Death on the Rive Nord is the second mystery novel featuring Inspector Lucas Rocco. Set in early sixties France, this novel has a certain Maigret / Simenon feel to it even if it is not as economical. Adrian Magson has quite a promising series on his hands.
A truck pulls off to the side; people jump off it and disappear including a woman and her child. Left behind is a body soon disposed of by the driver. Later on Inspector Rocco comes across a mysterious woman. She is on the run from her murderous husband and he is on his way to France to reclaim his property and take over the local gangs.
Included in Death on the Rive Nord is a side story about a mysterious manufacturing plant under the protection of the Ministry of the Interior. The plant might be where the people from the truck went to.
Lucas Rocco has to investigate the murder, protect the woman from her husband, weave his way through police office politics, and be on the lookout when the husband hears his wife has been seen in the inspector’s company.
Though there are two or three unnecessary chapters involving walking up and down the canal shore looking for clues, Adrian Magson keeps the reader interested to the end. The pace pick up in the final chapters. There is something somewhat unresolved at the end but Adrian Magson gets away with it. He does not really get away with the surprise twist though but revealing that would be revealing too much
Death on the Rive Nord
An Inspector Lucas Rocco Mystery
Adrian Magson
The Dome Press
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