Blood & Cinders

By DDC Morgan

Published by Fahrenheit Press http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/

240 pages ISBN

Reg Calloway – book 1

I purchased my Kindle copy direct from the publisher.

From the blurb

They ride for glory, would they kill for it?

Synopsis

Its 1949 and people restricted by 6 years of war are out enjoying life, packing out football grounds, greyhound, and speedway tracks.  Reg ‘Cab’ Calloway is head of security at the stadium that is home to the Bermondsey Bullets speedway team which is owned and run by ‘Pretty’ Pattie Moxon.

One night ‘dashing’ Des Fenton, the star rider, has a fatal crash on the track during a race.  His back wheel had been touched by teammate Ray Simpkins’ front wheel, was this an accident or something altogether much darker?  Pattie Moxon cajoles Calloway to investigate matters and he reluctantly agrees with his options limited.

Initially he is met with suspicion and silence by the team.  It becomes apparent that Fenton was a blackmailer and that team members were included in the victims.  The more Calloway digs the darker the motives become and he is cast back into a period of life he thought he had left behind.  He is determined to see it through even though his own personal demons will be revisited.

In the end Reg and Pattie must ultimately face down the danger together.

My thoughts

It’s very rare that I pay much attention to book covers.  I know a great deal of effort goes into some of them, but they rarely register with me.  This one was different and jumped out at me whilst I was on the publisher’s website. Its bold with a limited pallet of colour and has a real retro or nostalgic feel to it topped off with the one-shilling price in the corner.

The cover is perfect for the time setting of 1949.  The Second World War is over (at least for some) but there is still some rationing and it’s in the middle of the ten years of austerity that precedes Harold MacMillan’s assertion “most of our people have never had it so good”.

I’m not a nostalgia junkie but speedway takes my mind back to the late 1970’s watching the great Ivan Mauger riding for Hull Vikings at the Boulevard.  I’ve watched a bit on the telly recently, so I decided that this book was worth buying, and I was proved right.

I’ve previously written (see Shiver) that I believe sport and the arts are often poor bed fellows.  In this case it works really well because the speedway stadium is used for the setting of much of the plot with the on-track action being restricted to key moments and to set the scene.  What is important is the feel of risk taking within speedway, there being no brakes and control being pushed to the limit which is a metaphor for the actions of some of the characters.  If you live life on the edge one slip can bring a crashing fall.

I think Mr Morgan captures the period well, the feeling of new optimism, the intention to have a good time but also the restrictions on homosexuality and general sexual liberation and freedoms.  The period touches are good as are the name drops like Cab Calloway, Noel Coward and George Formby (who was in a film based on motorcycle racing) and everyone smokes which they pretty much did. 

The story unfolds in the third person form from the viewpoint of Calloway and feels nicely paced.  Its action or incident driven but with enough description and observations to keep it interesting and period set.  There are some sections which cover dark subject matter, but these are not overdone and there are interludes of levity, but its not the wise-crack, throwaway lines of the hard-boiled American PI of the time.  He even works the title into the prose though not where you expect it to be.

The plot is not over complex but throws up some surprises in store; it certainly surprised me where it went.  It starts off as was it an accident or murder but develops into a sordid tale of blackmail, with some dirty secrets suppressed thanks to political expediency.  The timescale is perfect for the subject there being optimism and a sense that wrongs can and should be righted.  Only a few years later the cold war would destroy much of this.

The main characters are well drawn and there are some nice touches.  A strong woman, the boss of the track is a good way to show how women had been restricted but then through the war new horizons were beginning to open for some.  The male lead, Calloway, is if from the cinema of the time strong, tough, tenacious like an amalgam of John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart.  Giving him a back story of military intelligence attached to the 6^th Airborne Division and experience of concentration camp liberation gives him depth, motivation, and the appropriate skills to carry out an investigation.

This was both an entertaining and interesting read, the story was enjoyable and some of the war time detail was new to me and I feel I am well read on the subject.

How the character develops in subsequent outings is going to be interesting.  Will it be the lone avenger like Jack Reacher or John Milton?  Calloway clearly has internalised anger issues which are going to make it interesting whatever course he takes and book 2 has something to live up to.

Thoughts on the book cover?  I liked it some much I bought the tee shirt which is also available from the publisher!

Rubicon

By Ian Patrick iprobinson.com

Published by Fahrenheit Press http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/

231 pages ISBN ?

Sam Batford – book 1

I purchased my copy on Amazon Kindle.

