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A Commonplace Killing
Set in the bleakness and confusion of post-WWII London, this gripping psychological thriller unravels the double life of a seemingly proper middle-class woman found strangled to death.
On a damp July morning in 1946, two schoolboys find a woman’s body in a bomb site in north London. The woman is identified as Lillian Frobisher, a wife and mother who lived in a war-damaged terrace a few streets away.
The police assume that Lil must have been the victim of a vicious sexual assault; but the autopsy finds no evidence of rape, and Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper turns his attention to her private life.
How did Lil come to be in the bomb site – a well-known lovers’ haunt? If she had consensual sex, why was she strangled? Why was her husband seemingly unaware that she had failed to come home on the night she was killed?
In this gripping murder story, Siân Busby gradually peels away the veneer of stoicism and respectability to reveal the dark truths at the heart of postwar austerity Britain.
On a damp July morning in 1946, two schoolboys find a woman’s body in a bomb site in north London. The woman is identified as Lillian Frobisher, a wife and mother who lived in a war-damaged terrace a few streets away.
The police assume that Lil must have been the victim of a vicious sexual assault; but the autopsy finds no evidence of rape, and Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper turns his attention to her private life.
How did Lil come to be in the bomb site – a well-known lovers’ haunt? If she had consensual sex, why was she strangled? Why was her husband seemingly unaware that she had failed to come home on the night she was killed?
In this gripping murder story, Siân Busby gradually peels away the veneer of stoicism and respectability to reveal the dark truths at the heart of postwar austerity Britain.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2013
26 people are currently reading
672 people want to read
About the author
Siân Busby
8 books10 followersSiân Elizabeth Busby (19 November 1960 – 4 September 2012) was a British writer.
The daughter of the Canadian actor Tom Busby and Wendy Russell, she was educated at Creighton School in Muswell Hill and read English at Sussex University.
Originally embarking in a career in arts television, she later switched to writing. Her first two books were non-fiction. A Wonderful Little Girl (2003) concerned a Welsh child whose apparent ability to survive without nourishment led doctors to term the condition anorexia while The Cruel Mother (2004) was a semi-autobiographical account of child murder by one of Busby's ancestors. McNaughten (2009) concerned a mentally unstable 19th century woodcutter who was accused of attempting to assassinate Sir Robert Peel. Daniel M'Naghten, a genuine historical figure, had instead shot and fatally injured Edward Drummond, Peel's private secretary. Significant in case law, the M'Naghten rules resulted from his acquittal at the subsequent trial.on the grounds of insanity. Another book Who Was Boudicca, Warror Queen (2006) was written for children.
Busby was diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer in 2007.[4]She had finished her last book, a novel A Commonplace Killing, shortly before she died from the disease. The book, describing the investigation into the murder of a woman in post-war London, was published in May 2013 and featured as BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime in June of the same year. Busby was married to Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, with whom she had a son. Peston and Busby had known each other since their teens, and only rekindled their relationship after her friend, Peston's sister Juliet, was hospitalised after a road accident.[6] In the meantime, Busby had married and been divorced from the Dutch film maker Kees Ryninks, with whom she had a son.
The daughter of the Canadian actor Tom Busby and Wendy Russell, she was educated at Creighton School in Muswell Hill and read English at Sussex University.
Originally embarking in a career in arts television, she later switched to writing. Her first two books were non-fiction. A Wonderful Little Girl (2003) concerned a Welsh child whose apparent ability to survive without nourishment led doctors to term the condition anorexia while The Cruel Mother (2004) was a semi-autobiographical account of child murder by one of Busby's ancestors. McNaughten (2009) concerned a mentally unstable 19th century woodcutter who was accused of attempting to assassinate Sir Robert Peel. Daniel M'Naghten, a genuine historical figure, had instead shot and fatally injured Edward Drummond, Peel's private secretary. Significant in case law, the M'Naghten rules resulted from his acquittal at the subsequent trial.on the grounds of insanity. Another book Who Was Boudicca, Warror Queen (2006) was written for children.
Busby was diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer in 2007.[4]She had finished her last book, a novel A Commonplace Killing, shortly before she died from the disease. The book, describing the investigation into the murder of a woman in post-war London, was published in May 2013 and featured as BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime in June of the same year. Busby was married to Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, with whom she had a son. Peston and Busby had known each other since their teens, and only rekindled their relationship after her friend, Peston's sister Juliet, was hospitalised after a road accident.[6] In the meantime, Busby had married and been divorced from the Dutch film maker Kees Ryninks, with whom she had a son.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
January 16, 2020
This was a very good book. Although it was a bit slow that was how the police did things in 1946, luckily it’s nit like that now and murders are caught usually very quickly.
I did enjoy this book and it kept me interested to see who did the murder, whether they caught the right one is for the reader to make up their own mind.
