A.A. Abbott

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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

Christmas Beers & Other Festive Treats

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Real ale was a rite of passage for me, one of the pleasures of coming of age. Living in the Midlands, I discovered the delights of mild, a sweet, dark drink that’s rarely available elsewhere. I remember sinking pints of it at a job interview that went so well, it finished in the pub! Today, one of the best examples of the style is Two Towers Birmingham Mild, which Marty, Brummie hero of The Vodka Trail rather likes as well.

Luckily for dark beer fans, Christmas brings a crush of winter warmers with it. Here are my favourites – some available only in their locality, others nationwide. Bottoms up!

Let’s start with Two Towers. Their Sleighed Porter is dark as night, sweet with liquorice, and served at their Brum brewery tap from a pump decorated with a cartoon of local(ish) boy, Noddy Holder. Deceptively strong, it slips down a treat.

Moving south west, Bath Ales Festivity is widely on sale in supermarkets, so buy a few bottles to crack open on Christmas Day. It’s a quaffable porter with a hint of coffee.

Even better, if you can find it, is the Bristol Beer Factory’s Bristletoe. An oatmeal porter, it’s chocolatey and moreish. If the lady loves Milk Tray, give her this tall, dark handsome stranger to try.

Twisted Ales, in the shadow of the White Horse of Westbury, has concocted a festive beer that would drink well in summertime too. Crafty Santa is a well-balanced amber ale with a clean malt and a hoppy background. Extremely refreshing, it’s a great beer to knock back after Christmas shopping.

Deepest Oxfordshire has produced some fine brews too. Hook Norton Twelve Days is fruity like a barley wine, although not quite as strong – ideal for melting your icicles in the darkest depths of winter. Bah Humbug from Wychwood is another Oxfordshire winter warmer. Widely available in bottles, it’s golden and spicy.

Finally, slip across to Rudgwick in Sussex, where the Firebird Brewing Company unashamedly calls its Old Ale XXXX a “warming winter beer”.  It’s black, smooth and slightly smoky, and totally delivers on Firebird’s promise.

This winter, my hero will be spoiled for choice!

What’s your favourite? Drop me a line at aaabbottstories[at]gmail.com

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As well as drinking craft beers, I write crime thrillers and short stories. There’s a rather sweet Christmassy tale in short story collection Festive Treats, an Amazon No 1 with contributions from 15 writers. You can get it FREE here.