When Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla joins Scotland Yard’s Serious Crime Division under Chief Detective Inspector David Brock, she is initiated into the rigors of the department by a brutal murder that leaves a young woman all but unrecognizable. This is the big league, investigations parceled out to various team members to effectively solve such crimes before the public reacts with panic.
Following a potential lead, Kathy finds that this one murder leads to another, a series of murders that have gone unsolved but now seem to have finally been connected by evidence, slim though it be. As in Maitland’s other DS Kolla and DCI Brock thrillers, Kolla steps in as a lead character, an intuitive detective with a talent for uncovering the obscure but important details of a case.
Maitland builds an interesting series of clues around a theater troupe, a number of young women linked by suspicious death and an eccentric named Mr. Gentle who watches all from the sidelines, easily concealed camera in hand. Drawn to the actors and a lifestyle that provides ample opportunity for murder, Kolla is distracted from her primary purpose by a married aunt who appears on her doorstep with no explanation and settles in for a long visit.
While Kathy’s aunt is a source of constant worry, she accidentally becomes another link to the theater people and the theme behind the murders. In the world of the theater, anything is possible, including Kathy becoming a line prompter and her elderly aunt a seamstress for the cast, privy to all the gossip and rumors. Invaluable, as Kathy will find.
Clever, savvy, and technologically sophisticated, the drama in All My Enemies builds as a director’s ego collides with his actors’ talents, a murderer lurking nearby with another victim in his sights. Thanks to the Serious Crimes Division’s newest detective, long-buried secrets are revealed and a murderer exposed.
From the greasepaint and excitement of an amateur theater group to the horribly mutilated murdered woman and the thoroughness of each phase of investigation at Scotland Yard, Maitland has created a compelling thriller with more than its share of kinky twists and surprises. One of a series of Kolla and Brock mysteries, this novel is well-plotted and entertaining, especially if a reader is looking for a series and familiar characters to follow from one adventure to another.