Duplicity

Duplicity by Shawn Wilson
10/18/22; 256 pages
Oceanview Publishing
Brian (Brick) Kavanagh #2

Duplicity by Shawn Wilson is a recommended investigative novel.

Retired homicide detective Brian (Brick) Kavanagh is returning home to Washington, D.C. after spending three months in Ireland recovering from the trauma of his last case. It is good to be home among friends and, even better, he and Nora, an Aer Lingus flight attendant, are planning to continue seeing each other when she is in the USA.

When a job opening at a local university presents itself, Brick isn't especially interested at first. The job would be training criminology students on techniques in solving cold cases, but the case does intrigue him. Professor Grace Alexander has chosen the hit-and-run death of a grad student where the prime suspect has diplomatic immunity and the case file is interesting. Brick proceeds on to Chicago to spend a weekend with Nora, when he receives distressing news. Jasmine, the wife of his former partner and friend, Rob, and their infant twins have disappeared, and possibly were kidnapped. Brick rushes back to support Rob and assist in any way to finding his wife and children.

This follows the first Brick Kavanagh novel Relentless, although you can read Duplicity without having read the first novel. Duplicity is a very comfortable procedural to read. The chapters are short which keeps the narrative highly focused on the two cases presented as the plot moves along at an even pace. Both cases are resolved at the end of the novel.

As mentioned, this is a very comfortable novel to read. Brick treats women with respect, which is appreciated, but he's also kind of a bland character. The opening chapter set in Ireland was interesting, but it didn't add anything to the rest of the story, beyond adding Nora as a character. All of this could have been covered in a few paragraphs. There are a lot of descriptions of what people are eating or drinking, which was different in an investigative novel. There was also a bit too much telling of the story versus showing the story.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Oceanview Publishing.