DUSTY DEATH, by J. M. Gregson

9/series starring Chief Inspector Peach and his efficient sidekick, Detective Sergeant Lucy Blake. As always, humor abounds, making this a fun as well as absorbing read. Peach's conversations with his idiot boss are priceless. In this story, a wrecker's ball demolishing an area of abandoned houses reveals the dessicated corpse of a woman. As Peach and Blake investigate, they soon learn the victim;s identity and that she lived with five other people in the building after it was abandoned and turned into a squat. Tracking the five down offers Peach and Blake a myriad of possible murderers: click below for more, but no spoilers...
a not-really-reformed prostitute, a rising musical virtuoso, a drug dealer with a fondness for violence, a soccer player, and a hard-sell real estate agent. The years between the murder and their present lives fade away as Peach relentlessly pursues the truth, in face of his incompetent but telegenic supervisor, Tommy Bloody Tucker. If for no other reason, reading the passages where Peach sends up Tucker are worth your time. (And the romance between Peach and Blake makes me really want to meet the author!) The series really ought to be read in order. It's a 4, and the sex is suitably subtle so I'll give it a 1.5 even though Peach gives it his best shot(s).

The author has declined to have a website. Nice to see a committed luddite once in a while.
But you can find lots more book reviews at www.nuts4books.com