It is nearly Christmas but there is precious little to be happy about in and around the grim Harefield Estate in West London. The weather has turned icily cold and everyone seems to be in a hurry. The book opens with the discovery of the body of a young woman in the park. She has been hit a hammer and then garrotted. As if this was not all awful enough, this victim is merely the latest in a run of similar murders across West London, and the police have next to nothing to go on.

The case is being worked by AMIP (the Area Murder Investigation Pool), and the leading officer on the front line is Stella Mooney. She grew up on the Harefield Estate but somehow managed to escape to university and then on into the police force. Stella, like every fictional cop (and probably a lot of real ones) has a whole raft of personal problems of her own, though Lawrence portrays these far more credibly than so many other novelists.

All at once there is a big break in the case. A man contacts the police to confess. This is not unknown - people contact AMIP all the time with fake confessions. This time, however, the confessor, Robert Kimber, seems to know things that suggest he had been at the scene. He in arrested and detained for as long as the law allows without him being charged, but the police are unable to verify his story, and he is eventually released. Shortly thereafter another, similar murder occurs, and Kimber disappears.

Lawrence's particular gift in these novels (this is the third in the series) is the way he captures the horror of the crime-ridden estate. There is a basic acceptance of the most feral approach to life. Everything is on offer on the Harefield Estate. There are brothels, shebeens, gambling dens, stores of illegal arms and, everywhere, people making, selling and taking drugs. He doesn't glamorise any of it - indeed, he goes out of his way to make it sound dreadful.

The plot is very well developed and utterly (even frighteningly) plausible, and Stella Mooney is a marvellous creation
( )

It is nearly Christmas but there is precious little to be happy about in and around the grim Harefield Estate in West London. The weather has turned icily cold and everyone seems to be in a hurry. The book opens with the discovery of the body of a young woman in the park. She has been hit a hammer and then garrotted. As if this was not all awful enough, this victim is merely the latest in a run of similar murders across West London, and the police have next to nothing to go on.

The case is being worked by AMIP (the Area Murder Investigation Pool), and the leading officer on the front line is Stella Mooney. She grew up on the Harefield Estate but somehow managed to escape to university and then on into the police force. Stella, like every fictional cop (and probably a lot of real ones) has a whole raft of personal problems of her own, though Lawrence portrays these far more credibly than so many other novelists.

All at once there is a big break in the case. A man contacts the police to confess. This is not unknown - people contact AMIP all the time with fake confessions. This time, however, the confessor, Robert Kimber, seems to know things that suggest he had been at the scene. He in arrested and detained for as long as the law allows without him being charged, but the police are unable to verify his story, and he is eventually released. Shortly thereafter another, similar murder occurs, and Kimber disappears.

Lawrence's particular gift in these novels (this is the third in the series) is the way he captures the horror of the crime-ridden estate. There is a basic acceptance of the most feral approach to life. Everything is on offer on the Harefield Estate. There are brothels, shebeens, gambling dens, stores of illegal arms and, everywhere, people making, selling and taking drugs. He doesn't glamorise any of it - indeed, he goes out of his way to make it sound dreadful.

The plot is very well developed and utterly (even frighteningly) plausible, and Stella Mooney is a marvellous creation ( )

This is a refreshing police procedural with fully developed characters, a lot of action and the plot takes some shocking twists that will totally surprise the reader who will have a hard time waiting to see what happens next. Fans who appreciate a complex murder mystery will want to read David Lawrence's tense thriller. ( )

DAVID Lawrence has a host of best-sellers to his name, and no wonder — he tells a good story, fast-paced, with lively and believable characters: Cold Kill is no exception.

Set in London, he examines modern organised crime, including its links with global terrorism, and how difficult it is for the law to keep it in check.

The line between good and evil is blurred as security agencies torture and murder to get information that might save many lives: grim and a little pessimistic, Cold Kill is nevertheless a thrilling read. ( )

"Fans of the PBS series Prime Suspect or of hot Scottish writer Ian Rankin shouldn't wait to check out this mystery...[it] will surely be one of the best mysteries of the summer, probably of the year."
- Rocky Mountain News on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

Cold Kill, David Lawrence's third book in the highly acclaimed Detective Stella Mooney series, finds the memorable Stella at a crime scene in a wintry London park.

The brutalized corpse of a young woman has just been discovered. When Robert Kimber walks into a Notting Hill police station and confesses to the murder, it's an open-and-shut case--just what the police want this close to Christmas. But Stella has her doubts. And if their suspect didn't commit the murder, who did? Someone without a conscience. Someone who will tap into Kimber's disturbed mind. Someone who needs an apprentice for the dark business he has planned.... ( )