In the early hours of the morning DI Mark Tartaglia is sent to a London hotel to investigate the murder of a young woman. When he recognises the victim, the case takes a dark and personal turn.
Another case he has been investigating—the body of a homeless man found in a burnt out car—is also not what it seems. Tests reveal that the body has been assembled from the parts of four different people.
Tartaglia now has a far more macabre puzzle to solve. With the clock ticking, and torn between the two investigations, he must decide where his priorities lie.
Jigsaw Man is the gripping new Mark Tartaglia thriller from the Elena Forbes, author of Evil in Return.
a compelling read
Jigsaw Man is the fourth novel in the Mark Tartaglia series by British author, Elena Forbes. After a drunken one-night-stand at a boutique London hotel, DI Mark Tartaglia is called back to the same hotel just hours later on a murder inquiry. A young woman has been brutally strangled. Adding a complication to the case, Mark recognises the victim. But before he can do much investigating, his boss forces him to shift his focus to another case: a body in a burnt-out car, bizarrely not one corpse, but parts of four different people.
Elena Forbes has crafted a brilliant novel. Her plot is original, her characters are multi-faceted and her attention to detail is impressive. Her description of police work, scouring for tiny details that eventually fall into place to form a lead, gives the book a truly authentic feel. Forbes throws in a few red herrings that will have the reader wondering about motive and opportunity and whether the cases are related. This fast-paced thriller charges to a gripping climax (or two) that will have the reader’s pulse racing.
While this is the fourth book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone, although the mention of a previous case may be a spoiler for readers who decide to read earlier books in the series. And many will do so, as this is such a compelling read. Recommended.
Marianne, 03/01/2015
