This is the third in a series of books in which Anna Cameron is featured (my first in the series). There is a lot I liked about the book and a few key things I disliked, hence the low rating overall and my present feeling that I may not read other Karen Campbell novels. First the pro's: 1) Interesting to read a crime fiction (CF) novel that focuses on the mid to upper levels of a major city's police department, 2.) I have read many cf novels by Scot authors, e.g. Rankin, Mina, Atkinson, MacBride, etc. but none had the seemingly genuine "feel" of Scottish environment and language, so genuine that some of the dialog was incomprehensible to me 3.) the story was well paced and the plot was interesting. But now the con's: 1) I didn't care for the protagonist/heroine for much of the book (I don't mind "in-your-face" but much of it initially felt unnecessary) 2) there was so much plotting/counter-plotting re career planning that it started to feel a bit soap operish, 3) there didn't seem to be a lot of detectives doing the basic detecting, it was all done by the higher levels 4) the romance didn't feel right, perhaps it was too fast. I don't understand why this book is under consideration for a prestigious award; perhaps that will be explained by how well this book plays for Brit vs. American audiences.... ( )

Love her books ( )