A Dark Matter

By Doug Johnstone https://dougjohnstone.com/

Published by Orenda Books https://orendabooks.co.uk/

336 pages ISBN 9781912374991

Publication date 23 November 2019

I purchased an electronic copy from Kobo Books.

From the blurb

Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators…

Synopsis

When patriarch Jim dies it is up to the women of the Skelf family to step up and run the two family businesses.  They have some experience of work in the funeral directors but none as working as private investigators.  They are, however, three generations of strong and resourceful women: Grandmother Dorothy, Mother Jenny and her Daughter Hannah.

When Dorothy examines the finances of the funeral directors, she uncovers a mysterious monthly payment which has been going on for years.  Her investigation makes her question what she really knew about her husband and ultimately uncovers a dark, uncomfortable secret. 

Hannah’s university friend Mel disappears but with her being an adult the police are not interested in investigating without evidence of foul play.  Keen to be an investigator Hannah decides that she must follow up the scant leads and in doing so discovers that she never really knew Mel that well.

Jenny is approached at a funeral service by one of the mourners to look into the life of her husband who ‘works late’ which she believes is a cover for adulterous behaviour.  Jenny soon discovers all may not be how things first appear, but that human spirit can prevail.

Not forgetting Archie, the Skelf’s loyal employee who has a condition where he feels he is dead and can relate better to dead people.  Now on medication he works away diligently and keeps the funeral directors running like clockwork, but can he continue to do it now that Jim has gone, and changes are being made?

The women must deal with their grief whilst confronting things they would rather not.

My thoughts

I’ve had this book for a while now and somehow not got around to it, perhaps because I haven’t got around to getting a Kobo reader yet and so would have to read it on my phone.  Seeing so many good things about it and the fact that book 3 is imminent I resolved to get stuck in and I had barely got started when Val McDermid was praising it.  Would I like it though?

It has a quirky opening with Jim’s funeral which immediately put me in mind of The Crow Road by Iain Banks, the opening paragraph of which for me is the best in modern literature.  Perhaps it was a homage to the much-missed author; it certainly sets out that the book is going to be a little bit different.

The narrative is in the third person but each chapter from the perspective of one of the three women.  Some may think it a little jerky but with the multistrand plot and each of them concentrating on different mysteries I think it works well.  It takes a little while to set up the different strands and to include the set up for the series but once the jigsaw pieces start to come together they somehow fit into a cleverly constructed plot.

Looking at the cover I was expecting the style to follow one of two tones, either lots of irreverent dark humour that you come to expect where people fulfil unpleasant tasks or very dark and serious.  How wrong I was!  There was some dark humour but its subtle and thoughtfully introduced, certainly nothing outrageous or offensive even when a night-time visit to a cemetery is involved. ^#  The subject matter is dark, but the author manages to keep the tone bright and upbeat but all the time respectful.  I loved the introduction of a tiny spade motif as the occasional break within chapters.

The inclusion of three strong women who are three generations of the same family, the youngest of whom is a lesbian whose girlfriend works for them is inspired.  It provides a broad canvas to explore their relationships within the family dynamic and their intergenerational differences, which Doug Johnstone makes full use of.  Not only do they have to deal with their grief over the loss of Jim but also their own individual problems which must be faced up to if they are to be resolved.  Dorothy questions Jim’s past and whether he had some second secret life as well as part of her yearning for her youth back in America.  Jenny must face up to losing her job meaning the failure of her writing career as well as her marriage and moving back into the family home.  Hannah is trying to balance her relationships with her divorced parents and her father having a new wife and child.  All the time though, the women’s personal flaws are evident.

Most of all this is a novel about the resilience of human spirit over adversity.  It doesn’t shy away from difficult topics including grief, loneliness, homelessness, and jealousy but instead deals them in an uplifting way that is not preachy. Above all else there is a warmth to the storytelling which should win over the reader. 

No, I wasn’t disappointed, I should have read it long ago and certainly I won’t be waiting as long to read books 2 and 3.

#  If you are looking for outrageous hilarity in a cemetery after dark then I recommend ‘Vinyl Detective: The Run Out Groove’ by Andrew Cartmel, the second book in another great series.