A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 5 - Spotlight

Not gonna lie here - I see or hear the word "Spotlight," and I automatically start humming the tune to Madonna's song from the late '80s (1987, to be exact - my graduation year!). So, when I got the fifth Blake Harte mystery by Robert Innes and saw the title, well - let's just say, it brought a smile to my face. Obviously, the title and the story have absolutely nothing to do with Madonna or her song, but there isn't anything wrong with allowing something to bring some great memories to the forefront.

That being said, Spotlight is yet another of Innes' wonderful little impossible mysteries - only, instead of a locked room murder tale that he is so great at writing, this story finds our young Detective Sergeant figuring out what happened to a couple of drug dealers whose car he follows into a tunnel - but when he comes out the other side, Harte is shocked to discover the car never came out! And before you even think it - there was no hidden rooms, off-shoot tunnels, or hidden walls or floors within the tunnel. Nope, it was just your average, typical tunnel. So, then, you ask yourself - how in the world can an entire car that Harte and his new "partner" were following simply disappear? That is the whole premise for the fifth book in the Blake Harte series.

Harte is just beginning to settle into his new life with Harrison Baxter, and things appear to be looking up for the two of them, particularly after all of the hardships that Baxter has faced (see previous books for those stories). But, as always, life has other plans. Harte and his small police force have been feverishly trying to catch two local men who are dealing in drugs, but have been unable to do so. Detective Inspector Jacob Angel has called in someone to assist Harte - one Detective Alex Woolf, a hot-shot young detective from America. Younger than Harte, Woolf has quite the repuation, and Angel thinks Woolf is just the man to catch these drug dealers. The only problem is, Woolf is driving the car with Harte riding shotgun when they chase the two dealers on a rainy night into the darkened tunnel, only to emerge from the other side without the other car! How is that possible? Harte and Woolf saw the taillights of the car in front of them, they followed them into the tunnel, and for one split second lost sight of them - and that was all it took.

It's a new kind of "impossible" crime for Harte to solve, and Woolf's ego tends to get in the way. Unfortunately for Harte, Woolf isn't the only trouble he has to deal with, for without warning, Harte's parents show up on his doorstep! They were not aware of Harte's new partner, and his mother makes it clear that she wants him out of the way so that she can get Harte and his ex back together again. Tensions rise, and poor Harrison is trapped in the middle of everything - literally! As Harte gets closer to the truth, someone is determined to stop him from investigating, even if that means kidnapping Harrison.

Each of Innes' mysteries are fast-paced, drawing you in from the opening page and keeping you turning until the very end. The Blake Harte series is one of the very few series that, once I start the book, I can't put it down until I'm done. The characters are engaging and entertaining, and they are written in a way that you actually care about them. The mysteries are always quite the conundrum, and even when you think you have it figured out, Innes manages to throw some unexpected twists that make your jaw drop in surprise. In Spotlight, despite the fact that I had figured out who was involved in the deception, I was not at all ready for the reason or the heartbreaking revelation at the end regarding one of the dealers.

Of all of the mystery series that I read, I can honestly say that Robert Innes' Blake Harte series rates right up in the top three series that I would recommend to any mystery lover.  (And to emphasize the point, I went on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and ordered all of the rest of the books in the series that are currently in print!)

RATING:  10 discarded beer bottles out of 10 for never ceasing to amaze with the most puzzling murder mysteries that you just can't put down!