Rubicon has recently been optioned by the BBC with a view to making a 6-episode series.

From the blurb

Where truth and lies collide.

Synopsis

Sam Batford is an undercover officer working for the Metropolitan Police; DCI Klara Winter runs a National Crime Agency team; both have gangster Vincenzo Guardino (AKA as Big H) in their sights.

Sam is effectively forced to work with Klara’s NCA team on secondment from his Specialist Operations Undercover Unit, a situation that neither of them is happy with, but will they be able to work together?  He is taking the risks whereas she fast tracked, and desk bound.  They both want the same result but they both want the prestige of the collar for themselves.

Batford infiltrates Guardino’s ‘firm’ and is given tasks to carry out to prove himself and earn their trust, but who can he trust? 

When the big job arrives, he will be on his own without back up and required to cross the line into criminality, he will need to be resourceful to come out unscathed.

My thoughts

I’m possibly the only person not to have seen a single episode of ‘Line of Duty’ never mind getting all hyped up over the recent sixth season, the one with the disappointing ending I’m led to believe.  I did purchase this book whilst it was on, and after reading it I can understand why the BBC have optioned it for a six-part series.

The writing style puts me in mind of an update of the great hardboiled LA gumshoes of the 1930’s.  Its pacey with some snappy dialogue and its share of put downs and throwaway lines.  The UK has never really had a big PI culture and certainly not this style but putting it on a deep cover officer works well.  To survive they would need self-confidence and some bravura with what they do.  There’s even the femme fatal role filled by Miss Stoner, Guardino’s closest confidante, who provides Batford his way into the gang. 

The plot fundamentally is one of bringing down of a major drugs player, complexity is introduced by adding by layers of intrigue on top.  The reader is never quite sure where Batford’s loyalties lie and who he is ultimately working for, the police, the criminal gang or himself.  What is certain is that he is doing his best to give Winter the run-around whilst also testing the limits of subordination with his own commander.  All of which keeps the interest going and the pages turning.

The story unfolds from the viewpoint of Batford as he twists his way along with the gang, the NCA and his own superiors.  To the latter two he demonstrates a good deal of insubordination, the sort of thing which is entertaining and goes with the territory in this sort of fiction be it on the screen or on the page.  Winter’s input to the story telling mainly comprises of file notes made after her dealings with Batford in which he notes her frustrations and misgivings.  This approach to the narrative works well in that it allows the plot to move quickly along but keeps up the suspense of who’s side Batford is really on.

Batford’s back story of ex forces will allow for further characterisation in later novels as will the fact he has a prosthetic leg.  Neither one of these is original but both chime with reality, especially the limb loss which after service in Iraq or Afghanistan is a sad situation for many of those who have served.

At the end of the book what do I make of the hero?  Well to be honest not quite sure, which I suspect is the intention of Mr Patrick and will provide the intrigue for the series.  Yes he did get the collar but that was not the only result he got.  On page 1 he describes himself as a ‘twenty-first century bounty hunter’ with the intention of staying alive.  I suppose deep cover can skew morals; Batford’s most certainly are.

This is definitely a series to stick with, but I do wonder how it will develop.  Deep cover operations are very time consuming to set up and execute with operatives limited to the number of cases they may cover before their cover is blown or their nerves shredded.  However, the author seems well versed in this judging by his background so part of the fun will be seeing where the journey takes us.

Arrowood and The Meeting House Murders

By Mick Finlay https://mickfinlay.com/

Published by HQ (Harper Collins) https://www.hqstories.co.uk/

448 pages ISBN 9780008324551

An Arrowood Mystery – book 4

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley.  Thanks to the author and publisher for organising this.

From the blurb

A Killer strikes at the heart of the city…

Synopsis

Four Africans escape the clutches of a showman and seek safety at a Quaker Meeting House.  Mr Fowler needs help in protecting them and preventing their capture so seeks the services of Arrowood and Barnett.  Things quickly go bad and whilst Arrowood and Barnett are out Mr Fowler and one of the Africans are murdered, the others flee, and Mrs Fowler is nowhere to be found.

Arrowood and Barnett offer their services to a hard pressed and understaffed police force which is also bolstered by a mysterious South African police constable chasing the fugitives.  A South African outlaw gang and a gold robbery is added to the mix, but who is telling the truth and who can be trusted?

Then just as the pieces start to come together, they are turned upside down.

My thoughts

Another generous slice of late Victorian intrigue with the likable poor-man’s Sherlock Holmes.

