The Russian Wife is the fourteenth book in the Brock and Kolla series by British-born Australian author, Barry Maitland. DCI Kathy Kolla is about to wrap up an apparent suicide when an off-the-cuff remark by her former colleague, DCI David Brock has her taking another look at the PC who was first on the scene, Ashley Osborn.

What DS Judy Birch uncovers about the apparently very competent PC has them both wondering if they are dealing with a domestic violence vigilante. But when they begin asking more questions, they suddenly find themselves suspended and charged with corruption.

At first Kolla is too embarrassed to tell her friends, assuming it will soon be sorted out as some sort of error. But once she understands just how serious it is, and that it is not going to go away, she knows she has to take action, something that will draw on all her policing skills and some covert contacts.

Meanwhile, DCI Brock, currently working (not very happily) with the Fraud Squad, feels his suspicion antennae twitching when the Russian wife of a wealthy corporate lawyer is found drowned at the Hoo in Kent just a day after he was called in to allay her concerns about a Russian scam email that had her spooked. Local police rule it a suicide, but when her lover also apparently suicides nearby, Brock cannot help donning his homicide hat.

Brock connects with the grieving husband over a piece of artwork and soon finds himself investigating a possible international art fraud scheme, the scale and value of which staggers him and entails consultation with art experts, collectors, gallery owners, and art fraud specialists, and a trip to Miami and New York City.

This is a series instalment in which there are false identities and double lives and many who are not who or what they seem. There’s lots of information about art fraud and authentication subtly woven into the story, and Maitland raises the issue of copies and ownership and how market demand creates obscene prices for the work of certain artists.

Maitland gives the reader a twisty plot with a few red herrings, a not-inconsiderable body count and exciting climaxes. While there are spoilers for earlier books in the series, the final pages do promise more of Brock and Kolla. Once again, excellent crime fiction from a master of the genre.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Allen&Unwin