There are moments of atmosphere and certain turns of phrase that are stellar in every single one of these novels, but I'm starting to worry that the ones I really enjoyed were a fluke and not the other way around. Cecil -- one of Dave's boyfriends from later in the series, who I really like in those books -- is introduced here, but doesn't actually have a personality yet, which was disappointing. And this is yet another Hansen mystery that implausibly requires multiple people to have been at the murder site at the time of the crime, yet not be guilty -- as if engraved invitations were sent out.

Appreciate the underlying ACAB theme, though.