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Loose-Limbed by David Barrie (view source)
Revision as of 11:18, 19 March 2011
, 11:18, 19 March 2011no edit summary
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Captain Franck Guerin of the Brigade Criminelle was about to learn a lot more about ballet than he ever expected or wanted to know. Sophie Duval was a leading dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet – an etoile – and she was murdered in her home. A chord had been wrapped three times around her neck and then she had been strangled, but why? It seemed simple to rule out professional jealousy and she seemed to have little life outside of the ballet. The Opera Ballet is a tight-knit and dedicated world, but it's not long before it's a world of terror, because Sophie Duval I is only the first person to die.
In every fiction genre there are people who deserve to be a lot better known than they are. David Barrie and his superb creation, Captain Franck Guerin are of that number. I remember reading the [[Wasp-Waisted by David Barrie|first book in the series]] with some trepidation. I mean, the author is a ''management consultant''! A few pages in and I was hooked. I wondered about the [[Night-Scented by David Barrie|second novel]]. Would it prove to be that 'difficult second book' which doesn't live up to expectation? Nope – it was just as good. And what of this, the third in the series? Would tiredness have set in? No – it's the best of them all so far. And I say ''so far'' deliberately because I have a feeling that David Barrie is just getting into his stride.