An Air That Kills

Lydmouth #1

by Andrew Taylor

Workmen in the small market town of Lydmouth are demolishing an old cottage. A sledgehammer smashes into what looks like a solid wall. Instead, layers of wallpaper conceal the door of a locked cupboard which holds a box—and in the box is the skeleton of a young baby. Items within the box suggest that the baby was entombed early in the nineteenth century, but when another man is also found dead, the evidence suggests that the baby's death is more recent than it seems and that a killer is on the loose. Journalist Jill Francis, newly arrived from London, has her first assignment.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature, Audiobook, Historical

355 pages, ebook

First published November 17, 1994

About the author

Andrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouthbooks, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994).

His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Second read***

4.5 stars. If you’re interested in British historical crime fiction, this author is fantastic, and he covers so many different time periods in his different series. He even has standalones - and all that I’ve read are historical. You will never get that anachronistic feeling with Taylor. (At least, I never have.) He, seemingly effortlessly, immerses you in a time and place.

This series is the first in his Lydmouth series. Lydmouth is a (I believe fictional) market town in England near the border of Wales. Apparently Taylor and his family live in this area as well. This book takes place not long after WWII.

I wonder if Taylor may have been inspired by the work of Susan Hill, as they have similar writing styles, although her Serailler series is a modern one. Both write in short chapters, making it hard to stop reading, and both introduce ancillary characters you may never see again, but want to, because he gets you to know and feel for them with just a few lines.

There is a theme of adultery in here, which may not be for everyone, and usually isn’t for me all that much either. But I enjoy this author so much, and love the easy immersion into the story I feel every time I pick up one of his books.

In addition, Audible recently released this entire series in audio format, and the performer, Philip Franks, is absolutely perfect. Although I usually switch between print and audio, I’ve simultaneously listened while reading this more than once, because his delivery is so right for these stories and characters.

A British friend introduced me to Andrew Taylor about 15 years ago, and hounded me mercilessly to read him. She was so right; if you want to completely lose yourself in a book and/or audio performance, it’s hard to go wrong with this author or this series. Highly recommended.

***First read***

I'm so glad this was my first read book in 2010! Way to start out the year.

If you like a British mystery with an old-time feel, written by a man who knows how to write(!), then you've found a great new series. I almost checked my "classics" shelf when I logged this one in, because in many ways it feels like a classic.

Andrew Taylor makes his characters real in a masterful sense. Fiona, who has been pushing all manner of Andrew Taylor novels on me for some time, says "He gets you to know these characters he writes without you really seeing how he does it." I can't say it any better than that. When you care about even the villains, and minor characters like the clerks and barmaids, you know you've found a great talent.

His prose is very succinct. You'll not be slogging through pages and pages to get to the meat of anything here. You'll quickly move from appetizers to the main course.

I love the short chapters - sometimes only a page or two. Each chapter follows a different set of characters or flashes to a different scene. I like that. Not only does it keep me turning the pages to read just one more chapter, but I don't get bored staring at the same faces and places.

The plot was good, but not earth-shattering. I would have liked it if he'd revealed a bit less to the reader, so we could have puzzled over a few things for a bit longer. He did throw in a twist toward the very end that did rock my world a bit, and I was grateful for that.

The main characters are so interesting, and as well as I feel I know them, they have depth, so I want to learn more. I will definitely continue on with this series. I love a mystery with that great British backdrop of fog, mist, and rain. There is nothing better. Thank you Fiona, for not giving up and pushing this book at me until I finally read it!

[Deb Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first work of Andrew Taylor that I've read, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a tremendously atmospheric story. The squalor, the attitudes, the destitution and destruction that was prevalent in England after World War II is prevalent throughout. The story, and the reader, never get away from it. It adds a brilliance to the entire tone of the story -- not a brilliance of lustre, but instead of grayness and hopelessness that pervades.

The characters are portrayed realistically, each having one or more flaws that make them three-dimensional rather than words on a page.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Sentence: November is the month of the dead.

Both journalist Jill Francis and Inspector Richard Thornhill are new to Lydmouth and both have issues in their lives. Richard is trying to become accustomed to the ways of the small town and Jill is staying with her friend, Phillip, and his wealthy, and rather imperious wife, Charlotte.

During the clearing of an old property, an old wooden box is found containing a tarnished silver brooch and a baby’s bones. They go to the town historian, who points them back to a Victorian-era murder. However, the investigators find that things are not what they seem.

I’ve only recently discovered Andrew Taylor’s books, and what a delightful discovery it is. I’d previously read the second book in the Lydmouth series, but decided to go back and start the series at the beginning.

The setting is different from the norm: early post WWII, small-town England. Being a village, albeit fictional, allows the reader to become familiar with the residents and geography of this community located on the Anglo-Welsh border.