Once again Mick Finlay creates an entertaining, humorous and at times thought provoking story woven into the fabric of life for the under classes in late 19^th Century London.  This time he covers the attitudes to race and abnormalities of birth that were prevalent at the time and allows the reader to compare with current times.

What I particularly like is the way that the author animates daily life of the time; knocker uppers, night soil men, street traders selling hot potatoes, the haggling over prices, and the ill-fitting scruffy clothes (Arrowood even manages to ditch his old Astrakhan coat thanks to the charity of the Quakers) that add the colour.  His Coin Street rooms are cramped and claustrophobic now that his wife Isabel has returned and both she and his sister Ettie now have babies to care for too.  The babies’ illness and the desperate quack remedies of the time illustrate the suffering ordinary people had to endure in the days before the NHS, something we should never take for granted.

The characters are well developed now and deserve the reader’s attention.  Barnett is coming to terms with the loss of his wife but is struggling to find happiness, perhaps even not allowing himself to find it.  Ettie and Isabel are strong women trying to forge their own destinies, with a medical scholarship, at a time when woman had few rights and fewer opportunities.  Only one of them can win it.  Arrowood himself remains an enigma, seemingly composed of a collection of opposite traits, which I think many of us are.

The plot revolves around a group of South Africans who have contracted to perform for a showman as Zulus (even though they are amaQwabe people).  To ensure good box office trade he is preventing them from being seen by controlling their movements making them feel imprisoned.  They are being exploited and wish to escape his clutches, at least if they were free, they would be in effect exploiting themselves.  By 1897 the worst of these practices, like the carnival shows, had died out but what was left was at least my modern standards exploitative and degrading.  However, the other side of the coin is that it provided a living for some people who would struggle to survive otherwise without a sponsor or benefactor.  Indeed, some who did manage to control their destiny in the end made a good living such as Chang and Eng, who are mentioned in the book.  This dilemma is implied and handled sensitively and not heavy headedly.  There is a very funny section when the ‘Baboon Girl’ is unable to go on stage and a replacement must be found at short notice which is laugh out loud funny, but I won’t spoil the fun here.

The attitudes to race and the role of British Empire are also important to the plot.  Even though Black people have lived in Britain since Roman times they were set apart and treated differently, just as Jews were albeit in a slightly different way.  There is a kind of equality through poverty feeling that comes through which there probably was to some degree.  The British Empire does divide the characters though, with those colonised being treated appallingly but with many of the people back in Britain unaware of how bad this was and benefitting little from what was done in their name.  This certainly backs up the motives of the amaQwabe characters and the Ninevites gang which were operating back in South Africa.  A subject which is currently under the social microscope with differing views of how its legacy be treated, which is deftly handled by the author.

All of this is well researched and the there are notes at the end of the novel which bring interesting background to the plot.  I can also recommend the author’s website too.

At times a serious read but one with wit that never fails to entertain. 

The Murder Pit

By Mick Finlay https://mickfinlay.com/

Published by HQ. https://www.hqstories.co.uk/

444 pages ISBN 978-0008214791

An Arrowood Mystery – book 2

I purchased my copy on Amazon Kindle.

From the blurb

Where evil lies buried.

Synopsis

Arrowood and Barnett are instructed to make contact with Birdie the daughter of the Barclay’s who they haven’t been able to see or speak to since her marriage to a farmer.  They soon discover that they are not going to see her and are constantly being fobbed off by those on the farm.

It becomes apparent that all is not as it should be on the farm and that most of those connected to it, workers, and the farmer’s wives, suffer from some impairment of their mental capacity.  This leads to enquires at the local asylum but again answers are not forthcoming and men in authority are trying to obstruct them.  Arrowood believes that there is some conspiracy at work but will have to find evidence if he is to conclude the case.

A Gypsy woman disappears soon after talking to them and when her horrid, blackened tooth is found in a dug pit at the farm they can finally get the police to act.

My thoughts

It’s good to see crime authors setting books in a historical context.  Crime fiction seems to be exploding as a genre so setting books in the past to mark oneself out from the crowd makes sense.  The style of the author can also play a part as advances in technology make detection more scientific which can come over cold on the page.  Recently I’ve read some good books set in the 1970s, whereas this one is set much further back in late Victorian times.

