Looking Good Dead by Peter James

Val Penny ♦ May 16, 2013 ♦ Leave a comment

Peter James was born in Brighton, England. He is the son of a Jewish refugee who came to England in 1938. James was educated at Charterhouse School  and thereafter went on to Ravensbourne Film School.  Subsequently he spent several years in North America, where he worked as a  screen writer and film producer.  However, he is now best known as a successful writer of crime genre novels .

In the book Looking Good Dead the character Tom Bryce picks up a CD which has been left behind on a train seat. When he attempts to track down the owner, he finds himself the only witness to a savage killing.  He reports the crime to the police but this has disastrous consequences. The lives of both he and his wife are threatened.  They are notified by a message on the Internet.

DS Roy Grace becomes involved.  He finds himself up against a malign group of very well organised criminals.  Although DS Grace is cut from a familiar crime novel cloth (copper struggling with psychological problems), the plotting in this novel was innovative and fresh.  Despite the fact that Grace is not strikingly different from any other literary coppers, few people will complain when James’ storytelling acumen is as authoritative as it is in this novel.

I really enjoyed Looking Good Dead and just could not put it down.  I would highly recommend this novel.