Shame the Devil

By Graeme Hampton https://www.graemehampton.com/ @Gham001

Narrated by Julie Maisey

Published by Hera Books https://www.herabooks.com/ @HeraBooks, Saga Egmont Audio https://www.storiesbysaga.com/ https://www.sagaegmont.com/ @sagaegmont

301 pages (8 hours 42 minutes) ISBN 9788728500903

Publication date 10 August 2023

Shame the Devil is the fifth book in the D.I. Denning and D.S. Fisher series.

I was allowed access to an audio review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley.  Thanks to the Author and Publisher for organising this.

The cover

A park at nighttime, a little sinister perhaps.

From the blurb

Exposing old lies can be deadly…

When a young father and well-liked sports coach is stabbed to death on his front doorstep in East London, D.I. Matthew Denning and D.S. Molly Fisher are quickly thrown into an investigation with no leads to follow…

And when the body of a respectable schoolteacher is discovered, the two murders mirroring each other, the case gets even more complex.

As the mystery unfolds, Denning and Fisher unearth a sinister connection between the victims. But the closer they get to the truth, the closer they come to the ruthless killer’s crosshairs….

The narration

The narration was excellent being unfussy and upbeat. It proved to be a good match for the content.

My thoughts

Shame the Devil is the fifth novel in the series, but can easily be read/listened to as a standalone, as what necessary character background is provided within the storyline. This is the first novel in the series I have experienced and I’m sure I’ll be reading or listening to more.

Met with a shocking murder, a stabbing of a well-liked young coach on his own doorstep, the police are left grasping at straws for a lead. Assuming it is not some random, senseless killing, the next most obvious course it that it was a case of mistaken identity. Connections are quickly made with local villains, who appear to be looking to settle scores. However, the murder of a schoolteacher in similar circumstances shatters this line of enquiry and for Denning and Fisher the investigation gets a whole lot more complex.

The novel is very much the old school style of police procedural, but one that follows the clues rather than gets bogged down on the paperwork and procedure. The good old ‘means, motive and opportunity’ maxim still holding true and is discounted at the investigator’s peril. The reader can also see the folly is making assumptions and becoming ‘blinkered’ trying to fit circumstances to the crime. Initially the investigation stalls for this very reason and gives us a glimpse of how huge numbers of police man-hours can be unintentionally wasted on false leads and bad information.

In the end it is motive that proves to be critical to the case, a motive that was difficult to pin down and then hard to believe before the final dawning realisation. The motive is an excellent one, with a festering gestation period and then a catalyst to make it explode into reality. The incident that provides the motive for the crime is on reflection, cold and callous but only too believable, being a by-product of the selfishness of some determined high-flyers.

The pacing is steady as might be expected, as progress plods along and suspense is built up. Later there is a gear shift and the story accelerates towards the conclusion which has the jeopardy and a bit of a knife edge to it. The murders are unpleasant but not graphic and there’s enough for dramatic effect without passing into the realms of the absurd. The unasked questions posed being, after the first murder does it get easier to murder a second time and paradoxically, does more murders make detection and capture more likely?

The central characters D.I. Matthew Denning and D.S. Molly Fisher are well established and likeable enough whilst retaining some rough edges. They both have real life problems to deal with, but nothing unsurmountable, blissfully happy cops, of which some must exist, make for dull fiction. Fisher has split from her partner and is going through the nightmare that is finding affordable rental property; Denning is settled but his high-flying hedge fund manager wife is having her head turned by a promotion to New York, something Denning won’t do. Denning is divorced and has a son Jake who lives with his ex-wife Claire and is now appreciating the need for a family.

There are some excellent cameos for the remaining officers none more so than their Scottish boss McKenna, who is given the lovely nickname ‘Betty Taggart’. She is the character I think the narrator had the most fun with.

The old favourite of the suspended cop is added to the mix, hardly surprising considering the numbers currently so in real life, but for a nice change its not one of the main protagonists. Here it is a colleague, Anna who adds a nice layer of mystery, she wants a reference from Denning in support of her hearing, he wants information through her contacts, but who can trust who?

Shame the Devil is a tightly written, well plotted police procedural.

The audiobook closes with a statement about the fine charitable work carried out by Egmont in support of education for children and young persons, please see their website for details.

Shame the Devil can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

The author

Graeme Hampton was born in Paisley and grew up in Stirling. After leaving school he trained as a stage manager and worked in London for a number of years. He returned to Scotland in his late twenties to study for a BA in English Literature at Stirling University. After many years of dull jobs and bleak times, he became a full-time writer. His first novel, Know No Evil, was published in July 2019, and was followed up by Blood Family in early 2020 and The Darkness Within in January 2021.

He lives in Hastings, East Sussex. 

Source: Author’s website