  They are getting used to each other and feeling a bit more comfortable after the wild events of the last book, The Reckoning.  It's summer in London and it is a hot one.  Over and over the heat is mentioned, sweat and no A/C and humidity - shirts sticking to the back and icky-sweet soft drinks.  It sets the scene.

Kerrigan and Derwent are the lead investigators on a double murder case - the wife and teenage daughter of a noted defense attorney, Philip Kennford.  The attorney himself was assaulted by the killer and suffered a concussion that rendered him unable to remember much.  Then there is the twin sister of the murdered girl, who was swimming laps in the pool, and luckily was overlooked.  Or so it seems.  There is little to go on and the two detectives have a difficult time with both Lydia, the surviving daughter, and Philip, the father.  Neither seems willing to cooperate and answer many questions.

Meanwhile, the rest of Superintendent Godley's team is busy trying to determine the best way to stop a series of gang shootings.  The two sides are vying for control of drug trade in the area and some of this storyline is left over from the previous book.  Maeve doesn't understand why her boss is keeping Derwent out of that investigation, as Godley and Derwent were both familiar with the players involved some years ago.  Derwent, who is definitely growing on me, just growls when she asks him.

I pretty much devoured this book, enjoying getting to know more about all the characters and also testing my guessing skills in figuring out who-dun-it.  I was sort of right, but not completely.  And my mind had gone in all different directions first.  I like Maeve a lot, but she kind of makes me nuts in her mistrust of both her love interest and her slight chip on the shoulder about being a "woman in a man's world".  I guess it doesn't help that her partner is maybe the most sexist-while-still-being-somehow-likable character that I've read in a long time.  His loyalty to Maeve is beginning to show though, and there were several occasions in this book where I felt like clapping at his protective reactions toward her and other females.

I know there is a back story between the boss, Godley, and Derwent.  I'm hoping that more of that will come out in the next book.  I'm intrigued and Maeve has hero-worshipped her boss a little much.  No one can be that good.  Every white knight has cracks in his armor.  I think those are going to be coming out soon.  So, I can completely recommend Jane Casey's series.  Start with the first book and have a good time.  And now, I'm moving on to The Stranger You Know.