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It’s always a fine time for crime time! Fictional crime that is, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
In this post we look at 3 books – Above Suspicion by Lynda La Plante, Spook Street by Mick Herron, and Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers. All feature investigations led by distinctive detectives, masters of their craft or coppers standing on the brink of greatness.
Above Suspicion introduces Detective Anna Travis, a determined young investigator solving a brutal murder case. Spook Street is part of Mick Herron’s Slough House series, featuring aging, outcast spies investigating intelligence-related conspiracies. Whose Body? is the first book in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, where an aristocratic amateur sleuth solves a perplexing case of a body found in a bathtub.
Despite differences in tone and style (police procedural, spy thriller, and classic detective fiction), they all unravel mysteries through sharp investigative work – mostly with a side of humour.
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Happy Reading, Friends!Â
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the Anna Travis series.
"Above Suspicion" Book Blurb:
Young Anna Travis has been assigned to her first murder case – a series of killings that has shocked even the most hardened of detectives. They started eight years ago – now the body count is up to six. The method of killing is identical, the backgrounds of the girls identical – all drug-users and prostitutes. Then a seventh body is found. The modus operandi is the same – but the victim is a young student with the ‘face of an angel’. The profile of the murderer has changed dramatically. Determined to earn the respect of her male colleagues, Anna stumbles on a vital piece of information which links one man to the killings, a much-loved actor on the brink of international stardom. His arrest would create a media frenzy. But if he were found innocent, his wouldn’t be the only career over – Anna’s hard fought for reputation would be destroyed once and for all.
What did we think?: 4 Stars!
This felt like a fairly paint-by-numbers procedural, but held my interest to the end – and for a first book in a series at over 500 pages, that was a good effort! Content warnings for SA, which left me with a gross feeling – but did mean the writing triggered an emotional reaction, which is a good sign. I liked Anna Travis as a character – capable while still being believably green at solving murders. She was responsible for some of the main breaks in the case, but not annoyingly so. Relationship boundaries get a bit blurred with her boss, DCI Langton – but she retains some power and doesn’t bleed into obvious tropes or overshadow the case. While not top shelf on my list of detective fiction, I’d read more in this series. Have you read the full Anna Travis collection?
Grab yourself a copy:
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the Lord Peter Wimsey series.
"Whose Body?" Book Blurb:
It was the body of a tall stout man. On his dead face, a handsome pair of gold pince-nez mocked death with grotesque elegance. The body wore nothing else. Lord Peter Wimsey knew immediately what the corpse was supposed to be. His problem was to find out whose body had found its way into Mr Alfred Thipps’ Battersea bathroom.
What did we think?: 4 Stars!
This was my first Dorothy Sayers and it was a hoot! Clever writing, interesting characters and a plot that held my interest. While the language and flow felt a bit dated in places, it certainly wasn’t dry & Lord Peter Wimsey came across as a quirky and fun character that I’d happily follow through more adventures. Lord Peter is investigating the case as a side interest, enjoying putting together the pieces of the puzzle – “Assigning a motive for the murder of a person without relations or antecedents or even clothes, is like trying to visualise the fourth dimension – admirable exerces for the imagination, but arduous.” (p92). I also liked Parker, the detective, who was capable and didn’t fall into the bumbling plod stereotype (that fell to Stubbs). Some of the character descriptions made me giggle – ‘”His long, amiable face looked as if it had generated spontaneously from his top hat, as white maggots breed from Gorgonzola” (p4) … and … “Mr Alfred Thipps was a small, nervous man, whose flaxen hair was beginning to abandon the unequal struggle with destiny” (p9). Sayers keeps a lightness to the proceedings that kept me smiling – “It was a cruel shame a girl couldn’t ‘ave a bit of fun without a nasty corpse comin’ in through the window to get ‘er into difficulties” (p110) … and … ” …. most of us have such dozens of motives for murderin’ all sorts of inoffensive people. There’s lots of people I’d like to murder, wouldn’t you?’ ‘Heaps,’ said Lady Swaffham.” (p139)
A great intro to Sayers and Lord Peter, what!
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Series or Standalone? :
This is Book 4 in the Slough House series.
"Spook Street" Book Blurb:
Twenty years retired from the Intelligence Service, David Cartwright still knows where all the bones are buried. But when he forgets that secrets are supposed to stay hidden, there’s suddenly a target on his back. The ‘Old Bastard’ raised his grandson to be a hero, not a slow horse. Now, far from joining the myths and legends of Spook Street, River Cartwright is part of Jackson Lamb’s team of pen-pushing no-hopers at Slough House. Which doesn’t mean he won’t ditch everything and go rogue when his grandfather comes under threat. Lamb worked with Cartwright back in the day, and knows better than most that this is no innocent old man. So when a panic button raises the alarm at Intelligence Service HQ, it’s Lamb who’s called on to identify the body. And it’s Lamb who’ll do whatever’s necessary to protect an agent in peril.
What did we think?: 5 Stars!
I’ve yet to be disappointed in a Slough House novel & love being back with the characters. I’ve recently started watching the show on AppleTV too, so can get a Herron dose from all sides of the fictional fence. The audio version is also a great listen if you like to move your pins while you read. Lamb continues to be a gross, protective and wry character that you’ve just got to love. I thought all the fart jokes would bother me by now, but I grin every time. “A mobile phone vibrating on a hard surface sounds like a fart. That this was not an unusual sound in Jackson Lamb’s bedroom, or indeed his vicinity, might have been why it failed to rouse him.” (p50) … “The next sound you hear will be me, expressing confidence.’ He farted, and reached for the cigarette behind his ear.” (p58). … “You know me’, said Lamb. ‘I always demand the highest professional standards.’ He farted, though whether as illustration or punctuation wasn’t clear.” (p221). As long as Herron keeps writing them, I’ll keep picking them up – never a disappointment. “And no amount of Kevlar offered protection from a woman’s disappointment.” (p24).
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