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Prize Murder
Montague Pluke Murder Mystery #6

by Nicholas Rhea



      Brent Fowler is thrilled to learn he won a prize, especially as he cannot remember entering any competitions. He can at last realize his dream and spend a weekend at a country manor as part of a shooting party. But a week later, his mother cannot imagine why he has not come home - is something amiss with her son’s good fortune? Enter DI Montague Pluke for his sixth case!

Nicholas Rhea is the pen name of Peter N Walker, the writer of a vast body of literature including the Constable series that inspired one of Britain’s best-loved (and longest running) TV series, Heartbeat. This is a fairly new series, about the cases of Pluke, who is a pathologically superstitious eccentric with an extensive knowledge of horse troughs. As this is a story that deals with pedophiles you might expect it to be dark, but this author could probably make a story about anything seem cozy, and this is just what he does with his own special magic. If you like detective stories where the reader solves the puzzle along with the sleuth then you might be disappointed, as it is obvious what is going on and it is just Pluke doing the solving a la Columbo. Dominating much of the narrative is the sad character of Mrs. Fowler, making the murder seem less of a puzzle and more a part of a real life, albeit that of a dangerous pedophile. The result is an interesting mix of opposites blended into a rather unusual whole, as the old fashioned, oddball and cozy world of the protagonist charges headlong into the brash, scary world of modern crime and wins through.

Reviews of other titles in this series

A Full Churchyard #5
Prize Murder
#6

The Book

Constable Crime
9 November 2006
Hardcover
ISBN13: 9781845293758
ISBN10: 1845293754
Crime - Contemporary, Yorkshire, UK
More at Amazon UK

The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2006
© 2006 MyShelf.com