British TV, in particular the BBC, is brilliant at bringing period pieces to life, including some of the greats of 18^th and 19^th century literature.  One failing they do have is things are a little bit too sterile, the clothes too clean and good quality, too much decent dentistry on display and prostitutes who are gorgeous.  This is not a criticism that can be laid at Mick Finlay who describes the dirt, rags, lice, and general misery of day-to-day workers of these times.  These are the days of the workhouse and the poor law, where a few nights in a doss house were a step up and minor misdemeanours could see you imprisoned or committed to an asylum for seemingly trivial things.

Central to the story is the asylum and the treatment of its patients together with the general attitudes of the time.  It is difficult to write convincingly about these times without describing situations and using language which whilst was thought normal then is now highly offensive.  There is an author’s note at the beginning pointing this out and that these words were in common usage.  Indeed, one of the most offensive being Mongol to describe someone with Down’s Syndrome.  Although Down’s Syndrome has been in use since the 1960s, I can recall the word Mongol being used in the 1970s and even 1980s through ignorance of better vocabulary rather than malicious intent.  This aspect is dealt with admirably by the author, the language is convincing but used with great care.

Arrowood is a down at heel less successful contemporary of Sherlock Holmes, much to his chagrin.  The story is told from the viewpoint of Barnett, Arrowood’s assistant and strong-arm, who takes up the role of Doctor Watson, though he is not a gentleman chronicler.  Arrowood is slightly pompous, scruffy, as tight as a Yorkshireman, except when dealing with those poorer than himself, and is still hoping for a reconciliation with his estranged wife.  Barnett is a brooding brute of a man who is trying to make up for his previous sins and grieving wife who passed away six months ago. 

The plot is straightforward, allowing the narrative to concentrate upon the interactions and relations of the main characters, which includes Arrowood’s sister Ettie and friend Lewis.  Also, in the final third of the book there much covering Willoughby (who suffers from Down’s Syndrome) and Digger (who is mute) who are rescued by Arrowood.  Their characterisation is sensitively handled and can be seen as individuals rather just their disabilities.  It also seems that at least one of them will be appearing in later novels which is a good thing, it would be a shame to write so carefully about people suffering from disabilities without coming back to it.

There is some great descriptive work at such as ‘his face like a hog at stool’ ‘little fart flavoured the air’ and a drinker having a ‘malmsey nose’, as well as the references to products of the time such as black drop and Vin Mariani.  This is to bring colour and levity to what is at times a serious tale and doesn’t detract from the story.

Interestingly, only last week (3 May 2021) there was an article in The Times about Vin Mariani.  It seems that a Corsican restaurant owner has recreated a recipe of the wine and cocoa leaf drink and wanted to call it Coca Mariani but Coca-Cola is unhappy and bringing a lawsuit. 

This was a good read and at times quite thought provoking.  Thankfully, we now live in more enlightened times.  While things are far from perfect, I can see a real change in my lifetime and hopefully future generations will continue with this development.  Yes, I will be reading more of the Arrowood stories; I’ve been fortunate to get an advance copy of fourth book in the series to review on Net Galley, so watch out for that.

I would also recommend visiting Mick’s website where you will find some interesting background and photographs which form part of his research.

Getting Carter #NickTriplow #GettingCarter

Ted Lewis and the birth of British Noir

By Nick Triplow https://nicktriplow.blogspot.com/

Published by No Exit Press https://noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1

301 pages ISBN 9781843448822

I borrowed my copy from Hull Central Library using their ‘click and collect’ service which is operating during the Covid 19 lockdown.  Many thanks to them for keeping the service going and remember folks support your local library.

From the blurb

Get Carter are two words to bring a smile of fond recollection to all British Film lovers of a certain age.

This cinema classic was based on a book called Jack’s Return Home, and many commentators agree contemporary British crime writing began with that novel.  The influence of both book and film is strong to this day, reflected in the work of David Peace, Jake Arnott and a host of contemporary crime & noir authors.  But what of the man who wrote this seminal work?

Synopsis

The book covers the relatively short life of Ted Lewis from his childhood in Barton to his return and subsequent early death there at the age of 42. 

The first third of the book covers his childhood and largely unhappy school experiences in Barton, his care-free bohemian days at art school in Hull to his move to working in advertising and illustrating in London.

The final two thirds then cover his writing career, its early successes, its later disappointments, and his final great work.  It also covers his descent into alcoholism and the consequent disintegration of his marriage and subsequent relationships right up to his death.

