The Malcontenta: A Kathy Lolla and David Brock Mystery
Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla and Detective Chief Inspector David Brock  of Scotland Yard, who first appeared in Barry Maitland's well-received American  debut,The Marx Sisters, are once again shepherding readers through the  pages of a deceptively simple, solidly plotted police procedural. This time,  though, the gritty rituals of inspection and evidence are, rather amusingly,  confined to a naturopathic spa where the elegant buildings and serene atmosphere  evoke the refined settings of Agatha Christie's country house mysteries. One  almost expects to catch Hercule Poirot bustling through the spa's Greek (in name  if not origin) temple. Unfortunately, bustling is not the activity of interest  at this particular temple; hanging, however, is.On temporary assignment away from London and bored to tears with the dully  quotidian tasks assigned to her, Kathy leaps at the chance to investigate the  apparent suicide of Alex Petrou, a physiotherapist at the Stanhope Clinic. But  when inconsistencies start piling up, Kathy finds herself with a wide circle of  suspects and motives: Was Petrou killed to protect the interests of certain  wealthy clients? Was the physiotherapist indulging in a spot of unhealthy  blackmail? What secrets might Dr. Stanley Beamish-Newell be hiding under his  melodic voice and lentil soufflés? Yanked unceremoniously--and suspiciously-- from the case before she can investigate further, Kathy asks Brock to help her.  When he infiltrates the spa (and what an amusing patient he is), Brock stumbles  into a morass of suspicion and deception and the consequences echo in some  unexpectedly familiar places.PerhapsThe Malcontenta's greatest achievement is what itdoesn'tdo. With a cast of characters drawn straight from a textbook on mystery plots  (the eager rookie cop, the avuncular chief inspector, the impressively  charismatic great man, the slick foreigner, the coolly clinical nurse, the  shyly ineffectual gardener, the cheerful Irish lass, etc., etc.), the novel  risks plunging into the depths of stultifying cliché. Instead, Maitland's deft  touch makes these familiar characters refreshing. Though the  professional chemistry between Brock and Kathy seems more muted than inThe  Marx Sisters, the reader is more than compensated by the care Maitland takes  in fleshing out the nuanced relationships between the detectives and the people  they investigate. Readers should be well content withThe Malcontenta.--Kelly Flynn