Next the characters: The two primary characters are outsiders to the community and to each other. In this first book, we meet the two characters and, through the story, learn their history and see their association begin. These are not sweetness and light characters, but are very human, as are all the characters in Taylor’s story. It reminds one that behind the façade of the idyllic village are people.

Taylor’s writing is evocative with a strong sense of time and place. The plot is wonderfully done. It seems quite straightforward, in the beginning, but goes somewhere I certainly never expected.

I so enjoyed this book, I am on a quest to find the rest of the Lydmouth series books.

AN AIR THAT KILLS (Trad Mys-Jill Francis/Ins. Richard Thornhill-England-1950s) - VG
Taylor, Andrew – 1st in Lydmouth series
St. Martin’s Press, 1995, US Hardcover – ISBN: 0312117396

[Christine Dolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am awarding 2 stars for the clever plotting, but otherwise it was a terrible book. The characters were intensely unlikable, in particular all of the lecherous men. I read on, because it was a good story, but I would hesitate to read the next in the series.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first in Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series of crime novels, set in a small town on the English/Welsh border in the years following the Second World War. Taylor paints a convincing picture of provincial life in the period; a world where late Victorian hypocrisy and a certain type of civic, male power still hold sway. Newly arrived in Lydmouth from The Fens of Cambridgeshire is Detective Inspector Thornhill. His first case opens the lid on some of the town's buried secrets and shines a light on the inequalities of small town life on the cusp of massive social change. It's something of a slow burner, and enjoyable enough, but I'm not sure I got enough out of it to enthuse me about reading the next in the series.

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever a book destroyed any nostalgia for the post war era, it's 'The Air That Kills'. Superbly written and evocative of the dreariness of England after the Second World War. Weak beer, shabby pubs, overflowing ashtrays and the awful weight of social convention stifling everyone. The characters are well realised and their, often horrible, personalities brought vividly to life. The author conveys beautifully the plight of women too who were still very secondary in all aspects of social life.
The book is more a study of the period wrapped up in a police procedural rather than a straightforward 'whodunit' but the resolution of the various crimes is very satisfying.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Andrew Taylor's writing and have read several of his historical novels.

This book was very different, in that it was set in the 1950s. The story unfolded slowly - possibly too slow a pace for some - but I wasn't bored by this. The attention to detail created the atmosphere of life in post-war England and the actual crime aspect was interesting enough to hold my attention.

"An Air That Kills" is the first in a series of crime novels. I think I'll be looking out for more of the Lydmouth books!

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small town in England is full of murderous individuals as Jill Francis arrives for a visit to forget her troubles:

https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/20...

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

Intriguing start to a new series (to me) by a favourite author set in the 1950s.

This book follows several different characters and at first it is difficult to see where the story is going or how they are connected, but it all comes together well at the end.

DI Thornhill and his family have transferred to the small market town of Lydmouth from Cambridgeshire. His first task is to investigate a series of local burglaries which the local coppers suspect is the work of a local ne'er-do-well Charlie Meakin who has recently returned to Lydmouth to stay with his mother from London where he consorted with notorious crime boss James 'Genghis' Carn who coincidentally has just been released from prison.

Jill Francis is a London journalist, she has left London in a hurry to stay with an old friend, Philip, and his wife Charlotte. Jill has been ill and this is something of a convalescence. On the train down from London she shares a carriage with a strange little man who gives her the creeps.

Workmen are clearing some derelict buildings from the grounds of an old pub, long-since fallen into disrepair, when they find a small box which contains what look like human remains, baby bones, a silver brooch and a scrap from a local newspaper - one which Charlotte coincidentally owns. Charlie happens to be one of the workmen who discover the remains.

Now with a potential murder to investigate as well, DI Thornhill turns to local historian Major Harcutt for the history of the buildings in which the bones were found. Major Harcutt suggests the bones may be related to a local notorious loose woman in the 1890s who murdered her twin children in order to run away with her Italian lover, the Major hypothesises that she had this before and the bones were the remains of an earlier child. Major Harcutt is the latest victim of the robberies and ends up hospitalised as a result. In her self-appointed role as lady bountiful, Charlotte decides that Major Harcutt's daughter Antonia must return to Lydmouth to nurse him.

How all these people come together, their interactions with each other and the identity of the baby's bones proves to be an interesting read. Although as others have said, the 1950s seems like a particularly bleak period of time in rural England.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Britain during the decade after the Second World War looked both ways: back toward the old certainties of the empire and forward to the wealth and change of modern life. It is in the England that Edgar-nominated suspense writer Andrew Taylor sets his powerful novel of long-buried secrets and still-burning issues of love, revenge, and justice.