It was quite a sad read as the author who was married to Robert Peston died at a young age before completing the book and Robert actually finished it. If you can still read it with that in mind it was worth it. Unfortunately there will be no more of her books.
I did enjoy this book and it kept me interested to see who did the murder, whether they caught the right one is for the reader to make up their own mind.
It was quite a sad read as the author who was married to Robert Peston died at a young age before completing the book and Robert actually finished it. If you can still read it with that in mind it was worth it. Unfortunately there will be no more of her books.
June 3, 2013
Siân Busby died last year, and she left an extraordinary book behind her. A book that brings a time, a place, a community to life; a book that pulls the reader back there to see and understand what is happening, and why it is happening.
The war ended in 1945, and Britain celebrated. But after the Victory speeches, after the street parties, after the reunions life had to go on. There were painful consequences as life went on.
Many men came home to find wives who had thought that they would never return. Wives had been unfaithful, wives who had changed as they had to work, as they had to cope with the consequences of war on the home front. Many women lost their jobs, lost their independence, when they had to give way to men who had come home. They still had to cope with rationing and shortage. They still had to live among bomb sites, in temporary accommodation, in houses with bomb damage.
Britain had changed, and in 1946 there were consequences.
In north London, two school-boys found a woman's body on a bomb site. At first police thought that they were dealing with another sex crime, but they came to realise that they were dealing with something rather different.
Lily felt that she was doing everything, holding her family together. She kept house, she looked after her frail mother, she queued and queued for what little food there was. Her husband bored her; her lodger, who hadn't given her any rent since she lost her job, infuriated her, but she didn't have the heart to turn her out. She took a pride in her appearance, in her few nice things, her occasional nights out.
An ordinary, unremarkable woman. Whose life ended when she was strangled on a bomb site.
I couldn't say that I liked her, but I accepted that she was what she was, that she was what life had made her. A real fallible woman, made of flesh and blood, with hopes, dreams, desires ...
I did like the man who lead the enquiry into the circumstances of her death. DDI Jim Cooper was a veteran of World War I, and one of oh so many who thought he had fought in the war to end all wars. he hadn't, and he had observed and understood the consequences of the next war as he did his job on the home front. His instinct told him that he would find the explanation for Lily's death close to her home.
The pictures that Sian Busby paints of Lily's world and of the investigation of her death are clear, vivid, rich in detail, and utterly, utterly real. The people, the places, the times, lived and breathed, and I had such confidence in the author. It was so clear that she had studied, that she had cared, and most of all that she had understood.
The story that emerged was psychologically perfect; the consequence of characters and their circumstances. And though it was natural, the final revelations still hit me hard.
It isn't a comfortable story, but it is compelling, illuminating, and horribly believable.
A rare instance too of murder mystery, social history and literary fiction working together, quite beautifully.
The war ended in 1945, and Britain celebrated. But after the Victory speeches, after the street parties, after the reunions life had to go on. There were painful consequences as life went on.
Many men came home to find wives who had thought that they would never return. Wives had been unfaithful, wives who had changed as they had to work, as they had to cope with the consequences of war on the home front. Many women lost their jobs, lost their independence, when they had to give way to men who had come home. They still had to cope with rationing and shortage. They still had to live among bomb sites, in temporary accommodation, in houses with bomb damage.
Britain had changed, and in 1946 there were consequences.
In north London, two school-boys found a woman's body on a bomb site. At first police thought that they were dealing with another sex crime, but they came to realise that they were dealing with something rather different.
Lily felt that she was doing everything, holding her family together. She kept house, she looked after her frail mother, she queued and queued for what little food there was. Her husband bored her; her lodger, who hadn't given her any rent since she lost her job, infuriated her, but she didn't have the heart to turn her out. She took a pride in her appearance, in her few nice things, her occasional nights out.
An ordinary, unremarkable woman. Whose life ended when she was strangled on a bomb site.
I couldn't say that I liked her, but I accepted that she was what she was, that she was what life had made her. A real fallible woman, made of flesh and blood, with hopes, dreams, desires ...
I did like the man who lead the enquiry into the circumstances of her death. DDI Jim Cooper was a veteran of World War I, and one of oh so many who thought he had fought in the war to end all wars. he hadn't, and he had observed and understood the consequences of the next war as he did his job on the home front. His instinct told him that he would find the explanation for Lily's death close to her home.
The pictures that Sian Busby paints of Lily's world and of the investigation of her death are clear, vivid, rich in detail, and utterly, utterly real. The people, the places, the times, lived and breathed, and I had such confidence in the author. It was so clear that she had studied, that she had cared, and most of all that she had understood.
The story that emerged was psychologically perfect; the consequence of characters and their circumstances. And though it was natural, the final revelations still hit me hard.
It isn't a comfortable story, but it is compelling, illuminating, and horribly believable.
