The Chalon Heads is the fourth installment of the series featuring DCI Brock and his partner, Kathy Kolla. As the book opens, Brock and Kolla are called to speak with Sammy Starling, a career criminal who some years earlier had been arrested, but turned the tables on the police force by handing them some dirty policemen. Now Starling wants Brock's help because his wife, Eva (much younger than Starling) has, it seems, been abducted, and the kidnappers want Sammy to buy a very valuable Chalon Head stamp at an upcoming auction, rather than money, as the price of Eva's return. Brock & his fellow officers agree to help, but something goes terribly wrong in the process, leading to Brock's ouster from the case. It will be up to Kolla to take the lead in the investigation, but too many people are keeping secrets that they do not wish to reveal, making her job a most difficult one. Add to that a number of suspects, all with axes to grind -- and you have a mystery novel that will keep you reading.

As a police procedural, it's good, but the further into the investigation the principals get, the more complicated the story becomes, making it a bit difficult at times to keep up. The overall story is well done, and there's a solid mystery here with an ending that I didn't see coming.

I would certainly recommend this novel to readers of British mysteries and police procedurals. If you're a cozy reader, this might be a bit dark but at the same time, it's not as gritty as more hard-core police procedurals I've read, falling somewhere nicely in the middle.

Overall -- not bad, and it's on to the next Kolla and Brock mystery novel. ( )

Very good, fast paced crime story. Another enjoyable book in the series. ( )