A.A. Abbott

GREAT CRIME STORY WRITER

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Book review – A Saintly Grave Disturbed by Nikki Copleston

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A deeply satisfying short read

A Saintly Grave Disturbed by Nikki Copleston is a short read set in the English West Country

Short reads are having a moment. This detective story is a stunning example, packing tons of twists and emotional development into two hours. It’s a deeply satisfying read. 

Fleeing his demons to fight crime

Detective Inspector Jeff Lincoln has fled a failing marriage and personal tragedy to fight crime in England’s West Country. The city of Barbury might seem sleepy, but a stabbing on the local council estate and thefts from the museum keep him busy.  Then there’s the archaeological dig near the abbey, where volunteers appear to be falling victim to a mysterious assailant, perhaps even to each other.

Intriguing characters

While Nikki Copleston focuses on Jeff’s point of view, she also gives us insights into the thoughts of his colleagues, and other leading characters. There’s Beth Tarrant, for example, leading the dig and hoping to solve a family mystery while she uncovers the remains. Meanwhile, Trish Whittington, local librarian and Jeff’s lover, isn’t too besotted to ignore a sexy archaeologist.

Twists layered upon twists

Twists multiply and build upon each other, as Jeff links the crimes together and then finds his theories unravelling. Despite the complexity of the plot, the flow of the story is smooth, its separate strands neatly woven together at the end.

Flawless writing

Nikki Copleston is a class act, writing flawlessly and covering an amazing amount of detail in this interesting novella. It is the second book in a series about DI Jeff Lincoln (the others are all longer), but can be read as a standalone. ‘A Saintly Grave Disturbed‘ is a great way to dip a toe in the water and see if you enjoy Jeff Lincoln’s world. I suspect you will be hooked!

Do you like short crime reads? Then you’ll love ‘A Hint of Crime’, an anthology of short crime stories by the Bristol Fiction Writers’ Group. I’ve contributed three tales, all with a tantalising hint of mystery.

Book Review – To Die For, by Colin Ward

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Angela Marsons’ tough but tortured Detective Inspector Kim Stone featured in my blog in April. Ironically, only 6 miles from Kim’s base in the Black Country, Colin Ward’s DI Mike Stone is operating out of Aston CID. Are they perhaps related?

Another detective with a troubled past

I sometimes think Ruth Rendell cornered the market in crime stories about happily married detectives with her Wexford series, set in rural Sussex. Kim and Mike Stone, in the dynamic and densely populated West Midlands, face completely different personal and professional challenges. Just like Kim, Mike lives a single life, has a troubled past and is tasked with tracking down a serial killer. That’s where the similarities end. Mike is by no means a loner. He enjoys the buzz of managing his team of sleuths. The pages of the book crackle with the excitement of the incident room as ideas are captured on the whiteboard and underlings despatched to follow leads. A depraved murderer is slaughtering young mothers, and Mike must find him before more families are smashed apart. There is a heavy focus on police procedure. This is fascinating, yet doesn’t detract from the rising tension when more bodies are found and the killer begins taunting Mike with texts.

Twists in the tale

Birmingham provides a kaleidoscopic background to this thriller, from smart bars to parks to the sprawling estates that ring the city’s outer perimeter. I suspect anyone who knows Brum will work out how the killer is transporting his victims well before the nerve-racking showdown. However, other readers are unlikely to guess. There are still plenty of twists in the tale. For example, although Colin Ward sprinkles clues throughout the book, it was an agreeable shock to me when the killer was finally unmasked. I didn’t see it coming.

A Book Review of Colin Ward's Birmingham crime thriller To Die For

Carries the reader with it until the very last word

The book isn’t perfect – as a writer myself, I tend to spot typos and repetition, and I found a couple of dozen. However, the story is well-written and so compelling that I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Mike Stone’s life, sanity and love hang in the balance unless he can stop the killer. To Die For carries the reader with it until the very last word.

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Birmingham is a fascinating backdrop to Colin Ward’s book, and it also features in three of the tales in my short story collection, Something In The City – get it free here