The Murder Bag (Max Wolfe #1) by Tony Parsons

DC Max Wolfe is a single parent and new to Homicide, after transferring from the Anti-Terrorism Unit. Based in Savile Row, Wolfe is investigating the violent murder of a thirty-something banker. Soon he is drawn into something darker and far more sinister than a single man having his throat slashed and he must protect his daughter from the killer who seems to be targeting him.

Told from the point-of-view of Wolfe, this book is very easy to get into. It starts with a fairly brutal prologue, going into a fast-paced chapter one, and it doesn't really waver in pace. Wolfe is likeable, despite sometimes saying or doing things that I wouldn't necessarily advocate. Though the story is quite predictable, Parsons writes simply but keeps your attention. He knows police procedures, such as PC and DC being the same rank but in different departments. This attention to detail carries on throughout the book and i will admit that at times it can become quite tedious, perhaps bordering on pretentious.

There was one part of the book that did slightly confuse me. The story is set in 2008, as evidenced by the autopsies in chapter 5, but later on in the book is this line:

'Swire looked like Mrs Thatcher's recently exhumed corpse...'

Thatcher died in 2013, 5 years after this story is set. Maybe I'm being pedantic but this really annoyed me.

Overall the story is extremely enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next installment, The Slaughter Man, due 21st May 2015 published by Century.