Killing By Numbers by MS Morris

Killing By Numbers by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A work of art. A mysterious number. A secret worth killing for.

When reclusive artist, Gabriel Quinn, is gunned down outside a gallery on Oxford High Street, Detective Inspector Bridget Hart investigates the world of contemporary art, where paintings can change hands for millions in the auction room.

Bridget is convinced that the last words spoken by the artist – a mysterious code of 8 digits and a letter – are key to unravelling the mystery of his death.

But when her ex-husband, Ben, now a senior detective with the Metropolitan Police in London shows up with new information about the murdered man, Bridget’s personal and professional lives are brought crashing together with dramatic consequences.

After her success with leading her first murder investigation, DI Bridget Hart is enjoying a well-earned day off and looking forward to a date later that evening at the opera. Her relaxing day is toppled, however, when she’s called in on a new investigation. A young artist has been shot outside a gallery on Oxford High Street and it’s up to Bridget and her team to discover what’s going on.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was very pleased to find this second book just as enjoyable. A solid British Police procedural style of murder mystery set in Oxford I found the pace and plotting to be well written and enjoyable to follow along as it unfolded. I really enjoyed the various characters of the main team and found the few secondary characters in Bridget’s personal life to be equally well written and an excellent source to round out Bridget and her day-to-day life.

There’s a bit of understandable conflict between Bridget and her teenage daughter. While I admit I found it a little annoying that Chloe was the typical teenager I have to give kudos to the authors for the fact she is realistic and utterly relatable to anyone who knows young adults around that difficult age. This also added some conflict to the plot without dropping too far into the usual “love life is a disaster” arena which gets a lot of use in many series like this.

Readers looking for a slightly different (i.e. non-Met, non-London based) British mystery should find this a refreshing change of pace. I liked it and am eager for the next in the series.