A rare instance too of murder mystery, social history and literary fiction working together, quite beautifully.
January 15, 2014
Whilst not much of a mystery - the villain is identified about 1/2 way through - this book is a superb evocation of the immediate postwar period, with its shortages & rationing, & spivs, wide-boys & narks. But I also found it unnecessarily heavy going. Of course the setting is depressing - the best meal anyone eats is fried spam with mashed potato - but the central character, DDI Jim Cooper, is an absolute total pill, one of those people who goes through life with his own private rain cloud over his head. Even the presence of the delightful (if awkwardly named) Policewoman Tring, who reminded me of Tim Ellis's Mary Richards, fails to cheer him up. Were it me, even if I had no romantic interest in an attractive 20-something obviously smitten with me, the prospect of sharing my detective experience & skills with such an eager student would have had me off to work in a euphoric mood despite a diet of powdered eggs & fish paste.
Siân Busby was a real loss to literature. She had a rare gift for historical settings. I was fascinated by her nonfiction book The Cruel Mother despite learning more about 19th-century pseudo-scientific theories of post-partum depression than I ever want to know. (I loved the stuff on lace-making though.) I hope someone will tell me how to pronounce Siân though. Tried the internet and found "Sharn" but wondered if the r was sounded.
Siân Busby was a real loss to literature. She had a rare gift for historical settings. I was fascinated by her nonfiction book The Cruel Mother despite learning more about 19th-century pseudo-scientific theories of post-partum depression than I ever want to know. (I loved the stuff on lace-making though.) I hope someone will tell me how to pronounce Siân though. Tried the internet and found "Sharn" but wondered if the r was sounded.
January 31, 2015
“You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know this one can’t be cracked — no matter how hard you try. Bet you a bob to a bootlace on that…. They shan’t thank you for wasting [police] time and money on a commonplace killing.”
So Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper is told by an older and more jaded colleague; however, the terribly damaged Cooper thinks that everyone — even a common tart — deserves his full attention, telling himself, “Murder is murder.” And the more Cooper directs his laser-sharp focus on pretty, blonde Lillian Frobisher, the more he realizes that what at first glance seemed a trick-gone-wrong in 1946 still-war-torn London is actually something quite different.
Frobisher, still drawing admiring looks at 43, feels resentful of upper-middle-class women, cinema stars, her stupid husband Walter; her senile, bedridden mother, and her young, free-loading and free-wheeling lodger Evelyn Wilkes — indeed, resentful of just about everything to do with the post-war world, with its rationing, shortages, long queues, and austerity. While her husband was gone, Frobisher managed to use her glamorous looks to get herself attention, silk stockings, and perks from passing GIs and enjoyed herself, despite the blitz. On this day (her last, unknown to her), Frobisher decides that she’s still young enough to start over with a new man and a more prosperous future.
Told alternately from Frobisher’s account of her last days, Cooper’s account of his investigation, and the blurred remembrances of a petty criminal (a “spiv” in the parlance of the day) coming off a hell of a bender, A Commonplace Killing suffuses the reader with the atmosphere of post-war London and provides a tautly crafted historical mystery — a most un-commonplace novel, if you’ll pardon the expression. Too bad this will be the only DDI Cooper mystery we’ll get. Author Siân Busby died of lung cancer shortly after completing A Commonplace Killing. I mourn for that late Ms. Busby and for what might have been.
August 25, 2014
There is a very sad preface to this book in the form of a note from the author's husband, Robert Person (who is quite well known in the UK as a BBC journalist). In this note, he explains how during the writing of A Commonplace Killing, Sian was suffering from lung cancer, a disease which eventually killed her before she could finish the novel completely. Indeed, the final chapters were actually completed by Robert himself, transcribed from his wife's notebook. I think it's important to know this because it does explain the even shorter chapters and how the detail that is so rich and present in the rest of the book sort of trails off as the story reaches its conclusion.
I wouldn't say it's a crime novel in the strictest sense, I think of it more as a social commentary on the state of Britain after the Second World War: a high crime rate, poor food and a growing disatisfaction with everyday life. The book follows one storyline from two different perspectives; that of the police detective investigating the case and the other of the woman whom, if you've given the blurb even a cursory glance, you know is going to be murdered. The two do not run parallel in time with each other so are a little disjointed.
The plot is predictable - if you think you know who did it, you know who did it - but as I said, I think the idea behind the book is less about the crime and more about the people and the time and state in which they are living. The characters are excellent (I always think it's a skill if an author creates a character who on a surface level I should like but who I really don't - WPC Tring, I'm looking at you) and the detail in Busby's description is spot on. Overall, a novel with a decent plot elavated by Busby's amazing eye for detail and ability to recreate a world she was never a part of.
