The Red Dahlia

Tiene todo lo que una buena Novela negra debe tener, un asesinato espantoso, un asesino frío, inteligente y muy enfermo, una extraordinaria investigación policíaca, unas muy buenas escenas de medicina forense, unos policías que se enfrentan a sus propios demonios y conflictos en medio de una dura investigación policial.

Me encanta como escriben los ingleses, realmente tienen un estilo narrativo muy de ellos, de esos que fluyen y que a pesar de lo negro del caso en ningún momento toca lo escabroso como podríamos encontrar con los norteamericanos o incluso los nórdicos. Esta escritora, a la que yo nunca había leído me ha encantado, una pena que no se encuentren muchos libros de ella en español, tendré que ver si los encuentro show more al menos en inglés.

Sus personajes son geniales, todos ellos, los buenos, los malos y los otros, el final de la historia me ha parecido tan bien construido, pocos libros me dejan ese buen sabor de boca con respecto a los finales.

Realmente lo recomiendo mucho show less

The Red Dahlia is second in a series to feature DI Anna Travis, behind Above Suspicion, which I own but haven't yet read, although I don't think I missed anything. This was an outstanding mystery novel...perfect pace, building suspense throughout, characters that seemed real, and a story that kept me reading until I finished the book.

While out delivering the last of his newspapers, a young boy makes a gruesome discovery. The police arrive and discover the body of a young woman, severed in half, bloodless, and with grotesque cuts on either side of her mouth. One of the local newspapers gets an anonymous letter that relates the case to the old unsolved case of the Black Dahlia in Los Angeles, and Anna Travis and her team realize that they show more have their work cut out for them. Anna's gov, Morgan, is hospitalized, and DCI James Langton, with whom Anna had worked before and with whom she had some history, takes the lead in investigating the case. A profiler brought in to help realizes that the killer is going to strike again if the police do not find him, but the police have their hands full just trying to find out about the victim.

The novel is absolutely a mystery lover's novel. The first half of the book involves the team getting up to speed with the Black Dahlia case and trying to find out as much as they can about the victim, while the second half is all about locating the killer after an anonymous caller reluctantly leaves information about the murder. The mystery is very tightly plotted and the writing is excellent. LaPlante's characterizations are very well drawn, never being dragged down to the level of cardboard cutouts, the action never stops and the payoff is worth the 400+ pages of reading. I can most highly recommend this book -- it is probably one of my favorite mystery reads in a while. show less

The second entry in her Anna Travis series, The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante has the young detective once again working for James Langton as they track a particular nasty killer. This killer is imitating the 1940’s murder that became known as the Black Dahlia case.

As the police slowly start developing their case, Anna finds that her feelings toward her supervisor are again coming to the surface and she struggles to hide her feelings. This author excels in the police procedural part of the book, and this was an edge of your seat read. I appreciated that the relationship part of the story was very low keyed, and most of the attention was on the solving of the murders. The actual break in the case felt very realistic, and once they had show more a suspect, the book then delved into the life and mindset of this truly evil person as the team painstaking worked to gather evidence and build a case.

My only quibble with The Red Dahlia is that although the author produces realistic and well-shaded women characters, I find the men characters a little less realistic. I do plan on continuing on with this series however as they are well able to hold my attention but would add that the book does contain some very gruesome scenes. show less

Usually when I finish reading a Crime Thriller the last thing I want to do is read another Crime book. It's not like I don't enjoy the genre, in fact if anything it is amongst my favourite genres, it is more about how draining they usually are. Nothing is more draining than hunting down a serial killer.

Surprisingly Lynda La Plante hasn't left me feeling drained. In fact I felt inspired to read another Crime genre novel. I think that says a lot about how skilled La Plante is as an crime writer. Red Dahlia was an interesting an involving story, without resorting to some of those annoying cliches (refreshing not to have the main character heading up the investigation). It was also realistic without becoming annoyingly mundane with needless show more exposition.

The only thing that stops me rating this book higher is that I'd already figured out the conclusion long before the end. While this isn't unusual for me, it is nice to not be wanting to grab the characters and point out the clues and their obvious conclusion. show less

Lynda La Plante can be quite uneven. Her [b:Sleeping Cruelty|1541958|Sleeping Cruelty|Lynda La Plante|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184948586s/1541958.jpg|1534173] strained credulity; [b:Bella Mafia|1188998|Bella Mafia|Lynda La Plante|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181757090s/1188998.jpg|1176997] was unfinishable. Her forte, I believe is her police procedural series Trial and Retribution and the Anne Travis series, of which Red Dahlia is one, are much better. Her view of the British upper crust is not pleasant. They are cruel, insensitive, brutal, and perverted. It would be interesting to know if this attitude stems from personal experience. Note there is a connection to Ellroy's [b:The Black Dahlia|21704|The Black Dahlia|James show more Ellroy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167323078s/21704.jpg|434] - an excellent book, btw. The killer is emulating the unsolved Black Dahlia murder although I don't think La Plante ties them together particularly well. show less

THE RED DAHLIA by Lynda La Plante is Book 2 of the Anna Travis Mysteries.
Anna is a very worthy successor to La Plante’s Jane Tennison series. I like the character.
The famous (unsolved) California Black Dahlia murder is replicated in London. DI Anna Travis and (the very unlikeable) DCI James Langton work together to try and solve this extremely gruesome and revolting murder case.
The characters are very real. I like the plot and the tension it creates. I like the police investigation and I even like the rather bizarre ending.
An excellent crime drama.

A killer in London is imitating the famous Blue Dahlia case of Los Angeles in the 1940s. DI Anna Travis is assigned to the case. The lead investigator is replaced by her lover from the previous (and first) book of the series: James Langton. The plot hangs together nicely, the romantic element is not necessary, but is a nice touch. It's not Prime Suspect, Anna is not nearly as compelling as Jane Tennison, but it'll do.