Thriller sparkles, PI tale falls flat

The Verge Practice
By Barry Maitland. Allen and Unwin.
313pp. $29.95.
Reviewer: LS Rachel Irving

The Verge Practice is a dynamic and successful London architecture firm until Miki Norinaga is found dead in her bed, stabbed through the heart, and her husband, Charles Verge is missing. Has he been murdered, too, or is he on the run?

Four months after Miki’s death, with no arrest and the trail cold, the Government wants the issue resolved, particularly before the unveiling of Verge’s last creation, the Marchdale Prison.

And so Detective Chief Inspector David Brock and Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla take on the case. With an anxious mother, pregnant daughter, and an apparent suicide from a senior partner in the practice, there are more questions than answers.

A public sighting of Charles Verge by tourists in Barcelona warrants the attention of Brock and Kolla, and it is in Spain the two believe they will find their answers. Nobody is who they seem in this thriller from Maitland. There are many twists and turns and the end is so out of left field you won’t see it coming.

Tight and concentrated, almost everything the author throws at you has relevance. There are clues galore but every time you think you have it figured out Maitland turns the book on its head.

The Verge Practice is number seven in the DSI Brock and DS Kolla series and it won’t disappoint – though set aside a weekend on the sun lounge because this little gem is hard to put down.

Spy Girl
By Amy Gray. Random House Australia.
271pp. $22.95.
Reviewer: LS Rachel Irving

After reading the back cover of this book, where it mentions Nancy Drew, Agent 99 from Get Smart, Velma from Scooby Doo and Charlie’s Angels, I was hooked. This is the story of a New York girl who gives up her job as an editorial assistant to become a private investigator in a seedy office.

The book is potentially a best seller and yet delivers so little. There is no real plot but a series of anecdotes set against the background of Amy Gray’s life as a PI.

I guess I expected the book to be full of life on the cases – after all, the author claims the names, situations and incidents have been changed to protect those involved.

As it turns out, the story is about Gray breaking up with her boyfriend and other romantic and work-related misadventures. Spy Girl is a light-hearted look at life in the Big Apple but if you want a good PI story, head for the Nancy Drew books at the local library or rent yourself some Get Smart re-runs.