I wouldn't say it's a crime novel in the strictest sense, I think of it more as a social commentary on the state of Britain after the Second World War: a high crime rate, poor food and a growing disatisfaction with everyday life. The book follows one storyline from two different perspectives; that of the police detective investigating the case and the other of the woman whom, if you've given the blurb even a cursory glance, you know is going to be murdered. The two do not run parallel in time with each other so are a little disjointed.
The plot is predictable - if you think you know who did it, you know who did it - but as I said, I think the idea behind the book is less about the crime and more about the people and the time and state in which they are living. The characters are excellent (I always think it's a skill if an author creates a character who on a surface level I should like but who I really don't - WPC Tring, I'm looking at you) and the detail in Busby's description is spot on. Overall, a novel with a decent plot elavated by Busby's amazing eye for detail and ability to recreate a world she was never a part of.
August 20, 2013
A word of warning, the foreword written by Sian Busby’s husband, Robert Peston, is incredibly touching and had me in tears.
A Commonplace Killing is a deceptively hard-hitting book. No scenes of gruesome violence are written on the page it is worse than that; Sian Busby writes eloquently about the time when the old rules were swiped aside leaving a grubby stain on the country.
Set in Holloway, North London Lillian Forbisher narrates half the story detailing the lead up to the murder. The other half is narrated by the voice of the loveable Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper. With the war over 1946 had become a time where the murder of a tart in a bad area was now a commonplace matter but still one where Jim Cooper wanted the right results, after all this was a time when if convicted the perpetrator would hang.
Sian Busby certainly worked hard to research the time not just how Holloway looked, but how the country acted, the unrelenting continuation of rationing and the necessary queuing, the lack of real jobs for the men returning all give the impression of a nation who have won the war but simply can’t believe that life will improve. Our protagonist Lillian is trying so hard to believe her life can get better while her poor husband Walter is struggling to adapt to life back home and DDI Jim Cooper is worried that love has passed him by.
I found this understated book a fascinating portrait of post-war Britain, the writing was engaging and the key(s) to the murder was skilfully revealed.
I received my copy of this book from the publisher in return for my unbiased review.
See my thoughts on books at http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress....
A Commonplace Killing is a deceptively hard-hitting book. No scenes of gruesome violence are written on the page it is worse than that; Sian Busby writes eloquently about the time when the old rules were swiped aside leaving a grubby stain on the country.
Set in Holloway, North London Lillian Forbisher narrates half the story detailing the lead up to the murder. The other half is narrated by the voice of the loveable Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper. With the war over 1946 had become a time where the murder of a tart in a bad area was now a commonplace matter but still one where Jim Cooper wanted the right results, after all this was a time when if convicted the perpetrator would hang.
Sian Busby certainly worked hard to research the time not just how Holloway looked, but how the country acted, the unrelenting continuation of rationing and the necessary queuing, the lack of real jobs for the men returning all give the impression of a nation who have won the war but simply can’t believe that life will improve. Our protagonist Lillian is trying so hard to believe her life can get better while her poor husband Walter is struggling to adapt to life back home and DDI Jim Cooper is worried that love has passed him by.
I found this understated book a fascinating portrait of post-war Britain, the writing was engaging and the key(s) to the murder was skilfully revealed.
I received my copy of this book from the publisher in return for my unbiased review.
See my thoughts on books at http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress....
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2020
A very different read , but I liked it.
Was very poignant knowing that the author Sian Busby manuscript was transcribed by her partner after her death .
You can see the difference In Writing from page 259 , but her partner Robert explains that beautifully and does her such an incredible justice with the finished book. I will definitely read more of her 5 novels over the next year .
Was very poignant knowing that the author Sian Busby manuscript was transcribed by her partner after her death .
You can see the difference In Writing from page 259 , but her partner Robert explains that beautifully and does her such an incredible justice with the finished book. I will definitely read more of her 5 novels over the next year .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2015
A very good book, with well drawn characters and an involving story. A body is discovered by two schoolboys. Determining the background to this murder forms the narrative and is viewed from the different viewpoints. We are introduced to Lillian, as she tells her story, her husband, Walter who has returned from the war to less than a rapturous welcome from his wife. She had enjoyed her years of relative freedom in his absence.
There is the growing relationship between Tring, a beautiful young Policewoman and the lonely but likable Senior Detective, who is smitten with her, can this relationship develop, read on to discover more.
As the tale unfolds each of the characters is portrayed sympathetically, in the background of the post war era, the reader can empathise with the best and the worst of human nature. This is an engaging and enjoyable read, sad and poignant, difficult to put down once started. This is even more poignant because it was Sian Busby's last novel, she died before the final chapters were edited. Her husband, Robert Peston introduces her novel, and this is a fitting testament to her.
There is the growing relationship between Tring, a beautiful young Policewoman and the lonely but likable Senior Detective, who is smitten with her, can this relationship develop, read on to discover more.
