Timelines

Cover of Above Suspicion (Anna Travis Mysteries)

I was given a deal from my bookseller that if I bought the new Lynda La Plante book,’Backlash‘ they would give me one of her older books free, ‘Above Suspicion‘.

They both have the same main characters in them, and I was surprised and disappointed to see that the author had muddled up parts of the character’s lives.

Detective Anna Travis is in all 7 of the books so far in this series. ‘Above Suspicion’ is the first book. Anna sleeps with her boss DCI Langton and then they both decide that because they have to continue working together it is a mistake ,so they decide to remain friends. Yet in the last book,’Backlash‘ it says that they were living together in an earlier book. They had broken up, and he had since married his second wife Laura.

In the first book it says his wife is Nina, and he adopted her daughter Kitty. Yet in the last book it says it’s his second wife Laura who has a daughter called Kitty. Very confusing really and sort of spoils the book because you keep looking for other mistakes.

Don’t get me wrong La Plante is a brilliant writer and I enjoy her books but when you have all the resources she has at her disposal, it seems that you should be able to keep the characters storyline in sync.

I also found that the plot lines were similar. Travis and Langton save the day by capturing serial killers in both books.