Dark Side

January 13, 2014
In Duffy’s uneven 18th Patrick Galliard and Ingrid Langley mystery (after 2012’s Stealth), the intrepid married couple, who work for England’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, search for an extremely violent criminal with a powerful organization. When Det. Chief Insp. James Carrick, a friend of theirs, is framed for murder, Patrick goes off the grid to find the ringleader. In his absence, Ingrid leaves their five children with the nanny and grandparents to pursue a few lines of inquiry herself, though, as a successful novelist, she tends to worry a lot about how she can’t focus on her writing. There are plenty of gruesome details and dead ends (literally and figuratively) as the story barrels along at a good clip. Thorough and convincing police procedural details help compensate for the thinly developed main characters.

October 5, 2009
Two cases—one engrossing, the other less so—figure in Duffy’s 13th mystery to feature Patrick Gillard and his wife, Ingrid Langley (after 2008’s Blood Substitute
). When Patrick’s latest undercover assignment for SOCA, the Serious Organized Crime Agency, results in the shooting deaths of criminal Andrea Pangborne, members of her gang and her innocent daughter, the former MI5 agent looks guilty of their murders. The problem is, he doesn’t recall what happened because he was drugged. Ingrid, though she’s recently given birth to their son, rushes to clear Patrick. Complicating matters is the “Case of the Man Who Tried to Take Over a Village and Ended up Dead,” involving a rectory being renovated for Patrick’s parents, but this serves mainly as filler. Of far more interest is the investigation into the Pangborne slayings, especially after Ingrid discovers a vital clue at the crime scene that others missed.

February 15, 2014
A married crime-fighting team does what it takes to clear a friend of murder charges. Former spook Patrick Gillard and his author wife, Ingrid Langley, both now work for the Serious Organised Crime Agency. While lunching with their boss, Michael Greenway, in a London cafe, it appears one of them may have been targeted for death in a drive-by shooting. Back home near Bath, they talk things over with their friend DCI James Carrick, who is worried and furious that Benny Cooper, a criminal James put away, is back on the streets. Cooper was instrumental in a vicious attack on James' wife, a former cop now at home with their baby; Cooper's partner in crime, Paul Mallory, is also back on the streets, and it is possible they are both involved with a clever group of gangsters who have pulled some major jobs and so far gotten away clean. When Cooper is found with his throat cut and Carrick is found unconscious and bloodied nearby, the officious DI David Campbell arrests Carrick for the murder. Although their boss wants them to stay on the case he is working, the duo are not about to desert a friend, and they do some dangerous snooping in a club reported to belong to the head gangster, who likes to be known as the Raptor. When Ingrid is attacked and nearly raped by some of his minions, she is afraid that Patrick, who has had to kill in the past, will go to the dark side and use any methods to track the gang down. An exciting combination of police procedural and thriller, Duffy again (Stealth, 2012, etc.) provides the daring duo with plenty of cerebral and physical challenges.

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March 1, 2014

Patrick and Ingrid, a married couple who are both former MI5, now help out the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA). Things are messed up again in Bath, and the couple's friend, DCI James Carrick, is set up to take the fall for a criminal's death. The victim, Benny Cooper, has been knifed to death and suspiciously, Carrick is found unconscious, near Benny's body. Carrick had taken on organized crime bosses in an earlier episode, and it looks like he's being targeted. Patrick and Ingrid move into action, Patrick working undercover, while Ingrid aliases more visibly with her female colleagues on the force. The big fish they all want is mobster Nick Hamsworth. VERDICT Despite a dramatic opening scene, the 17th entry in this spy series (after Stealth) suffers from a slow warm-up, as a multitude of characters need to be introduced before the resulting action makes any sense. Once it becomes clear which character needs support, then Gillard and Langley showcase their superspy routine well, exhibiting a bit of humor and palpable tension.

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