As the tale unfolds each of the characters is portrayed sympathetically, in the background of the post war era, the reader can empathise with the best and the worst of human nature. This is an engaging and enjoyable read, sad and poignant, difficult to put down once started. This is even more poignant because it was Sian Busby's last novel, she died before the final chapters were edited. Her husband, Robert Peston introduces her novel, and this is a fitting testament to her.
July 11, 2018
It is very sad that the very talented author Sian Busby died from lung cancer in September 2012.
This a very beautiful well written postwar novel. The memories of this story will stay with me forever.
This story has been read on BBC radio 4.
The story is a masterpiece with two schoolboys who find the body of a woman.
Division detectives find the woman laying spread out upon the ground. Somebody somewhere will be missing her. It appears that nobody living near the murder scene heard or witnessed anything.
I recommend A Commonplace Killing to all readers and this would make good reading for any book clubs.
I hope that many readers will enjoy reading A Commonplace Killing by the late Sian Busby as much as I have.
This a very beautiful well written postwar novel. The memories of this story will stay with me forever.
This story has been read on BBC radio 4.
The story is a masterpiece with two schoolboys who find the body of a woman.
Division detectives find the woman laying spread out upon the ground. Somebody somewhere will be missing her. It appears that nobody living near the murder scene heard or witnessed anything.
I recommend A Commonplace Killing to all readers and this would make good reading for any book clubs.
I hope that many readers will enjoy reading A Commonplace Killing by the late Sian Busby as much as I have.
June 22, 2013
From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
By Sian Busby. Dark thriller set in post-war north London, 1946. Read by Harriet Walter.
Obituary: Siân Busby, 6 September 2012
What a pity....
By Sian Busby. Dark thriller set in post-war north London, 1946. Read by Harriet Walter.
Obituary: Siân Busby, 6 September 2012
What a pity....
January 2, 2015
A bit of a Commonplace bore.
March 8, 2022
A good post war murder mystery. I enjoyed the telling from different points of view but didn’t find it that engaging.
January 5, 2016
This was a curious little novel. Written by Sian Busby when she was dying of lung cancer, and completed after her death by her husband, using the notes she had made.
From that point of view, I do feel rather bad about giving it a poor review, but really it wasn't all that good. I think that, had Sian Busby been able to edit and re-write some sections, it could have been so much better and would have been a truly fitting tribute to her as a novelist.
There's nothing wrong with the writing, as such but I found the plot line rather weak, which disappointed me. There was very little guesswork involved as to who was the killer. It was one of two people, and one of them was ruled out very early on, so it was the other one then! And then it was just left to the police to find him. From that point, the story was quite good in that it showed how far police procedure and forensics have come in the past seventy years. At one point the police detective admitted that they often never caught the murderer in some cases, because the evidence and witnesses were not there. No DNA testing - the case would have been solved very quickly in this novel purely from the raincoat on which the victim was lying.
Sian Busby clearly did an immense amount of research into the time period and popular culture of 1946 - what films people were going to see, what film stars and radio stars were popular. Unfortunately rather too much of that research was included, with too many cultural references - so and so looked just like this or that film star etc. The research really needed to have been worn more lightly in the novel so it didn't become a "spot the 1946 reference" for me.
And the detective, from what I could gather, was by then in his early or mid forties. Mooning like a lovesick teenager over his policewoman driver was just too ridiculous for words. That bit really ought to have been cut from the final draft. Too daft for words. He was, after all, a mature man who had had relationships in the past and knew how they worked or didn't work. I get that the point was to show he was lonely, but he could have just asked her out if he'd wanted to ...
I am, nevertheless, in awe of Sian Busby for managing to press on and all but complete her novel in the face of her own illness and death. A lesser person would have given up. I just wish it had been a better tribute to her talents as a novelist.
From that point of view, I do feel rather bad about giving it a poor review, but really it wasn't all that good. I think that, had Sian Busby been able to edit and re-write some sections, it could have been so much better and would have been a truly fitting tribute to her as a novelist.
There's nothing wrong with the writing, as such but I found the plot line rather weak, which disappointed me. There was very little guesswork involved as to who was the killer. It was one of two people, and one of them was ruled out very early on, so it was the other one then! And then it was just left to the police to find him. From that point, the story was quite good in that it showed how far police procedure and forensics have come in the past seventy years. At one point the police detective admitted that they often never caught the murderer in some cases, because the evidence and witnesses were not there. No DNA testing - the case would have been solved very quickly in this novel purely from the raincoat on which the victim was lying.
Sian Busby clearly did an immense amount of research into the time period and popular culture of 1946 - what films people were going to see, what film stars and radio stars were popular. Unfortunately rather too much of that research was included, with too many cultural references - so and so looked just like this or that film star etc. The research really needed to have been worn more lightly in the novel so it didn't become a "spot the 1946 reference" for me.
