A woman’s body is discovered in a botanical garden with Roman coins in her eye sockets. The victim is identified as a Chinese student from a prominent family and the pressure is on for the police to catch the killer quickly…
Nighthawking is the second book to feature DS Adam Tyler. I recently reviewed the first book, Firewatching.
Tyler and Rabbani are supposed to be reviewing cold cases. But they are ordered to join a current case when Chi’s body is found. Rabbani discovers Chi’s identity and finds flaws in the original missing persons investigation. Now the whole team are urged to focus their efforts as the victim’s family prepares to arrive from China and demand results. Could the Roman coins be a vital clue and is there a link to the local metal detectorist group or does Chi’s family have their own secrets?
Adam Tyler still has big family issues going on with his missing brother who he is trying to find, and the mystery surrounding his father’s alleged suicide. He isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers among his superiors but is protected by the longstanding family friend who is the senior investigating officer Meanwhile, Mina Rabbani has been promoted to CID but is struggling to fit in as her superior officers go AWOL and she has to cover for them as well as investigate using her instincts.
This book had a different feel to the first book as we see less of the peripheral characters and the structure has also changed (not explicitly divided into days). Most of the book focuses on the police investigation but some sections show the nighthawkers (metal detectorists secretly searching for treasure). Once again the chapters are quite long and meticulously detailed and this slows down the pace of the plot. The ending has a shocking twist and I can’t wait for the next book to find out what happens next!
Nighthawking is an enjoyable police procedural and I liked the development of Tyler and Rabbani’s characters.
Book blurb
When a nighthawker on the hunt for antiquities instead uncovers the body of a foreign student, Detective Adam Tyler is pulled into a serpentine mystery of dangerous secrets, precious finds, and illegal dealings.
You are a trespasser. You are a thief. You are a Nighthawker.
Under the dark cover of night, a figure climbs over the wall of the Botanical Garden with a bag and a metal detector. It’s a dicey location in the populous city center, but they’re on the hunt–and while most of what they find will be worthless, it takes only one big reward to justify the risk. Only this time, the nighthawker unearths a body. . . .
Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler and his newly promoted protege, Detective Constable Amina Rabbani, are officially in charge of Cold Case Reviews. But with shrinking budgets and manpower in the department, both are shunted onto the murder investigation–and when the victim is identified as a Chinese national from a wealthy family, in the UK on a student visa, the case takes on new urgency to prevent an international incident.
As Tyler and Rabbani dig further into the victim’s life, it’s becomes clear there’s more to her studies and relationships than meets the eye, and that the original investigation into her disappearance was shoddy at best. Meanwhile, someone else is watching these events . . . someone who knew the victim, and might hold the key to what happened the night she vanished.
