Tuesday, March 03, 2026
Publication Day Review: The Politician: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan
Peggy Frampton is very much dead in her
bedroom as The Politician: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim
Sullivan begins. The cleaning lady had found her employer dead that morning.
Now Cross, the Detective Sergeant from the Avon and Somerset Police, will lead
the hunt for the killer or killers as this most definitely is a murder case.
At one time, Peggy Frampton was the
Mayor of Bristol. In recent years, she has been a social media influencer
through an advice column, and a writer. She has a massive online presence and
impact, not only in her local Bristol, England, community, but far beyond. She
tended to ruffle feathers, at times, with her blunt advice.
She is survived by her husband, Peter,
and their adult children. Peter is a lawyer. As it happens, he is in London, on a case, and is on
the way back home as DS George Cross looks at the body and the crime scene.
While some, such as DCI Ben Carson, believe
this is aa case of a simple burglary gone wrong, DS George Cross does not.
Before much can be done by the local police, due to the high-profile nature of the
case, Chief Superintendent Heather Mathews is brought in to supervise. Fortunately
for everyone, while she has never worked with Cross before, she knows of him
and how he is, and so she allows him wide latitude to pursue the case as he
sees fit. That means he can treat it like any other case and not be micromanaged
by Carson or anyone else.
That is always a plus. Especially here
with a case that is complex and constantly evolving as lines of inquiry are
adjusted as evidence comes to light. As always, the reader knows that Cross
will identify and build a case against those involved. The real question is
what else will he and his team unearth in their pursuit of justice for the
dead.
For that, you will have to read the
book.
It would also be best if you started
with the first read, The Dentist: A DS George Cross Mystery, and
work your way forward to this fourth book of the re-released series. This is not
a static police procedural series with very little change over time. Instead,
and one of the things that makes it so good, characters constantly evolve and
deal with things in life, relationships change, and more happens while the
police work continues.
The Politician: A DS George Cross
Mystery by Tim Sullivan is another very good installment of a
really good police procedural series. What more could you want?
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Nu5Hrp
I received a digital ARC from the
publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with
no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, March 02, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: Dr Seuss's Birthday & Read Across America Day!
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Little Book of Secret Societies by Joel Levy
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Locked Village and the Eight Tricks (2024) by Danro Kamosaki
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The White Crow by Michael Robotham
The White
Crow by Michael Robotham (Scribner, July 2025) is the second Constable Philomena
McCarthy book. Like Clayton Burroughs in the Bull Mountain series by Brian
Panowich, Phil is the daughter of a long-established gangster, only she’s in
London and Clayton is in Georgia. They have both chosen to step outside their
family’s deeply entrenched criminal organizations to join law enforcement, a
decision that both bewilders and infuriates their fathers. Phil uneasily
balances her love for her family with her deep investment in her job and so far
she’s been successful.
Phil,
patrolling the streets with her night shift partner, sees a child in blood-stained
pajamas on a sidewalk. Phil takes her home and finds Daisy’s mother bound and
dead on the kitchen floor. The family has been the target of a home invasion
and the father, owner of a high-end jewelry store, has been driven to the store
to allow the attackers to clean the place out.
In the
meantime, someone is systematically sabotaging the McCarthy construction site
where the latest and most ambitious building complex is taking shape. The
saboteurs have been so determined that the work is months behind and the
McCarthy capital operating budget has evaporated under the heavy costs of replacing
damaged equipment. The banks are mumbling about foreclosure, the insurance
companies are backing out, and the McCarthys are scrambling for a fix while
searching for the culprit.
Robotham
skillfully juggles dual plot lines and multiple POVs. The child outside at
night is a good device to attract police to a crime scene. Brian McGilloway
used it effectively in Little
Girl Lost (Pan Macmillan, 2011). The underlying theme of motherhood and
family is thoughtful and perceptive. Phil’s husband wants to start a family
now, Phil wants to wait. Stepping in for Daisy’s absent parents gives Phil
something to think about, as does watching Daisy’s godmother who is given
temporary custody. The question of what actually makes a mother a mother is a
good one: does a woman have to give birth to be a mother? And, can you love
someone, even a close relative, when you heartily disagree with their life
choices?
Dramatic and
violent action with far-reaching implications for Phil and her father wrap up
the plot. I am looking forward to seeing how they play out in the next book,
which hopefully we will see soon.
Starred
reviews from Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly for
this fine story.
- Publisher: Scribner
- Publication date: July 1, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 368 pages
- ISBN-10: 1668031027
- ISBN-13: 978-1668031025
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4rumaLx
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.