O’Brien, Martin – JACQUOT AND THE ANGEL

[LJ Roberts]

JACQUOT AND THE ANGEL (Police Proc-France-Cont) – Ex
O’Brien, Martin – 2nd in series
Headline, 2005- UK Hardcover

Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has a multiple murder on his hands. The four, five if you count an unborn child, members of the German Martner family living in Provence have been killed. Jacquot is to be assisted by a member of Munich Criminal Investigations as memories of WWII are long in France. But clues lead to the family’s gardener, confessed to be the baby’s father. Although the gardener is arrested, Jacquot doesn’t believe he is guilty. Neither does an attractive young woman who has come to take care of Martner’s valuable orchids and floral shop. More than a florist, Marie-Ange is a psychic who knows the gardener is innocent.

I loved this book. It is wonderfully written with interesting characters so well described they all become critical to the story. O’Brien takes several story threads and masterfully weaves them together with elements of pathos into a tapestry of clues, intrigue and the impact of the past on the present. His descriptions of Jacquot’s French country town made me want to pack my bag but are also a reminder that small towns around the world are virtually the same. O’Brien does a wonderful job connecting the present to the past. He has a masterfully subtle touch, particularly with the inclusion of the psychic. I anxiously await Jacquot’s next case.