It was the author’s name who caught my eye when trawling through Netgalley – Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is my mother’s favourite writer and when I reviewed her book The Hostage Heart, I was favourably impressed, although it isn’t normally the type of book I read.
When the body of a smartly-dressed businessman turns up in the yard of Eli Simpson’s car workshop, DCI Bill Slider and his team soon surmise that the victim was someone’s ‘enforcer’. So who was Mr King? Who was he the muscle for? And what did he know that made someone decide to terminate the terminator?
This isn’t a cosy mystery – the cover makes that very plain. But neither is it some grimy, downbeat murder misery, where the main protagonist is fuelled by anger as he wades through a depressing cityscape awash with social deprivation. There isn’t anything wrong with the above – I just want to make it plain exactly what this book is about, because I’m not sure the cover fully conveys that.
Bill Slider is happily married to a musician, so he occasionally has to work from home when she is off playing in an orchestra somewhere. I like the fact that he isn’t some drink-soaked depressive with no home life – and that he also has a reasonable relationship with his superior, who he mostly likes and respects. There are likeable, chirpy characters in his team, who we learn about while they trudge through the various leads.
As for the murder – it’s a while before the team manage to get their teeth into this one and as I haven’t read the previous 19 books, I would suggest this is a useful entry point. I had time to get my bearings and work out what was happening to whom before the plot really took off. Though this isn’t a foot-to-the-floor action thriller, it’s far more the steady accumulation of clues through hard graft and constant checking.
I found the actual unravelling of the mystery unexpectedly engrossing as we begin to learn snippets about this rather shadowy character. By the time I’d reached the final quarter of the book, it was something of a struggle to put it down, while I read far longer than I’d intended to get to the end and discover whodunit. Harrod-Eagles writes characters very well as the final denouement produced a satisfying end to a solidly good murder mystery.
The next time I need a fix of a quality murder mystery, I shall definitely be going back to this series and sampling more of Bill Slider’s adventures – it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
9/10
What is going on. You reading murder mysteries and me reading sci-if? I like the sound of this one.
I know… we’ll know we’re in trouble, if I start calling myself Emma and you answer to Sarah…
I love a good crime/detective novel! I feel like I’ve neglected it as a genre of late – but now I have another book to add to my TBR mountain! Yay? I’m sure it’s a yay…
Oh yes! This one is great:)
This sounds like a good book, Sarah. I’m going to go search for some of the earlier books in the series.
Yes, I’m going to look out for her books next time I go to the library as I really enjoyed this one:)
I haven’t read anything from this author yet, but I’m always on the lookout for good murder mysteries. Thanks to you and your mom for putting her on my radar. 🙂
You’re very welcome:))
This one sounds good, enjoy a good murder mystery. I don’t know if it’s just me but that cover gives me A Monster Calls vibes – creepy.
Lynn 😀
And THAT’S why I spent such a lot of time explaining that it isn’t creepy, or remotely horroric, or grim, or gory… because I think the cover gives the wrong message.
I had to chuckle at you jumping into the middle of a series yet again, and landing on your feet yet again. I think it’s one of your trademarks by now, and if anyone ever asks me “What is Sara like?”, I’ll promptly respond “She reads books out of order”.
As for the book itself, it does sound like “yet another crime story”, but then, it’s not my specialty genre, so they all might look similar to me even if they aren’t. I do appreciate, though, that the main character is happily married instead of being broken, alone, and drinking. Thank you for mentioning that!
Lol… I’ve always tended to do that:). To be honest, it wasn’t until I became a book blogger I realised it wasn’t something everyone did! I always thought Himself’s insistence on reading books in the right order was quaintly quirky…