Book info

• Title For Richer, For Poorer
• Author Kerry Wilkinson
• Year 2016
• Genre Crime

In Kerry Wilkinson's For Richer, For Poorer three houses have been burgled in five weeks. The robbers barge in through the back, disable any way to contact the outside world, and then ransack everything – before distributing the stolen cash to local charities. It might be robbing from the rich to give to the poor – but Detective Inspector Jessica Daniel is not happy. The new DCI has a whiteboard with far too many crimes on the 'unsolved' side and he wants the burglars found. Doesn't he know Jessica has enough on her plate? There's a lottery winner who's gone bankrupt; the homeless teenager she's taken in; a botched drugs raid; a trip to London with DC Archie Davey – and a man-mountain Serbian with a missing wife who's been pimping out young women. All the while, someone's watching from the wings and waiting for Jessica to mess up. Officers are being pensioned off and booted out – with a certain DI Daniel firmly in their sights.

Thoughts

I very quickly read through this after hopping back on the Jessica Daniel bandwagon. It didn’t pick up immediately after the cliffhanger of the previous book - some time has passed and our characters are still dealing with the fallout of the situation. This book continues the recent tradition of Jessica trying to understand her role as a more hands-off detective, rather than kicking down doors, but also layers in an element of whether she even wants to stay in the profession. Add to that a couple of interlinked crimes to solve and an ill-advised fling with a colleague, and you’ve got a great read.

Rating: 4 / 5