And the detective, from what I could gather, was by then in his early or mid forties. Mooning like a lovesick teenager over his policewoman driver was just too ridiculous for words. That bit really ought to have been cut from the final draft. Too daft for words. He was, after all, a mature man who had had relationships in the past and knew how they worked or didn't work. I get that the point was to show he was lonely, but he could have just asked her out if he'd wanted to ...
I am, nevertheless, in awe of Sian Busby for managing to press on and all but complete her novel in the face of her own illness and death. A lesser person would have given up. I just wish it had been a better tribute to her talents as a novelist.
February 6, 2014
I'm acutely aware of the sad back-story to this book, and filled with admiration for both the late author and her husband, Robert Peston, who I believe finished the book posthumously from his wife's notes. I so wanted it to be good - but I'm afraid it's not.
It's not well written - it's not badly written either - but it is a bit clunky, and occasionally a little self-consciously erudite. The characters aren't well developed nor are any of them sympathetic - I really didn't care about them - any of them, and the main protagonist, DDI Cooper, appears to have the emotional lability of a moonstruck teenager. The biggest shortcoming, though, is the plot line. It's not good, it's not engaging and there's no tension.
On the upside, and the reason I was able to give it two stars rather than one, she does create a good sense of place. The book is set in a part of London I know well, so Holloway, the Cally, Finsbury Park are all old friends - indeed my son still lives in Finny Park. I can well imagine how bleak this part of North London would have been in the immediate post-war years, how dreadful rationing must have been and what hard work it was to just keep body and soul together - a far cry for the 'gentrification' you'll find there now.
Overall I can't recommend this book - i really wish I could.
It's not well written - it's not badly written either - but it is a bit clunky, and occasionally a little self-consciously erudite. The characters aren't well developed nor are any of them sympathetic - I really didn't care about them - any of them, and the main protagonist, DDI Cooper, appears to have the emotional lability of a moonstruck teenager. The biggest shortcoming, though, is the plot line. It's not good, it's not engaging and there's no tension.
On the upside, and the reason I was able to give it two stars rather than one, she does create a good sense of place. The book is set in a part of London I know well, so Holloway, the Cally, Finsbury Park are all old friends - indeed my son still lives in Finny Park. I can well imagine how bleak this part of North London would have been in the immediate post-war years, how dreadful rationing must have been and what hard work it was to just keep body and soul together - a far cry for the 'gentrification' you'll find there now.
Overall I can't recommend this book - i really wish I could.
April 16, 2014
A classic whodunit, there is no twist who you think did it, did it. What made this book for me was the depiction of post war Britain with its shortages, rationing, queuing for basic foodstuffs to make a meal of spam and mash. The effects of the war on those returning to no jobs and suffering trauma, the women also changed by it and having to cope with returning husbands from whom they have grown apart. The austerity of post war London is so clearly evoked underlining the futility of it all.
May 12, 2014
i really struggled to finish this book probably due to the way it was written. It advances very slowly, comstantly changes perspective / main character (in each chapter) and ends up being a bit confusing. The vocab is most likely specific to post war England as there afe quite a few words I dont know ie spiv, and that annoyed me. Ending was no real surprise and I had at least expected to get it wromg.
June 21, 2013
This is the best new book that I have read in a long time. It's a cliche but I really could not put it down. The backdrop of London in 1946 is set out perfectly and the characters draw you in to their world with ease. It's an absolute tragedy that Sian Busby is no longer with us.
July 27, 2016
This was an interesting read, historically, as it deals with London recovering from the war, and attitudes towards women, crime and the war at that time. I didn't really connect with any of the characters though, so it fell rather flat for me.
June 20, 2018
Ok listen. Not much happened ...
May 22, 2025
Struggled to finish. Slow going with not much mystery but authentic atmosphere of the time.
February 26, 2017
This book is introduced in the Foreward by the husband of the author who talks us through the difficult journey that his wife underwent while writing this novel, her battle with cancer that would eventually take her life before she completed it, or so he thought. He talks about finding her written notes that contained the last few chapters in their most basic form and so with their inclusion he went ahead and published this novel as she would have wanted him to do.
It's a tale set in a dark and dismal post war London, where rationing is still going on and people are perfectly willing to take things from a booming black market in order to supplement the meagre amounts they are living on despite the fact the war is now over and the men are home. The book opens with the discovery of a woman's body in an area of bombed out land in the east end of London, the detective investigating the murder has no idea who she is or how she comes to be lying strangled in an area of waste ground with no identification and no clue as to who is responsible for her death.
The book flits back and forward between the life of the victim Lilian Frobisher and the investigation into her death and it's circumstances. We learn that Lilian's life is not a happy one, her husband Walter has returned from war but their loveless marriage is still no better than it was before the war and in fact for Lilian life was better during the war when she'd happily spend a night with a GI or soldier in order to get access to the perks they could offer her such as stockings or a little lipstick. In fact her husband's return is making her so unhappy she dreams of running away and starting a new life where her looks will allow her to trade for a better standard of life.
