Dressed to Kill

July 15, 2013
Set in 1963, Hall’s third Kate O’Donnell mystery (after 2012’s Death Trap) does a good job, despite some clumsy prose, of depicting Britain during a time of rapid, bewildering change. When the naked body of underage prostitute Jenny Maitland turns up behind the Jazz Cellar, a club in London’s seedy Soho district, Kate’s policeman friend, Det. Sgt. Harry Barnard, investigates. Harry’s superior, Det. Chief Insp. Keith Jackson, is more interested in trying to shut down the Jazz Cellar, which he’s sure is a hotbed of “drugs and vice and perversion,” than in finding Jenny’s killer. Meanwhile, photographer Kate, who works at the same agency where Jenny was a modeling hopeful, is drawn into the unsavory fashion world, where naïve young women can easily fall prey to manipulative predators. Though the reactionaries are doomed to eventual failure, they wield considerable short-term power. Justice in such a system, as Kate and Harry discover, can be cruel and inconsistent.

August 15, 2013
A temporary assignment with a fashion photographer sets Kate O'Donnell on the cutting edge of murder. Ken Fellows, proprietor of Ken Fellows Photography, finally trusts Kate's skills enough to send her for a month to Andrei Lubin's studio, ostensibly to learn to take the edgy fashion shots that are all the rage in London. But Kate soon questions the value of this tutelage. Lubin seems more at home photographing debutantes in twin sets than the miniskirted models dominating the current fashion press. And Lubin's partner, Ricky Smart, is way too interested in Kate's physical assets. Kate thinks she'd be better off working with Andrei's cousin Tatiana, an aspiring designer who worships at the font of Courreges and Mary Quant. Ken wants Kate to hang in at Lubin's, which she does, even after model Sylvia Hubbard confides that she's pregnant by either Andrei or Ricky--who keeps track of partners in the Swinging '60s?--and that Lubin will fire her if he finds out. Sylvia's sad tale leads Kate to a string of young girls, all recruited out of high schools in the East End, who work as models for a few months, then are quickly discarded. Predictably, they find work "on the game." DS Harry Barnard, Kate's sometime boyfriend, is interested in these girls, too, especially after the body of one of the young prostitutes, Jenny Maitland, turns up in an alley outside The Jazz Cellar. Harry and Kate work, not quite together but not at cross-purposes, to find out who's running these girls and, more importantly, who's killing them. Telling Harry's and Kate's stories in parallel costs Hall's third some of the punch that her two earlier entries (Death Trap, 2012, etc.) packed.

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September 1, 2013

Finding who killed and dumped Jenny, a pregnant teen, behind a London jazz club is DS Harry Barnard's top priority. Jenny's death, unfortunately, touches upon photographer Kate O'Donnell, who is working a professional stint with the studio where the victim used to model. Now Kate's worried about another young model, Sylvia, who has gotten pregnant. When a botched abortion kills Sylvia, Kate and Harry blame sleazy Ricky Smart, who has a toehold in both the studio and the jazz club. Mix in a mobster boss, an up-and-coming fashion designer, and a cash-strapped lord, and the police have their hands full. London in 1963 struggles with its post-World War II identity, with the privileged class loath to forsake old ways. Things get brutal fast. VERDICT Hall's third series entry (after Death Trap) might be gritty and bleak, but her thought-provoking story ensures that our admiration for the gutsy Liverpudlian Kate continues to grow. Hall does a fine job of creating a groundbreaking protagonist whose fearlessness coupled with her talent forges a path for future female professionals.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013
It's the Swinging Sixties, and young Liverpudlian Kate O'Donnell has come to London to make her fortune as a commercial photographer. She's fortunate to find a job with fashion photographer Andrei Lubin but notes both that Lubin's model subjects are shockingly young and that the turnover rate is high. After one of the models is found behind a jazz club with her throat slit, Kate realizes there is an unsavory side to fashion photography. Enter Kate's friend, Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard, who is determined to find out what happened to the dead girl. Almost against her will, Kate finds herself drawn into the case. There are plenty of suspects, including Lubin's smarmy partner, Ricky Smart, and several high-powered local pimps. A likable heroine, an unusual plot, and plenty of unexpected twists make for an intriguing read, but be forewarned that the content is very graphic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)