A Country of Old Men

Better than the previous books, but a swan song for Dave and Hansen.

This one is a hard one to judge because the last page colors the experience of the rest of the story you've just finished reading in a way that makes the book much more sad in hindsight. Before that, the mystery is interesting, and I cared about the case. There was a lot of Dave's personal life and his relationships with others, with equal time spent on that as on the case. I enjoyed it, the book seemed a return to form after the downhill the series has been on for the past few books. But then the last page is final in a way there's no coming back from and turns this case into Dave's swan song.

I'll never forgive him for the ending. Don't care that he's dead. No forgiveness forthcoming.

The last of the Brandstetter mysteries. This one has Dave investigating the death of a musician who has been shot in an apt complex. A little boy it appears has seen the killer and is subsequently kidnapped by her. Numerous twists turns and red herrings. Could it be the girls lover, her current boyfriend or someone completely different.