Lead review

• Book: Opera
• Location: London, Westminster
• Author: Julie Anderson

Review Author: Tina Hartas

It’s nice to meet up once again with Cassie Fortune, a brave, sensible and determined woman who cleaves her way through the messy business of politics and adventure in London.

She is due out of town to meet her ex boss, Dame Angela Kayser, at her home in Battle, but upon arrival, she discovers Angela’s body, slain by her own talwar (a curved sword/sabre), removed from its ornamental position on the wall. Angela has also lost her right hand, and rather than a simple burglary gone wrong, Cassie knows that this is a much bigger deal than the junior police officer, assigned to investigate the forced entry, originally surmises. But then PC Johns is not aware that the two women know each other from their days at GCHQ (Government Communication Headquarters).

Cassie is also due to escort some high ranking Greek politicians to various functions, including characters to whom were introduced in Oracle, which is set on Delphi. One of their outings is to Covent Garden and the opera (they stage Tosca, if you want to know). It is up to Cassie to juggle all kinds plates and follow the threads of her discoveries, as she once again battles to keep the good people safe.

To add to the escalating situation, she begins to believe that a nemesis from her past is back in her life. There are nods to plots in the two previous books – Plague and Oracle – but this novel can be read as a stand alone. Tension is kept taut, condensed into a few short days before Christmas.

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