- this edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
- Series: DS Cross Mystery #8
- Publisher: Grove Atlantic, Release 11 August 2026
Synopsis (publisher)
Measure twice. Cut once.
Detective Sergeant George Cross is nothing if not precise. When a man is found dead in the first-class toilet of a train—his throat cut, a plastic bag over his head—the grisly scene shocks his fellow officers. Cross registers every detail, but it's not the blood that interests him. It's the victim's exquisite suit.
The dead man is a tailor by the name of Billy Titcomb, trusted by clients around the world for his meticulousness and discretion. Who would want a tailor dead?
With his new partner, DC Alice Mackenzie, Cross starts pulling at the threads. There's a widow grieving in peculiar ways. A dead scientist whose suicide doesn't add up. And two South Korean tourists with embassy connections who keep showing up in places they shouldn't. The deeper Cross digs, the less this looks like a simple murder, and the more it looks like a professional operation.
DS Cross has the highest conviction rate in the force. But in the world of spies and state secrets, the rules are different—and for the first time, the people trying to stop him may be on his own side. Can Cross stitch it all together before the case unravels him?
My Take
Another challenging case for DS George Cross. His former partner has been promoted and so he has to learn to work with someone else, or rather, she has to learn to work with him.
In addition his parents have recently moved in together and things are not going all that well.
Woven through the story are the elements of humor that we have come to expect.
For the first time George himself is in danger, abducted, a new experience for him.
My rating: 4.5
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