Mark of the Devil by Tana Collins
The Blurb
While Inspector Jim Carruthers and team are busy investigating a series of art thefts they receive an anonymous tip about the body of a young woman on a deserted beach. The bizarre clues to her identity, and what might have happened to her, include a strange tattoo, a set of binoculars and slab of meat left on the cliffs. The team’s investigations lead them to a local shooting estate and its wealthy owner Barry Cuthbert. However, Carruthers suspects Cuthbert is not all he seems and the DI soon starts to wonder if the cases of the missing works of art, the dead woman and the estate are connected. Then when the body of a young gamekeeper is pulled from the sea tensions boil over. The trail of clues lead the team to the unlikely locale of Tallinn and into the sinister world of international crime and police corruption. Needing answers Carruthers must look further afield than Fife. However, the closer he gets to discovering the truth the more danger he finds himself in. Since everyone who crosses the vengeful killers seem to end up dead, can Carruthers solve the case with his life in tact?
About Tana Collins
Tana Collins is a Yorkshire born crime writer who was brought up in rural East Sussex.
She did a Social Science Degree at the Polytechnic of North London in the mid 80s where she wrote her final year dissertation on the right to free speech before studying for an MA in Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario and an MPhil at St Andrews.
It was Peter Robinson’s DCI Banks series that got her obsessively reading crime fiction and seeing an exhibition on the life of Ian Fleming that strangely motivated her to start writing all things crime. A few days later she woke up in the middle of the night with a title, within a couple of hours she had an opening scene, by breakfast a setting and by lunch time a lead detective. ‘Robbing The Dead’ was born and ten arduous years later finally completed. ‘Care to Die’ was written as the follow up and ‘Mark of the Devil’ as the third in the Inspector Carruthers series.
For the last 20 years Tana has been living in Scotland working as a Massage Therapist and more recently as a Stress Management Consultant. Her novels are all set in the East Neuk of Fife which is an area of Scotland close to her heart.
My Review
This is the third book in the Inspector Jim Carruthers series. but thte first for me. However, it was easy for me to get to know his character and also his sergeant Andie Fletcher. Caruthers is investigating art thefts in his area, when a body is discovered appearing to have fallen off a cliff. Was it suicide or murder? There seems to be a link between the dead woman, organised crime from Eastern Europe, people trafficking, sex workers, and mysterious disappearance or killing of anybody who comes too close to the truth. It had everything for me, and I've already bought books one and two, because I am hooked into the characters.
