Book ~ "Heart of the City" (2017) Robert Rotenberg

From Goodreads ~ When Detective Ari Greene was charged with the murder of the woman he loved, he stopped at nothing to clear his name and uncover the real killer. After his acquittal, Greene fled to London to get away from it all but now he’s back. And he’s not alone - with Greene is his twenty-year-old daughter, Alison. The child he never knew he had.

Determined to leave his life as a cop behind him, Greene gets a job on a construction site for one of Toronto’s many new condos. It seems he has finally found peace as he settles into a new career and new role as a father, helping Alison adjust to life in Canada.

But when Greene stumbles upon the corpse of hated developer Livingston Fox, he is plunged back into the life he tried so hard to leave behind. As the body count rises, Greene is forced into a reluctant reconciliation with his former protégé, Daniel Kennicott. The pair must delve into the tight-knit world of downtown development, navigating tangled loyalties, unexpected corruption, and family secrets, some of which are closer to home than Greene could have ever imagined.

In a world where the stakes are high and the profits are even higher, Greene and Kennicott race against the clock as they follow the trail of blood and money to its shocking end. 

Ari Greene was a cop in Toronto.  He fled to England last year to take some time away after he'd been charged and acquitted of killing the love of his life.  While in England, he discovered he had a twenty-year-old daughter named Alison from a relationship he'd had with an Englishwoman years ago.  When he returns to Toronto with Alison, he gets a job on a construction site as a labourer.  When the developer of the site is found murdered on there, Ari can't help but get involved (the lead detective is Daniel, who Ari had mentored).  The developer wasn't well-liked so it could have been many who wanted him dead.

This the fifth book by Rotenberg I've read and I enjoyed it.  Though it's the fifth in a series, it works as a stand alone because there is enough background information provided.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  I like the writing style and it moves at a good pace.  I didn't really buy the "whodunnit" and the why but I went with it.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I like that this series is set in Toronto.  The author is quite specific about the locations so I know exactly where the action is taking place and I have been to a lot of these places.  The construction site was in the Kensington Market area, for example, as were protests.  I think I was recently at the bakery on Dundas Street where Ari and Daniel meet.  I've had lunch at the Fresh on Spadina, south of Queen where the developer had supper with his dad.

I look forward to the next book in the series!