(I'm so happy about all the snow coming tonight.)
Mulholland Books - 2017
Set in the small coast guard town of Dungeness, Kent England, Bill South has 20+ years with the police force. He's a solitary man with secrets. In fact from the first paragraph it appears he is also a murderer. South has recently been assigned to work with a new female Detective Sergeant, Cupidi on a murder case and South isn't happy about this. Cupidi has relocated from London with her 13 year old troubled daughter Zoe.
South knows the victim, the deceased, Bob Rayner, lived practically next door to South. Both South and Rayner were avid birders. It's a pass time that has made South a good cop. His careful record keeping on all his bird sightings has made him a patient man, which has helped him find perpetrators on the job. This time it seems the perp may have connections to South's childhood in Northern Ireland in the mid-late 70s. For South, keeping his past and those old secrets are even more important at this time.
This was a very good example of fine British crime fiction. South's character is incredibly well drawn. The story alternates between the present story and South's childhood and, while Bill South was clearly the focus character in this book, a man who lives in self-imposed isolation, I do expect there will be more of Det. Sergeant Cupidi and her daughter Zoe in future installments. The story was very interesting and I loved how atmospheric it felt. I did feel the foul language felt a bit over the top at times but, I would still consider other books by this author.
Rating - 4/5 stars
enjoy the beautiful snow!! Perfect reading weather. :)
ReplyDeleteThat book sounds good but the snow doesn't, at least to us, we'd be closed for 2 months!
ReplyDeleteI've read the next book in this series and enjoyed it a lot. It changes a bit with Cupidi as the main character, but since the locale is the same, it is still very atmospheric. I like Shaw's style, but my library doesn't have the next two books in the series yet, so I'll probably be reading something else from his back catalog first.
ReplyDeleteThis is one I really want to read!
ReplyDeleteI read this on vacation a couple years ago and liked it, as did my sisters. They had a hard time finding later books in the series, but perhaps got them eventually via interlibrary loan. As I recall, the characters were quirky but very convincingly drawn.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was an excellent read when I read it a couple of years ago. Brilliant sense of place.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds pretty good. The snow, so happy you love it! I would not be able to survive. I love to look at it from inside a cozy home but be in it? Or drive in it? NOPE!
ReplyDeleteThe snow keeps missing us! I'll credit covid sheltering for making me appreciate British crime novels. This sounds good!
ReplyDeleteI'm working on drawing up a well-rounded list of books---fiction and nonfiction---as librarian for our naturalist group. I think this would definitely appeal to our group.
ReplyDeleteYes, the book sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this one and loved the Irish background. Although I was disappointed when the next book switched the main character, I ended up enjoying the Cupidi led books as well.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good one. My parents are both birders and British so this is one I will recommend to them.
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