cover image Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride

Janet Neel, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (287pp) ISBN 978-0-312-34923-3

Jules Carlisle, a freshly minted London solicitor with a troubled past, finds herself out of her depth when she becomes involved in a case involving illegal immigrants in this well-crafted mystery from British author Neel (O Gentle Death ). Minding the fort over a holiday weekend, Jules agrees reluctantly to counsel a desperate Serbian who demands to see absent senior partner Paul Jenkins, a specialist in immigration law. The man claims that one of eight illegal Serbian aliens recently found dead on the shore of the Wash is his brother. Though Jenkins takes command on his return, Jules continues to receive the attentions of MI5 detective Richard Allenton, both professional and romantic. Meanwhile, the press gets wind of her unwise affair with a married social worker. About to collapse from stress, Jules goes into hiding with her adoptive mother, Lady Ann Barlow, unwittingly delivering them into the eye of the human trafficking storm on the North Sea. Growing tension, substantial characters and illuminating historical and geographic details combine to make this a compelling read. (Jan.)