Review by Booklist Review
Dr. Claudia Atkins O'Sheil, a professor at the Royal College of Forensic Sciences, is a renowned expert on blood spatter. She and her sponsor, Sir Philip Ardmore, are on their way to a gala, where she will give a speech about her career to London's elite. It will feature her experience with the Chester Terrace Murders, a horrific case. A father and his fiancée were brutally stabbed in their home, and Claudia's work helped to convict his son of the crimes. Claudia, a widow raising two sons, now faces a difficult dilemma. Someone has determined that her evidence was incorrect, and she knows it. That person is about to go public and destroy her. Will Claudia use her presentation to admit her mistake and ruin her career or continue her complicity while the real murderer sits in the audience? Mina (Confidence, 2022) will keep readers in suspense as she weaves a complex web of personal and professional relationships with gruesome crime-scene details and high-stakes life choices. Mystery fans will love this.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This outstanding mystery from Mina (Three Fires) centers on forensic scientist Claudia Atkins O'Sheil, whose work with London's Metropolitan Police Department ensnares her in a high-stakes double murder investigation. In upscale Chester Terrace, Jonathan "Jonty" Phillips and his fiancée have been killed, with no clues left behind. Maura Langston, head of the Met, charges Stewart's alcoholic son William with the murders, but Claudia believes him to be innocent. Claudia's husband recently died in an accident, which she privately suspects was murder; when another victim dies in a similar manner before William's trial, her suspicions lead her to believe the culprit behind all four killings is someone highly revered among London's upper classes. Now, Cluadia must decide whether to lie about her theory of the case or compromise her job by revealing the truth during a speech she's set to give. With her two sons safely ensconced in their exclusive school, Claudia prepares to make a decision that will affect the lives of all involved. Mina builds nerve-shredding suspense by toggling back and forth between the moments before Claudia's speech and key pieces of the investigation. Here's hoping a sequel is in the works. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (July)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A moment of triumph turns into terror in this dark thriller. Claudia Atkins O'Sheil is about to enter what should be a celebration. A forensic examiner, she's created a method of blood-spatter analysis that's a huge success, boosting not only her reputation but that of her mentor and boss, Lord Philip Ardmore. The party at the Royal College of Forensic Scientists in London is meant to praise her, but she's quaking with fear because she intends to reveal a secret that will destroy everything. Flashback to a similar party exactly a year ago. She was reeling then, too, still reacting to the recent, sudden death of her beloved husband, James, a lawyer. She was struggling to raise their two teenage sons alone, but at least her career had taken a turn for the better. That gala is interrupted, though, when she and Philip are called to the scene of a gruesome double murder. It isn't so Claudia can evaluate the blood spatter (although she does)--it's because one of the victims was one of Philip's oldest friends. Jonty Stewart and his much younger fiancée, Francesca Emmanuel, had been stabbed to death, and their trained guard dog had been shot. Everything points to the murder being personal, not random, and in short order there's an arrest. But Claudia isn't convinced, and she can't help investigating, even though it's not her job. Charlie Taunton, James' colleague and friend, gently warns her off as he tries to renew his on-again, off-again (and not always healthy) relationship with Claudia's sister, Gina. An addict who's sober at the moment, Gina is living with Claudia and helping with the boys, but she's always been a loose cannon. Mina has long been adept at suspenseful pacing and at creating flawed but engaging characters, and here she paints Claudia as something of an anthropologist--a Glasgow native, she's constantly trying to interpret the codes and hierarchies of the English upper classes. As her search for the killer intensifies, it both expands into other dark doings and draws alarmingly close to home. A shocking but satisfying ending caps off this taut tale of murder among the privileged. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
