It
is 1893 and Wigan is in the clutches of both an exceptionally
cold winter and a national miners’ strike. As the miners
and their families shiver and starve, the colliery owner Arthur
Morris, who wanted them to take a 25% cut in their pay, goes
out on a freezing night and meets his death. As just about
everybody wanted to kill him, what was he doing out when he
should have been at a dinner party, and in the roughest area
of town too? It is up to Detective Sergeant Michael Brennan
to discover whodunit.
This is the first of a pair of novels about Brennan, and the
author skillfully sets the scene in just a few short paragraphs.
You can almost feel the icy air and sense the poverty and
desperation, as well as the uneasy ambience of the wealthier
inhabitants’ homes and their many secrets. Brennan is
Irish, as are many of the miners, and he has to tread a careful
path between his sympathy for their plight and his sense of
justice. The book has been likened to the work of Edward Marston,
and although there is some similarity, this is a darker, less
humorous look at the times and what it might really have been
like. This could be described as a traditional mystery with
a rather linear plot; more strands to it would have made for
an even better tale. In parts it does tread water a little
and it is not impossible to guess whodunit and why, but the
descriptions and the thought provoking mirror it holds up
to our own troubled times makes it well worth reading. I will
be seeking out the sequel and wishing the series was going
to be longer, as there is a lot here to explore.
Other reviews in this series
Striking
Murder #1
Elementary
Murder #2
Sitting
Murder #3 |
