Murder in Thrall

More romance than mystery, this middling series kickoff from Cleeland (Tainted Angel) introduces aloof Scotland Yard Chief Insp. Michael Acton and the novice he has plucked from the ranks to assist him in homicide investigations, Constable Kathleen Doyle. Doyle has a “talent for sorting out the truth,” but her inexperience shows in such acts as entering a tack room in search of evidence in a horse trainer’s murder before a witness, allowing him to lock her in and escape. That error does nothing to lessen her in Acton’s eyes. Creepily, each chapter begins with his thoughts about his subordinate (e.g., “He was on a precipice, painful and pleasurable. He could sense she was not indifferent; he had only to risk it”). Risk it he does, and the focus on their burgeoning relationship puts the investigation into several murders, including one with a personal link, too much in the background. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Aug.)