From the detective's perspective he finds himself dismissing the case as one that is now 'commonplace' in the landscape postwar, many woman are to be found selling themselves on street corners and the streets are full of many dodgy characters who will happily sell illegal wares on the blackmarket and crime really is the only career which seems to be paying.
This book was for me a really interesting one. At the time I'd been watching the BBC show, "Further Back In Time For Dinner" and I happened to be watching the week about the 1940's where they explored the attitudes to people being offered black market rations and the struggle to survive on the meagre amounts of meat that families were offered and the dreadful reconstituted foods that they had to survive on. It helped me to bring the time frame of this book to life and to perhaps understand more the state of mind that Lilian found herself in. At times she appears to be a difficult character, one who isn't always likeable but one who is clearly long suffering, struggling to find glamour in a very austere and bleak post war world and who just longs to hang onto her youth for a little longer before it fades forever. She doesn't have years ahead to wait for the good times to return as then she will have faded forever into the background where younger girls are more appealing.
For me this book was a read that kept my interest throughout, I found myself thinking about it and it's characters throughout the day and they would keep calling me back, longing to find out more about the murder and how Lilian did come to find herself strangled. Subsequently though the ending for me didn't quite provide a fulfilling package. Now yes, we need to bear in mind that perhaps it's author only just managed to get her ideas outlined for the concluding chapters before unfortunately she passed away and you do find a difference in the descriptiveness of the last section, however for me it was around the murderer and the reasons for their actions.
I don't want to give anything away but I found that it never fully offered an explanation other than it was an effect of war. An unfortunate incident caused by a man who the war has left wounded and who cannot provide any more explanation than that. I would have personally liked a little more background to this character as he did only pop into the story in the first person tense on a couple of occasions and it might have been nice to have read a little more.
Overall, a good read and enjoyable if you like war time settings and one I think will stand out in my memory, for me a more conclusive explanation for the murder would have made it a better more comprehensive read.
It's a tale set in a dark and dismal post war London, where rationing is still going on and people are perfectly willing to take things from a booming black market in order to supplement the meagre amounts they are living on despite the fact the war is now over and the men are home. The book opens with the discovery of a woman's body in an area of bombed out land in the east end of London, the detective investigating the murder has no idea who she is or how she comes to be lying strangled in an area of waste ground with no identification and no clue as to who is responsible for her death.
The book flits back and forward between the life of the victim Lilian Frobisher and the investigation into her death and it's circumstances. We learn that Lilian's life is not a happy one, her husband Walter has returned from war but their loveless marriage is still no better than it was before the war and in fact for Lilian life was better during the war when she'd happily spend a night with a GI or soldier in order to get access to the perks they could offer her such as stockings or a little lipstick. In fact her husband's return is making her so unhappy she dreams of running away and starting a new life where her looks will allow her to trade for a better standard of life.
From the detective's perspective he finds himself dismissing the case as one that is now 'commonplace' in the landscape postwar, many woman are to be found selling themselves on street corners and the streets are full of many dodgy characters who will happily sell illegal wares on the blackmarket and crime really is the only career which seems to be paying.
This book was for me a really interesting one. At the time I'd been watching the BBC show, "Further Back In Time For Dinner" and I happened to be watching the week about the 1940's where they explored the attitudes to people being offered black market rations and the struggle to survive on the meagre amounts of meat that families were offered and the dreadful reconstituted foods that they had to survive on. It helped me to bring the time frame of this book to life and to perhaps understand more the state of mind that Lilian found herself in. At times she appears to be a difficult character, one who isn't always likeable but one who is clearly long suffering, struggling to find glamour in a very austere and bleak post war world and who just longs to hang onto her youth for a little longer before it fades forever. She doesn't have years ahead to wait for the good times to return as then she will have faded forever into the background where younger girls are more appealing.
For me this book was a read that kept my interest throughout, I found myself thinking about it and it's characters throughout the day and they would keep calling me back, longing to find out more about the murder and how Lilian did come to find herself strangled. Subsequently though the ending for me didn't quite provide a fulfilling package. Now yes, we need to bear in mind that perhaps it's author only just managed to get her ideas outlined for the concluding chapters before unfortunately she passed away and you do find a difference in the descriptiveness of the last section, however for me it was around the murderer and the reasons for their actions.
I don't want to give anything away but I found that it never fully offered an explanation other than it was an effect of war. An unfortunate incident caused by a man who the war has left wounded and who cannot provide any more explanation than that. I would have personally liked a little more background to this character as he did only pop into the story in the first person tense on a couple of occasions and it might have been nice to have read a little more.
