Lynda LaPlante: Taste of Blood

DI Jane Tennison is starting at a new station in Bromley. It’s small but closer to the home she and her fiancé have renovated.

A banal neighbour dispute is her first case. With one man in the hospital from an altercation, it’s unknown if he will recover.

Tennison proceeds as she always has with a case – thoroughly. It causes some push back from DCI Hutton, who declares it nothing more than a unneighbourly situation.

And yet it doesn’t add up. The amount of vitriol over the impending installation of gates to a house is puzzling.

Meantime, Tennison is irritable. The prospects in a small station chafe her, her fiancé tracking dirt through the house annoys her, and this damn case is the most abrading of all. Throw in a medium who is helping a woman whose son is missing and you have a stew of a different sort.

There’s a good chance you are familiar with Lynda LaPlante’s work. Along with the Jane Tennison books, she created the TV series Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren as Tennison.

Taste of Blood is a well crafted story that has you feeling all of Tennison’s frustration and uncertainty. Watching her pull at small threads as her investigation takes paths others shake their heads at is a revelation. Well recommended read.

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7 responses to “Lynda LaPlante: Taste of Blood”

  1. Silver Screenings Avatar

    Ooh – didn’t realize Helen Mirren was in this kind of a TV series. Will find out if its streaming anywhere.

    1. June Lorraine Roberts Avatar

      Yes, she’s excellent in it – of course 🙂

  2. Ani - The Misstery Avatar

    Love Jane Tennison, need to cach up with the series!

  3. Sheila Morris Avatar

    I am a Tennison fan so I feel I would love this one!
    Thanks for the review!!

    1. June Lorraine Roberts Avatar

      Me too Sheila!

  4. Margot Kinberg Avatar

    I do like LaPlante’s work, June. She has an effective way of building tension in a story, and her characters ring true. And of course, Helen Mirren is memorable as Jane Tennison.

    1. Laurie Graves Avatar

      I like how everyday events and irritations are woven into the story.

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