My thoughts

First, I must point out that I’m not a huge fan of biographies and autobiographies in general.  I think this is mainly down the modern phenomenon of stardom which is not earned.  Sportsmen, actors, singers and (worst of all) reality TV stars memoirs at the tender age of 25?  Give me a break, that rubbish is for Christmas presents for people who you don’t really like.  Firstly, you have to have someone with an interesting life, if not well lived then with plenty of incident to mull over.  No one can say that Ted Lewis’ short life was not interesting.

The second big problem I have is that of impartiality.  Approved biographies are often little more that puff pieces to massage the ego, burnish the image and keep the pounds coming in for the star, with the writer only doing well with massive sales.  Then there is the other side of the coin the poisonous assassination job on the subject which might raise the odd eyebrow but lacks any fair perspective.  In Getting Carter Nick Triplow was done a fantastic job in steering a course perfectly between the two.  Clearly the writer in Nick very much admires the work of Lewis, and there certainly is much to be admired, and is on a mission to earn him the recognition which is sadly missing.  This is no hero worship piece though; Lewis was a man with many faults something which is not shied away from.

Although Lewis was born in Manchester he moved to Barton at an early age, went to school there and then finished his education in Hull, which should be sufficient to make in ‘local’ in most eyes and certainly a man of Humberside.  Just as it took an outsider in Larkin to express the oddities of Hull in poetry, perhaps it needed an outsider in Nick Triplow (a Londoner) to tell Lewis’ story the way it should be told.

The fact that Nick has managed to put together such a work is remarkable in itself.  Lewis wrote in long hand in school-style exercise book, kept no known journal and had such a chaotic lifestyle the little by his hand still exists, there was no bequest to the local university for scholarly study.  Indeed, if there were how much would be legible would be open to question and it would likely be beer stained and smell of smoke due to his habit of writing sat at the bar.  Even his school records have been lost in the local government reorganisations.

Personal interviews were also difficult.  Lewis was a man who burnt many bridges, who seemed to want to be liked by people and then go out of his way to alienate them.  Some in Barton regard him as an embarrassment and the fact that despite him the usual author’s disclaimer he leant heavily on the places and the people he knew in his work would make many wary of opening up.  Despite this Nick Triplow has manged to produce a work that still feels as if it comes from the people who knew him.

Myself I have only read three of Lewis’ works; Jack’s return home (which Get Carter was based) about 40 years ago, GBH his final work which I read last year and Plender which I read last month thanks to Hull Noir.

After reading Getting Carter I can place much of Lewis’ life within these works.  In Plender the childhood flashbacks have a strong resonance with Lewis’ own childhood in Barton, and though Barton and Hull are not mentioned they are clearly the locations of the novel.  Jack’s Return Home is based in Scunthorpe, a town he knew well, only being relocated to Newcastle in the film version because the Director knew it better.  GBH is possibly his masterpiece but it is dark, the darkest of all fiction with a decent into madness and paranoia with alcoholism which mirrored his own sad demise.

Reading Plender back in March I was taken by how tight the prose was, Lewis never seeming to waste a single word.  This I thought must be down to a succession of edits paring the language down with each pass.  However, Triplow makes it clear that that this is not how Lewis worked.  He passed his longhand notebooks over to be typed without correction and then only made minimal changes.  This led to some errors making into print but in his mind kept the writing fresh and genuine.  I cannot imagine any of the creative writing courses offered today recommending this way of working.

Nick paints a rounded and artistic man in his youth skilled artist, a virtuoso pianist, and a promising writer during his Art school days.  He could be charming and clearly had a lot going for him and much to offer the world, but already flaws were evident.

After the days of austerity and rationing the late 1950s into the 1960s saw increased affluence and hedonism especially for the grammar school children who through higher education could escape the humdrum grind so brilliantly described by the ‘kitchen sink’ dramatists.  This saw the rise of the heroic drunk it the arts world, some survived it mainly by going tea total whereas others functioned for many years whilst others died young.  Those actors and musicians who did survive have some brilliant stories for their biographies but sadly so many wasted their best years.  That Lewis became a regular in the Coach and Horses in Soho’s Greek Street comes as no surprise, the lack of mention of what was the pub’s most famous drunk Jeffrey Bernard must surely be down to their paths not crossing.  A night out with Lewis, Bernard and Oliver Reed would surely be enlightening and potentially lethal.

It is in his relationship with women that is the difficult trait of Lewis that I find hard to grapple with.  He was clearly a charming, if a little shy, man who was attractive to women and clearly found them attractive too.  His treatment of them seemed to range from badly to downright appalling with many steps in between, even taking advantage of the care of his doting mother on his return to Barton.  From the book it is difficult to ascertain what exactly caused the self-destructive tendency which ended his relationships but clearly alcohol and the paranoia it led to be a recurring part.

