Clean Break

An engaging mystery with the exuberant Kate Brannigan, private detective, trying to find out how a Monet could have been stolen from right under the security system she developed. A second case keeps her busy trying to track down an industrial poisoner. Although peppered with wisecracks, the writing is unremarkable.

This time Kate ends up on a chase around Europe, with Richard in tow after art thieves, whilst balancing another case featuring one of Mortensen and Brannigan's more ungrateful and irritating clients. Well paced, deftly plotted and lots of fun. I'll be sad when I've finished this series.

I read this one after another of Kate Brannigan's adventures, and unlike the other, this book did not grab me from the start. It is actually a bit slow at the beginning, but from the trip abroad things start happening faster and it gets more exciting.
A good finale, too, and full of the dry humour that made me smile more than once while reading.
Still, I prefer Val McDermid when she writes about nasty serial killers and other crime novels!

This book was written in 2003, that’s just 2 years after Steve Jobs introduced the iPod and 4 years before he unveiled the first iPhone. There’s quite a lot of tech involved in the telling of this story and it’s cutting edge for 2003, in fact it’s far fetched for 2003, so it makes for lame reading in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic.

Having said that I cannot give a lower rating because of that, it’s just if you were thinking of reading it I’d say don’t because it will irk you.

As for the story and characters, they are also 2003 so I am going to try and channel myself from 17 years ago.

The story is not fast paced but wide ranging in its scope. I like how it was slick in some places but naive in others. I would not have read show more this book 17 years ago because at the time I was driving 110kms per day to work and back so I would have been listening to this on my car stereo (after ripping the CDs from the library and putting the mp3s on an SD Card. Ha!

I would have loved it, not because it is gripping or tense or particularly well written, but because it demands nothing of you, it is entertainment for anyone who likes crime/detective novels. Just that. show less

Clean Break is another addition to the Kate Brannigan series by Val McDermid which was originally published in 1995.

Bill Mortensen has gone away and has left Kate Brannigan in charge of the agency for a couple of months. When Henry Naismith calls Kate to inform her that his Monet has been stolen, Kate is in ‘bits’. She and Mortensen had installed the security system on Naismith’s art collection at his country manor, Birchfield Place. Like many other country estates, it was open to the public, and the Monet was the biggest draw of all.

At the same time Brannigan gains a commercial client who is rather paranoid, he is the managing director of Kerrchern which makes cleaning products. Recently its bestselling product KerrSter, a show more universal cleaning product had killed a publican in Stockport. Cyanide had killed the publican when he opened the KerrSter. Naismith had been on the end of a blackmailing attempt.

Kate Brannigan takes on both case, and one of the cases would have her cross Europe. This would mean mixing with the mafia, drugs and a dead body. While the other case would take her along the M62 to Warrington. Both cases would bring her into contact with the Police. She would once again be annoying detective inspector Cliff Jackson, the one person who would love to put her in a cell.

Just another brilliant thriller. show less

Read this straight through while flying and hanging out in the airport. The heroine is laugh out loud funny in the way she states things sometimes, and the plot(s) - 2 crimes to solve at once are not the typical murder mystery fare. Good distraction while traveling.

Protagonist: PI Kate Brannigan
Setting: Manchester, England and a small tour of Europe
Series: #4

First Line: I don't know much about art, but I know what I don't like.

Kate discovers that a security system she developed for a local castle has been breached and a valuable Monet stolen. Ingeniously tracking the thieves to Italy, she winds up taking on some world-class bad guys. At the same time, she is involved in a case of suspected industrial sabotage that has turned deadly.

This is one of my favorite series. I enjoy reading about Kate, and I like her "voice". Art theft is another favorite as well, so for the most part I really liked this book--except for the bit where Kate's boyfriend has a cris d'ego. I'm going to hate to see the end of show more this series, and it's looming in my headlights. show less