Overall, a good read and enjoyable if you like war time settings and one I think will stand out in my memory, for me a more conclusive explanation for the murder would have made it a better more comprehensive read.
August 23, 2017
This story is told through the eyes of two main characters, Lillian Frobisher, and Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper.
Lillian is a desperate housewife who is missing something in her life, despite the fact that her husband Walter returned home safely from the war and that she has a loving son who is growing into a responsible young man. Lillian is represented as a spirited and attractive woman who craved independence and ultimately found trouble.
DDI Cooper is a Great War veteran who is a shadow of the man he once was. He feels irrational guilt for not participating in the recent war, he is broken-hearted and lonely after a love affair ended with his mistress, but yet despite his personal demons, he is determined to successfully solve his first murder investigation. A murder which is considered: “a commonplace killing”.
Busby delves into the minds, hearts and times of post-war England. The story is intriguing, and would be of interest to those who like historical mysteries.
This was Sian Busby’s second and final novel. Sadly she passed away while writing this story and never saw it published. Her husband, BBC Business Editor, Robert Peston, transcribed the book’s final few chapters from a notebook he found after her death. It was published shortly thereafter.
Lillian is a desperate housewife who is missing something in her life, despite the fact that her husband Walter returned home safely from the war and that she has a loving son who is growing into a responsible young man. Lillian is represented as a spirited and attractive woman who craved independence and ultimately found trouble.
DDI Cooper is a Great War veteran who is a shadow of the man he once was. He feels irrational guilt for not participating in the recent war, he is broken-hearted and lonely after a love affair ended with his mistress, but yet despite his personal demons, he is determined to successfully solve his first murder investigation. A murder which is considered: “a commonplace killing”.
Busby delves into the minds, hearts and times of post-war England. The story is intriguing, and would be of interest to those who like historical mysteries.
This was Sian Busby’s second and final novel. Sadly she passed away while writing this story and never saw it published. Her husband, BBC Business Editor, Robert Peston, transcribed the book’s final few chapters from a notebook he found after her death. It was published shortly thereafter.
July 19, 2020
In this final novel, Sian Busby recreates life in post-war London. Jim Cooper is the world weary detective on the hunt for black marketeers and other spivs in the dank streets and bombed out houses of inner London. The body of a woman is found strangled. A murder investigation ensues, a change for Cooper. The story-line flashes forward and back following the time-line of the murder victim and that of the investigation. Lilian is unhappily married to Walter, who she had hoped would not return from the war. They live in the bomb-damaged house of her with her demented mother, with a young girl Evelyn and her son, Douglas - the only good thing about her life. She becomes the victim. Hard-drinking Cooper, unmarried and alone, infatuated with his young driver, Policewoman Tring, follows the leads and solves the crime.
July 8, 2022
Very refreshing to read a novel set in the aftermath of WW2. The author creates the right atmosphere of disillusionment as people struggle with rationing and settling back into a peacetime setting. It's well researched with details of food ( spam, powdered eggs), clothing ( mending a suspender with a small coin) and entertainment ( films on at multiple cinemas and the prevalence of radio). The battle scarred WW1 detective and his love for a colleague is sensitively described but the overall condescending and controlling attitude to women is well represented. Despite the success of the Allies in WW2, there is the feeling in this narrative that nobody really wins in war time.
How sad that Sian died and we cannot read more.
How sad that Sian died and we cannot read more.
January 16, 2020
The story paints a very depressing story of life just after the war, according to this the majority of women were very promiscuous while their men were away while most men felt they were owed something. The main character Lilian Frobisher appears to have enjoyed life with the GI's while husband Walter is just please to be alive and has no spark. The policeman Det Jim Cooper is obsessed with PC Tring and thinks she must fancy him. not for me
February 27, 2022
What a lovely well written novel!I found I couldn't put it down.It's a pretty standard fare crime fiction story of which I've read many many before this one but there was just something that kept me reading,kept me interested,made me eager to reach the end.The characters are very interesting....I so wish there could have been a whole series.i would have loved to see these characters developed more and would have gladly accepted some more stories set in the post war setting....
July 7, 2019
Set just after the Second World War and amongst the bombed out buildings of London, the story follows the life and death of a murder victim told via three different perspectives. Sadly I found the story too slow and drawn out and just kept my fingers crossed it would get better. The narrators did a good job.
April 28, 2021
Not sure how to describe this. I finished it a while back so this is my overall memory impression. It was a compelling read, really well crafted. The story, characters and pacing -its all wonderfully composed and brought that post war period of London to life. The internal emotional life of the characters were rich and grounded.
July 20, 2024
I almost put this book aside as the lives described felt so grim and depressing, but I'm glad I persevered. Siân conveys the challenges of post-war London very well - the trauma of the men de-mobbed and the women de-moted. The details and limitations of police work in the late 1940's was really well researched and laid out. Dithering between 3 & 4 stars here...
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