Circle of the Dead

by David Lawrence

Book Overview

Four dead bodies, found sitting in a circle in a London apartment, are the puzzling introduction to a startling case for Detecitve Sergeant Stella Mooney. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843956135
• ISBN13: 9780843956139
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Dark But Excellent

I got the first novel in the Stella Mooney series from the library. Now, all of the UK police terms are making sense! In The Dead Sit Round in a Ring, the police find four people dead in a flat, three are related and suicides and the fourth, well, that is the problem. That fourth person, Jimmy Stone, has a punctured heart from a steel needle. Yes, Jimmy was murdered. Thus begins a mystery that takes Stella Mooney and her team into the underworld of London, where people trade in drugs, guns, and women. During the course of the investigation, the team comes up against some very powerful gangsters and a link to the war in Bosnia. The writing and dialog are tight and gritty. Stella is an excellent heroine, a woman, as I have said before, that has some baggage. And while she is the center of the novel, she has her fair share of beatings and close calls with death. She is single minded in finding the killer of Jimmy and that gets her in trouble with some of her peers. Like the other novel I read, Lawrence doesn't end the book cleanly. That is, not all loose ends are tied up, just like real life (or an episode of "Law and Order"). I think that is part of what makes these novels so good - sometimes the bad guys do get away. One thing that happens in the novel, I couldn't tell if it were a random act of violence or a premeditated attempted murder. There are a few episodes like that and I think that it lends a measure of realism to Lawrence's writing. If you are interested in the Stella Mooney books, I highly recommend starting with this one. It prepares you for the others, laying the groundwork for Stella and her relationships and providing good explanations of policing in the UK. An excellent novel.

SAME AS "THE DEAD SIT ROUND IN A RING"!!!!

First off, please no one fall for buying this in conjunction with "The Dead Sit Round in a Ring," because as far as I can tell they are the same book with different titles! That said, this seems to be the first book in the Stella Mooney series, which is apparently considered "noir." It is very dark and Stella seems to have no light in her life or sense of humor. However, the story is compelling with a rich texture of plots, subplots and characters that will leave you guessing and turning pages until the end. The title refers to the original beginning of the hunt, which starts when four corpses are found sitting in a circle in a living room - three are suicides, but upon post-mortem examination it is discovered that the 4th one does not belong . . . Leading into the dark underbelly of London, examining drugs, gangs, sexual slavery and murder, this is a very good thriller and I plan to follow through and read a few more - and see if Stella gets more or less screwed up as the books go by.

Pummeling Stella

Here comes a likable female detective sergeant named Stella Mooney. Stella is an amazingly durable lady when you consider the mental and physical pummeling she takes during the course of the story. First of all she finds four people sitting cozily in a circle in an apartment living room. Problem is that they are all dead. Three of the victims are cult suicide victims, but the fourth has a just slightly detectable stab wound to the heart, something that smacks of the work of a professional assassin. Stella's search for the killer takes her into the London underworld, and a mafia type family that the word evil really doesn't begin to describe. In one scene one of the brothers arrives at a warehouse in a limousine to whack someone who is skimming from the business. He trots in complaining that it is too hot and humid for this sort of thing, shoots the guy in the head, and walks out still complaining about the weather. It's a grim world of drugs and prostitution, and Stella cruises through it, getting beaten up periodically even when she is minding her own business. It isn't enough that she gets slugged by humans, she also has a turn with a jungle animal that leaves her quite shaken. Stella doesn't need these sorts of troubles as she is also seeing a shrink for the nightmares she is having about one of her previous cases. And in her love life she is torn between two decent guys. People get whacked, and Stella continues her precarious chase for the murderer. People from Eastern Europe get involved, and matters get darker. Stella drinks a bit too much, but, hey, what would you do if you had her problems? Author Lawrence is also a poet, and he injects many a clever phrase into the narrative. A second book about Stella is out, but to date is only sold in England. American readers should note that British jargon is kept to a minimum. Just remember that "nick" is a police station or jail, and "shebeen" is an unlicensed liquor bar.

Dark, gritty and poetic

The title comes from the opening scene of this outstanding debut - three elderly family members sitting in a circle, dead. Suicides. And one extra man. Not suicide.London Detective Stella Mooney sorts out the bizarre scene soon enough, but finding the killer of the extra man, small time crook and purveyor of grisly "murderabilia," Jimmy Stone, leads her into the shadowy underworld of sex slavery and criminal turf wars. A persistent and attractive journalist who seems to know more about the case than he should complicates Stella's murky personal life as he draws her into the bleak and dangerous corners of London inhabited by Eastern European girls forced into hopeless lives of prostitution.Point of view shifts periodically among various secondary characters from cops and doomed petty criminals to George, Stella's live-in lover, and Ivo Peric, a vicious Serbian assassin (and Jimmy Stone's killer though we don't yet know why) growing bored waiting for his assignment. Each scene's focus is intense and local, and the panorama of views gives the reader a full and complex picture of the crime, the politics and the people.The prose is spare and pointed and often poetic, the characters expertly fleshed and flawed, the pace sharply punctuated. A gritty procedural, sure to be enjoyed by fans of Ian Rankin and any who enjoy urban noir.

Dead Sit Round in a Ring

Lawrence is an exciting new noir author. He writes a fresh, very real female protagonist, who takes all the knocks usually reserved for male characters. If you like Ian Rankin, try this author.