Plot or Premise

Victor Maitland is an artist of great passion and terrible interpersonal skills. When he shows up dead, knifed in the back in a low-rent painting studio, there are lots of possible suspects. Everyone hated his guts, as they say.

What I Liked

The original case had gone nowhere, looked like a faked robbery, but with no leads. Maitland’s uncle had some juice and put pressure on Thorsen to solve it, which pulled Delaney back in from retirement. Delaney starts working with Abner Boone and they make great partners and mentor/mentee with no BS, just hard talk.

I enjoyed the investigation into all the different possible suspects. And even into Maitland. Despite being a first-class jerk, Delaney admires his artwork. For the suspects, we meet his wife in denial, his art manager in greed, the art manager’s lawyer in possible cahoots, the son in anger, a model in ignorance, a model in luxury and notoriety, and his extended family in seclusion in the boonies.

It’s a great case to see all the moving pieces going nowhere fast, until you start to see some movement with some of the culprits. Fantastic procedural, particularly for the early times.

And I did not see the ending coming. Delaney has the nickname Iron B*lls for a reason.

What I Didn’t Like

There are a bit too many red herrings with so many suspects, most of which go nowhere useful, and there’s extra romance layered on for the home life of Delaney and Boone.

The Bottom Line

Even jerks deserve a homicide investigation