Sweetwater — Paul Charles

Christy Kennedy is an Ulsterman living in leafy Primrose Hill and working in vibrant Camden Town. He loves the art of detection, he's addicted to the puzzle of the crime. Now, while recuperating from an injury, he is working on a Missing Person case when an acquaintance of his, Harry Ford, is murdered. The investigation uncovers the lives, loves and disappointments of four university friends, one of whom, a Father Vincent O'Connor, may also be involved in the Missing Person case. However, the suspect list goes beyond this group of friends, when Kennedy discovers just how ambitious one of Ford's work colleagues was. ""Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy, the transplanted Irishman working in London's Camden Town, returns for his eighth assignment. Still on the mend from an injury, he is working what appears to be a typical missing-persons case when a friend is murdered, and the trail turns personal. Unlike many series leads, Kennedy is a remarkably well-adjusted fellow, with a comfortable personal life and no major neuroses. It's his pure, unadulterated love for solving crimes that makes him so appealing. The novels are an interesting change from the ever-more-plentiful London noir stories - here its character, not atmosphere, that sells the story.""--Booklist. ""The series about Christy Kennedy is a unique one that should be better known to American readers."" --Ellery Queen