Auntie M doesn’t understand why she doesn’t see Tony Parsons’ name on more short lists for UK crime fiction awards. His series featurning DC Max Wolfe and his daughter, Scout, is one of her personal favorites, and mixes a darn good police procedural with a huge dose of humbling humanity in his little daughter and the family dog, Stan.

Parsons returns with Girl on Fire, the latest crime novel that touches on a timely situation in England. The opener is strong: Max is in a West End London shopping centre getting Scout a new backpack when an Air Ambulance is shot out of the sky and falls into the shopping centre, killing over forty, injuring scores of others.

Seeing the first-hand devastation in close quarters brings the situation home to Max. When ties to a particular family are shown and missing grenades for further devastation sought, a manuveur goes terribly wrong when the lead of the Specialist Firearms Unit is gunned down right in front of her team as they attempt to apprehend the Khan brothers.

That sets off a chain reaction that will have repercussions for the entire team, Max included. How this is interwoven with the Khan family members judged to be innocent forms the most devastasting part of the book. It’s a close look at a complicated situation, touching on assimilation of immigrants and innocent family members tainted by others who might be terrorists.

Max has had a complicated emotional life, especially when his wife, Anne, left him and Scout behnd for a man she’s now married and their new son. Max has been the best father he can be to Scout, but somehow Anne decides it’s time Scout lived with her. Then an ugly court hearing is in the offing, with judges and social workers who don’t know Scout planning to interview her and take away even more of her innocence. But the silver lining is the new depth of his relationship with fellow cop Edie Wren.

How it all turns out will surprise readers, who will be carried away on a wave of emotion with the end results on all fronts. A stunning entry in a wonderful series. If you’re ot a Max Wolfe fan yet, start now. Highly recommended.