Emma Moon went to prison for sixteen years. She arrested at the scene of an armed robbery that left two men dead, but she never spoke out about the men who were also involved. Men who have since grown rich and successful on the proceeds. Despite them cutting her off completely, Emma kept her silence.

But now Emma Moon is out of prison and has very little time left. When the body of one member of the gang is found, seemingly scared to death, it would seem that Emma’s revenge has begun – but the only person who suspects foul play is the same policeman who arrested her eighteen years ago. And therefore there is every possibility that Max Wolfe is also on her hitlist…

Not entirely sure why I nabbed this from NetGalley as I’ve not read the other Max Wolfe books before and my only experience of Tony Parsons’ work was a psychological thriller that just didn’t work for me as it was a psychological thriller that was, to be honest, not really in my genre. But this seemed to be more my sort of thing, so I thought I’d give it a go. And I’m glad I did.

It’s a decent police procedural but it is far more than that. Parsons does a great job of bring Wolfe and his daughter to life, making the reader care about their tribulations, without ever feeling as if it’s getting in the way of the story.

Actually, that should be stories as there’s a second plot that’s not mentioned in the blurb, namely the death of a homeless girl who Wolfe had been helping and the ties to corrupt police officers. That’s one strand that I thought was a tad depressing – it does seem that the majority of police officers in this version of London are corrupt, untrustworthy and sexual predators. I’ll admit, I have little experience with the Metropolitan Police and I hope it stays that way, but I wouldn’t recommend this book to their PR department. And I really hope it’s not true.

The story of Emma Moon, and her cult of celebrity, is very well done – another character who you really feel for, and it comes to a very effective conclusion. The plotter in me thinks that the murder method working every time does show some real luck on behalf of the killer and I did think that one character’s role does pivot a bit to make the finale work, but when this only occurs to you in hindsight, I think that means the author got away with it.

While this is, as I said, part of a series, it’s perfectly readable as a standalone – that’s how I read it – and it’s a great way to kick off the New Year. 1 down, 119 to go…

Murder For Busy People is out today in hardback and ebook. Many thanks to Random House for the review e-copy via NetGalley.