Metropolitan Police constable Philomena McCarthy makes her second appearance in The White Crow, the arresting follow-up to When You Are Mine. Philomena is on patrol at 3 a.m. when she finds a five-year-old girl in the street, barefoot and in her pajamas. The girl, Daisy, says she "couldn't wake Mummy," and Philomena spots blood on her pajamas. Philomena takes Daisy home and discovers a woman in the kitchen tied to a chair. As the constable feared, "Mummy" is dead.
Across London, Detective Chief Inspector Brendan Keegan is trying to disarm a bomb strapped to a man who is also bound to a chair, but in a jewelry store. The store has been robbed, and the man is the owner. He's also the dead woman's husband and Daisy's father. The robbery and home invasion indicate organized crime, which is a problem for Philomena. Her father and uncles are the infamous McCarthy brothers, "who the tabloids refer to as 'colorful local identities' or 'ex-cons.' " They become primary suspects, and Philomena finds she's not above suspicion. Worse, she could become a target.
Robotham (Good Girl, Bad Girl; Life or Death) is one of 21st-century crime fiction's finest writers, comparable to Michael Connelly. His characters, even those who live in morally gray areas, are multilayered and riveting. This is especially true of the young witness, Daisy. In his acknowledgments, Robotham writes that he intended Philomena to be a stand-alone character in When You Are Mine but brought her back because he fell in love with her. After reading The White Crow, readers will be on the same page. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja