The Blitz Detective series: Books 1, 2, 3, 4: The Blitz Detective, The Canning Town Murder, The Custom House Murder, The Stratford Murder by Mike HollowMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Blitz Detective - Four stars
Its 1940 and the Blitz has begun. For Detective Inspector John Jago it brings back unpleasant associations from his time in the trenches in WW1, being bombarded day and night. During the height of the bombing of East London an ARP Warden finds a man dead, slumped over the steering wheel of a van, it appears he has committed suicide, but on closer inspection he has also been stabbed in the heart.
The victim, Charles Villiers is a local Justice of the Peace and owns a printing factory nearby. However, before DI Jago and his new assistant Detective Constable Peter Cradock can get a police photographer and coroner to view the body the van is hit by German bombs and explodes!
When Jago starts to investigate Villiers it appears he wasn't a very nice man. His wife was clearly put upon, his son feels relief that his father is dead, his brother barely speaks to him, he's known to chase his female employees (and worse) and a lot of the people Jago speaks to suspect that he may have been involved in something 'dodgy'.
I did have trouble keeping the various characters straight in my head at times, especially when the story just leaps into a discussion between (say) Albert and Gus and you can't for the life of you remember who either of them are. Also because the man was such a pill there are clearly a lot of people with motive.
On reflection, perhaps the motive was a little far-fetched, and the final discovery overly dramatic, but it all hung together.
On to the second book.
The Canning Town Murder - Four stars
The second outing for the Blitz detective. After a night of bombing an ARP clean-up crew find a woman's body amongst the wreckage, the only trouble was ... the body wasn't there when they cleared the site earlier that evening.
Detective Inspector John Jago and Detective Constable Cradock are called in to investigate. The woman is Mary Watkins, an HR administrator for a local factory which, among other things, is manufacturing transistors for secret government work.
Jago's investigation encompasses Fifth Columnists, black marketeering, blackmail, bigamy, and just plain greed.
This series is growing on me nicely, some personal development between Jago and the American journalist and good historical detail.
Apologies for the brief review, I've returned from holiday with half a dozen books to review!
The Custom House Murder - Three and a half stars.
The third book in a series set during WW2 focusing on a police detective DI John Jago, based in West Ham (one of the poorer areas of London).
In this instalment, a young lad looking for shrapnel after the all-clear is sounded finds a dead body in a public air-raid shelter. The victim turns out to be an English teacher and a pacifist, yet he was found in possession of a gun.
As John unravels the mystery of the murder his investigation is crossed by several pacifists, a love triangle, profiteering, and a budding romance for his sidekick PC Cradock. And let's not forget Cradock's first ever solo investigation - looking into a rogue trader who took a £5 deposit from one of DDI Soper's golf buddies to build an air raid shelter but never came back.
I thought I had uncovered the identity of the murderer. I was wrong. I enjoyed the mystery, I could complain that everyone seemed connected (and arguably they might never have connected the dots without a few coincidences) but then suburbs of cities are often like villages with everyone being connected in some way, so I'll let it slide.
However, I did find the lengthy discussion about god and belief a bit irritating - hopefully since I have read a later book which didn't dwell on religion this was just a one-off.
Anyway, off to read the next book.
The Stratford Murder - 4 stars
An ARP warden and a volunteer fireman find the body of a young woman in a dingy flat, strangled with a pair of the new nylons that have just been invented in America.
Detective Inspector John Jago is struck by the similarity with a string of murders of prostitutes a few years back by a person or persons unknown that the press dubbed the Soho Murderer - could this young woman be a prostitute?
When Jago discovers her identity there are more questions. Why did a married woman move out of her mother-in-law's house to rent a dingy flat? What happened to her wedding and engagement rings? Who is the father of her unborn child? Had she turned to prostitution? Was her death linked to the theft at the cinema where she worked as an usherette? Jago hears conflicting stories about the victim and he must sift the truth to catch the killer.
I liked this, I don't want to call them red herrings because I don't think they were there to mislead the reader, more we see potential evidence and review it alongside Jago.
I have also really started to enjoy the historical facts interwoven into the stories, I am not familiar with West Ham as an area but I love the descriptions of the buildings and the politics of the era, many of which have almost been forgotten.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment