Many Rivers To Cross by Peter Robinson

 

One thing is sure in Eastvale.  There will always be more murders for DCS Alan Banks' team to solve.  This week's case is that of a young Middle Eastern male teenager whose body has been found in a household's trash bin.  He has been stabbed but no one around seems to have seen him before or know his name.  As the case is investigated, it turns out that he had spent months getting to England and the plan was to work and send money back home to bring over the rest of his family.  That never happened because they were all killed by a bomb after he left.  He had gotten mixed up in drugs as the cartels like to use young people who won't be prosecuted or punished as heavily as an adult.

In the meantime, Annie Cabbott's father has moved into the locality although he is currently in the United States due to his painting and business interests there.  Zelda is the young woman who lives with him although she could easily be his granddaughter.  But she had undergone sex trafficking as a young woman and Ray is the only man she has found that she feels safe with.  Zelda has seen the man who tried to kill Alan Banks years before and is working on trying to find him in London.  Alan doesn't want her involved so she is investigating in secret.  How will that turn out?

This is the twenty-sixth book in the series.  Alan is feeling his age as are others on his team.  The newest members of the team are working on fitting in and they tend to have degrees that Alan never did.  But the cases keep coming and somehow Robinson manages to make each book seem fresh even as the reader becomes familiar with the team and feels like they are old friends.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.