D.S. Jack Warr – 36 years old, recently moved to the London Metropolitan Police from Devon. He moved so that his partner Maggie could pursue her career goals as a physician.  Jack himself has little ambition, though he is loaded with potential.  A recent case has come at the same time as he receives news that his adoptive father is terminally ill. The two events are connected in that the case has tenuous links to Jack’s birthfather.DCI Simon Ridley who is head of a Divisional Serious Crime Team favours Jack Warr for promotion, though Jack does little to further his own chances. The rest of the team include DS Laura Wade who has a huge crush on Jack, and DC Anik Joshi who is also in the running for promotion.

I’ve been familiar with the work of Lynda La Plante for quite some time. She has brought me many happy hours both with her novels and her television crime dramas.  When I saw she had begun a new crime series I jumped at the chance to read it.

The protagonists in “Buried” were quite engaging and I enjoyed reading of their personal back stories. I especially liked how Jack transitioned from being apathetic about his job to his burgeoning enthusiasm. The descriptions were vivid and the pacing ‘spot-on’.

The crime itself I found quite convoluted and difficult to follow due to a plethora of secondary characters. How the author managed to keep the various threads of the story-line straight I cannot imagine. The story encompassed four major crimes spanning four decades.

Despite my waning interest in the crime investigation itself, my interest was held by the engaging characters of the protagonists. I do plan to pursue this series to see if their next case is less complicated and to see how the characters develop.

Recommended to those who enjoy complex, labyrinthine police procedural novels.

I have rated this novel with 3.5 stars which I rounded up for NetGalley and Amazon and rounded down for Goodreads (where the stars mean different things)

This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Bonnier Zaffre USA via  NetGalley.

Publication date: April 7, 2020   Publishers: Bonnier Zaffre USA

ISBN: 9781499862430    ASIN: B07WSF77RD    352 pages

Born and raised in Liverpool, England, La Plante trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where her fellow students included Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt and Ian McShane.

The award-winning author of numerous crime novels and the screenwriter of such famous television dramas such as “Prime Suspect”, La Plante is internationally famous.