The Second Grave, Ian Austin

Second in the Dan Calder series, THE SECOND GRAVE moves the action from being all in New Zealand, to England, when Dan returns home to help out his best friend and ex-colleague Nick Hetherington. Hetherington's daughter has been arrested in connection with a murder, and both men can't believe for a moment that she would have had anything to do with the death of a Nottingham based prostitute.

Whilst it's not absolutely essential that the earlier book in the series (THE AGENCY) must be read first, this is one of those occasions where it really wouldn't hurt. There's a lot of backstory to Dan Calder's life, personal and professional, and there are aspects of that referred to in this novel constantly - particularly the background to his relationship with New Zealand girlfriend Tara. Having said that this is a series in development and you may find that both books suffer from a tendency to heap on the police procedural elements, and there's still some scope to tweak the dialogue to get it flowing more freely and naturally. Oddly enough, given that THE SECOND GRAVE takes Dan Calder home, and potentially more comfortable territory, but especially given the slightly more way out there plot of the earlier novel, this one isn't quite as convincing as the first. It's possibly less action packed, slightly more inclined to drag in places than THE AGENCY, suffering perhaps a little from second novel syndrome and such a sudden change of circumstances in what seemed at the end of the first book, like a welcome change of lifestyle for Dan Calder.

Having said all of that, hopefully this is a series that will continue developing. Calder is an interesting character, and there's some unusual plot concepts at the heart of these novels.