SHOTS FIRED

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S SHOTS FIRED ABOUT?
Oddly for a London-based series, we start with a murder in Glasgow. The gun used is quickly tied to a three-year-old murder case in London. This connection reinvigorates the investigation into the old case.

A theory or two comes up about the gun—the leading theory involves the idea that the gun is rented out, and if they can follow the gun back to the source they can solve both crimes—and maybe more.

Nash and Moretti look into shootings in Glasgow and Northern Ireland to look at the evidence around them to see if they led to the gun's provenance and maybe shed some light on the London murder.

A CULTURAL DIVIDE
I'm very, very carefully and intentionally not making an evaluation of any set of laws here, I'm simply describing the experience from the point of view of an American raised and living in one of the “reddest states” and a watcher/reader of a lot of US Crime Fiction.

But wow...it is so weird for an American to read about the police so focused on one gun as it is used in multiple crimes over a long period of time in different countries. This is the kind of thing that would be tossed in a river or a dumpster and easily replaced in a US-based police procedural. And the travel involved in tracing the gun's whereabouts is mind-boggling to me, if only because it suggests that the gun did that at least that much traveling, too.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT SHOTS FIRED?
I'm still mystified by the way that Nash treats Moretti—hot and cold at the same time, and with little to provoke a change (from my perspective). Pretty much everything I said about Cover Blown applies here*—although there's at least one moment where she seems to notice that she's not treating him quite the way he deserves. So maybe she'll come around.

* I actually had a couple of paragraphs more to say on this point, but before I hit publish, I glanced at my Cover Blown post and realized it was largely the same.

Compared to the previous volumes in this series, the procedural nature of this novel seemed a bit light—as did the realism. But maybe that's just me. Either way, it's a fun read with a solid cast of characters. I'm hoping a fourth Nash and Moretti is arriving soon, and I'll be jumping on it as soon as I can.