Death Trap
The second in Hill’s new series (after Dead Beat, 2011), follows the adventures of Kate O’Donnell, the gel from Liverpool with the scouse accent, a photographer in 1960s London.
When a Notting Hill landlord starts ousting lodgers, including his elderly mother, Cicely, sending Kate looking for a new flat, she witnesses the arrest of a Jamaican man accused of murder. She tries to get the family help but runs into a wall of prejudice. Then she finds Cicely dead.
Kate’s taking photos and asking questions about both deaths, aided by Harry, a policeman she’s seeing. But Harry has shady friends – in bed and in business – and he’s on the take. Is he the man to come to Kate’s rescue when needed?
Meanwhile, the Beatles are coming to town. Kate is assigned to cover the Palladium..
Beneath the music and the lingo of swinging London was an underside of drugs and racism. Hall gets that right as usual. Death Trap has a feisty heroine, a fast-moving plot, and an authentic setting that Sixties fans will enjoy.
