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Rating: 
Summary: So-so
Review: A pedophile stalker has sent a package to actress Stella Pinero containing letters and porn photos of children he had abused. Her husband is Chief Commander John Coffin who is already investigating a series of brutal murders that are scattered across London. John even knew one of the victims. It quickly becomes obvious the two cases are linked. Coffin asks DCI Phoebe Astley to help. Then Stella is kidnapped and the bodies are stacking up. *** A pretty good mystery here, but way too obvious. The reader will easily figure it out early in the book. However, watching Coffin and Astley do their job was fun to watch. ***
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly disappointing
Review: Having read so many of Gwendoline Butler's 'John Coffin' series, I was eagerly anticipating a great read. Unfortunately, the book does not deliver. Gratuitous grisly imagery, and a great deal of self-absorped (and questionable) sentimentality on the part of Coffin - used to poor effect because the resulting text never makes you connect with the characters in this mystery. Not a recommended read for those who have not been introduced to Coffin's appealing detection in other works by Butler.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite up to snuff
Review: Police chief John Coffin is obsessed with his wife, Stella, but that doesn't mean that his fears for her are unfounded. When a serial killer starts his work, Coffin notices that the victims all seem to have a tie to his wife. When nasty pictures and body parts show up addressed to his wife, Coffin sets his Second City London police force into action. That action, unfortunately, seems mostly to be going to meetings where they report that nothing has happened, but nothing eliminates Coffin's certainty that Stella is at the center of the crisis. Author Gwendoline Butler uses a completely English vocabulary. American readers like myself can almost hear the English accent and phrasing coming through. Frequent head-hopping sometimes makes the story hard to follow. Given the level of introspection in the many point-of-view characters, it is surprisingly difficult to summon up much sympathy for any of the characters--criminal or police. While it is occasionally tempting to agree with the mysterious killer that the self-obsessed Stella could be done without, casual serial killing is certainly not the answer. The cure is almost certainly in Butler's delete key. For me, an exciting police procedural should have at least some of the following elements: (1) clever police work; (2) a plan of attack on the part of the police; (3) potential suspects (red herrings); (4) some sort of relationship amongst the members of the police; (5) sympathetic characters; (6) realistic details that show research into actual police procedure; (7) clever or witty dialogue; (8) a well motivated criminal. I think the minimum number of these elements should be about two. COFFIN KNOWS THE ANSWER doesn't quite reach that milestone.
Rating: 
Summary: A poor excuse for a book
Review: This is the first time I've given a two-star rating to a book because I usually check books more carefully before I read them. I don't know what I was thinking because I read a couple of Coffin books before and decided never again. Nothing has improved since then. This woman can't even write consistent intelligent sentences; I kept having to go back to see how the current sentence related to the sentences before. Poor copy editing didn't help either. The characters were flat and I swear there were more cops than suspects. The plot was weak and the denoument - well I guess the writer just got bored and stopped. Give thanks for small mercies.
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