Two more library books, A Necessary End is the third book in the Inspector Banks series.  This books begins with an anti-nuke pro-environment rally and ends with a dead copper.  Banks is left to solve the case, with too many suspects and yet no witnesses, and hampered by a dirty dealing Inspector brought in from the outside.  Banks has a history with Burgess and describes him as “..name anyone and Burgess is to the right of them”.

Really good snapshot of the Thatcher era with its  anti-nuke fears in the public,  anti-American air base protests, strikes,  and the beginning of privatization of public services.  Banks is a put in a position of separating his own politics and feelings from his job as he investigates the death of the police officer.  Banks is conflicted on another front as well, his wife is away and Jenny, a woman he had a small crush on in a previous book, is on the periphery of this case.  In the end, the case is all tied up neatly.   A good mystery that was also a picture of a point in time that I remember well as pictures in the newspaper and headlines.

The Blood Spilt is the second Rebecka Martinsson novel.  I read and enjoyed the first one and this picks up where that left off.  Rebecka has been profoundly affected by the events in book 1, to the point she is not really functioning.   She returns with a colleague, to the area of her hometown and gradually gets immersed in a case involving the murder of a female priest, who had a lot of enemies as well as worshippers.  The development of all the key characters in the story are well done and as a reader you can truly see how it all unfolded, leading to tragic ends.

An atmospheric read, with a measured pace, and great character development make for a very good mystery read.