Jigsaw Man is the fourth novel in the Mark Tartaglia series by British author, Elena Forbes. After a drunken one-night-stand at a boutique London hotel, DI Mark Tartaglia is called back to the same hotel just hours later on a murder inquiry. A young woman has been brutally strangled. Adding a complication to the case, Mark recognises the victim. But before he can do much investigating, his boss forces him to shift his focus to another case: a body in a burnt-out car, bizarrely not one corpse, but parts of four different people.

Elena Forbes has crafted a brilliant novel. Her plot is original, her characters are multi-faceted and her attention to detail is impressive. Her description of police work, scouring for tiny details that eventually fall into place to form a lead, gives the book a truly authentic feel. Forbes throws in a few red herrings that will have the reader wondering about motive and opportunity and whether the cases are related. This fast-paced thriller charges to a gripping climax (or two) that will have the reader’s pulse racing.

While this is the fourth book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone, although the mention of a previous case may be a spoiler for readers who decide to read earlier books in the series. And many will do so, as this is such a compelling read. Recommended.