There is a small selection of photographs included with the text, most showing the happy days of his youth.  For me, the two most telling are placed one above the other and are taken 10 years apart.  One shows Lewis on the set of Get Carter, trendily dressed in suede jacket and desert boots with a cigarette in his mouth and a portable typewriter on his knees.  Here he looks happy and carefree, a man enjoying life and on a high.  The other shows him sat at his desk in Barton in a clearly a staged shot for a local journalist.  His face is puffy and has lost its youth, his expression careworn and melancholic, a man defeated by his own actions and the passing of time.

Was Lewis the godfather of Brit Noir?  I’m no expert and clearly there were other writers with that claim, but Nick Triplow certainly puts a compelling case for him to be considered one of the main protagonists.  If you are a crime fiction fan then this is an enlightening book on the life of fine writer.

A Fatal Drug

By Tony R Cox http://www.tonyrcox.co.uk/

Published by Fahrenheit Press http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/

372 pages ISBN 1539364291

I purchased my copy on Amazon Kindle as part of a weekend only offer.

From the blurb

Reporter Simon Jardine is on the hunt for the story that will kick start his career and when a tortured, mutilated body turns up on his patch he can’t help thinking his luck is finally in.

Synopsis

Junior reporter Simon Jardine is covering a Royal visit and gains access to a room high in the Savoy Hotel in Derby thanks to his girlfriend Janie.  When they open a skylight, it leads to them discovering a body on the roof.  Simon senses a scoop but realises there may be danger ahead.

Rashid Jamal is a local drugs importer and operates from a couple of garages.  A big-time player from Birmingham, George Washington, decides to muscle in and trade in hard drugs rather than the marijuana and speed Jamal sells.

Along with his mentor, fellow reporter, Dave Green and part-time PI and DJ Tom Freeman Simon starts digging, and when he uncovers the truth, upsetting people both in England and Spain.

Janie leaves for a job in a hotel on the Costa del Sol and carries out some snooping herself.  Working both sides, they solve the case, but both become exposed to great danger.

My thoughts

I think investigative journalism is somewhat underused in crime fiction.  There are probably a great number of protagonists which I haven’t come across, but off the top of my head I can only think of Chris Brookmyre’s Jack Parlabane that I’ve read recently.

The world of journalism is a bit of a mess currently as the internet impacts on traditional outlets, so it makes perfect sense to set the novel in 1971.  The 70s were probably the swansong of the traditional Fleet Street hack with the liquid lunches in smoky boozers and whispers from snouts and other contacts.  This allows a free and easy style to be exploited which just wouldn’t be possible in a modern setting. 

The style of the writing feels pleasantly quirky; not dark or bleak enough to be traditional noir, more like hard boiled but dialled down a notch or two from the 1930s LA but more fun because of it.  Britain has never been a place for the PI, wisecracking or otherwise, but an investigative journalist can get into similar scrapes and annoy the local police service.  The femme fatal in this case is the free-spirited Janie who is more engaging than mysterious but knows how to handle herself.  It’s not completely light-hearted though, there are gruesome murders and violence, but it is not gratuitous.

The plot is straightforward, is told in the third party, and lends itself to an easy read which is ideal for the type of story it is.  It centres on Simon but there is a portion which focuses on Janie and her life and exploits in Southern Spain where the impetus slows before a rapid unwind to the conclusion.  Simon and Tom are keen on music and Dave loves Bass beer and these provide nice interludes which add to the basic plot without ever side-lining it.  The author also has a nice turn of phrase, in particular with the descriptions of the grime and dirt, such as ‘It was a clinging aura, as if something had died in the clothes he wore.’

If you were around in the 1970s (as some of us were) then there is a nice nostalgic feel to it.  The brief descriptions of the printing process and the ‘hot lead’ adds colour and reminds us of a time when old fashioned manufacturing was around us.  Any book the references Brentford Nylons has got to raise a smile as do the old car references (though I think a typo has slipped in where Vauxhall Victor appears to be a Vector).  He also captures the zeitgeist of the grim, depressing concrete regeneration of the 70s replacing the freedom and optimism of the 60s.

This is the first of a series and is a smashing way to spend a few hours.  Yes, I am going to read more, I have already purchased the e-book of the next in the series ‘Vinyl Junkie’ direct from the publisher.  Remember to support your local independent book retailers and publishers and of course new authors.