Number 3 in the Dylan Scott Mysteries

SILENT WITNESS
Shirley Wells
Carina Press Kindle Edition
March 2012

I have greatly enjoyed the Dylan Scott series by Shirley Wells from Carina Press. I think that the third novel in the series, Silent Witness, is the best so far. Having had success in his first two cases as a private investigator, Dylan hasn’t had much work lately and with a brand new baby in the family, he is worried. His aging hippie mother, Vicky, asks him to take on the case of the son of old neighbors of hers. Alexsander  Kiminski is in prison for the murder of his ex-wife and protests his innocence. The ex-wife was found in her bath with a slit throat and Aleksander’s fingerprints are all over the tub. After meeting Aleksander in prison, Dylan is not very hopeful but pursues the case before making up his mind. Dylan himself spent time in prison on a bogus charge and is sympathetic.

Shirley Wells has written a very well plotted mystery peopled with some very memorable characters. I was fooled completely by the killer, one that would have been my very last choice.  Dylan himself is very appealing, dogged in his pursuit of justice, but clueless about what is going on in his own family. I particularly like the way Wells weaves the accounts of his family into the mystery itself. Silent Witness is somewhat darker than the previous novels, but I liked it very much. Silent Witness is highly recommended for fans of British mystery.

Thanks to Carina Press and netgalley.com for an advance readers copy.

RATING- 5 Stars