"Jill Francis and Inspector Richard Thornhill are both newcomers to Lydmouth, an ancient market town on the border of England and Wales. She's just given up on her journalistic career for reasons she'd rather not discuss; he recently made an uneasy job switch to this small community that keeps harking back to the way things were before the war.

"They meet after a pitiful collection is unearthed at a building site: Workmen find an old wooden box containing a handful of baby's bones, a scrap of newspaper from the last century, and a tarnished silver brooch in the shape of a love knot. What looks to be a routing inquiry proves to be anything but, and Jill and Richard become unwilling partners in this perplexing case that draws them back to a celebrated Victorian murder trial. Soon their investigation takes a deadly turn, bringing past crimes very much into the present."
~~front flap

Lydmouth seems a grim, gritty little town, and the people in it likewise. None very likeable, all with grim, gritty secrets to hide or else just general nastiness. The jacket blurb is somewhat misleading: Jill and the Inspector do meet up, but there's no collaboration or teaming up, although Inspector Thornhill perhaps would like there to be, his marriage characterized by a dearth of affection or common ground.

[John Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must have enjoyed the first book of another series by this author enough to try this set (although not, it seems, enough to continue that one).

It was an easy enough read although with its postwar setting in the slums and poverty in part, it felt a bit dark and claustrophobic.
I acknowledge that this was a new series but I didn't really feel as if I had got to know the major characters well enough.
There were enough hints dropped in the book for the armchair detective to have the case sorted before Inspector Thornhill did. May be his mind was elsewhere.
I had the feeling that there were several possible background stories being trialed here. These may be used in later books. However, as with my previous taste of the authors work, I don't think I will be reading them.

[Pete Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I had read an excellent short story by the same author. Unfortunately, this was a disappointment - it had just about enough to keep going, but it was often boring and procedural. The lead detective was quite dull as a character. And although this is a period novel set after the war, you could easily forget that at times - the historical detail was light and had no real charm. I wouldn't read any more novels in this series.

[Kris McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid little mystery novel that is well-written and atmospheric, and Taylor does a good job of bringing the town of Lydmouth to life. While the characters are well-developed and the plot engaging, the pacing could be faster, and the mystery is relatively easy to solve.

Still, I expect to revisit this series as a palette cleanser between heavier fare.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful as context for Taylor's The Lover of the Grave and as an introduction to the Lydmouth series in general. That said, I didn't get the impression the books must be read in order.

After reading An Air that Kills, I appreciate The Lover of the Grave more than I did at first blush. Also, I plan to read more books in the series, which is probably higher praise for An Air that Kills than my 3 star rating.

[Wendy Percival · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having enjoyed a couple of the Lydmouth novels in the past, I decided it was time to go back to the beginning and read the ones I’d not yet read, in the right order.

In this first book, we meet the two characters who’ll be central to the series - Jill Francis, journalist, and Richard Thornhill, police inspector. We meet Jill as she arrives in the town by train. Clearly something distressing has happened in her relatively recent past, though we don’t find out what until well into the book.

The mystery revolves around the discovery of a baby’s bones which are dug up on a building site. It’s initially believed they’re from Victorian times but as enquiries unfold, a more recent secret is revealed.

This is not a fast-paced crime thriller, but a story told at a gentle pace, reflecting the conservative nature of society of the time. Set in the 1950s, it’s an interesting insight into life in Britain a few years after the Second World War. Optimism for the future is tempered by weariness of how much needs to be done and the drudgery of the slow pace of change.

The story was an intriguing one and an enjoyable read. The reader sees events through the eyes of several different characters, including the two main players and we also meet those associated characters (e.g. Philip, Jill’s friend and editor of the local newspaper, Thornhill’s police colleagues) who will appear in future books.

By the time I got the end of the book I felt I’d had the briefest introduction to Jill and Richard and was immediately keen to pick up the next book to continue to read how their story developed. I have the second book in the series, The Mortal Sickness, all lined up ready!

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘They say November used to be called the month of the dead.’

**First: my thanks to Linda. Her review of this book led me to read it.**

Set in the 1950s in Lydmouth, an ancient market town on the border between England and Wales. Two newcomers to Lydmouth: Jill Francis and Detective Inspector Richard Thornhill become involved in investigating a mystery. Both, as becomes clear during the story, are caught up with issues in their own lives. Jill, recovering from an emotional experience of her own, is visiting with her former colleague Philip and his wife Charlotte. Detective Inspector Thornhill and his family have their own adjustments to make to life in Lydmouth.

It is the week before Remembrance Sunday. When workmen demolishing an old inn discover a small box, a brooch, a scrap of old newspaper, and the pitiful remains of a newborn baby in a disused privy, the police are called in to investigate. How old are the remains? Could they be related to a woman tried in a celebrated Victorian murder trial? Who is involved in this case, and what is the truth? In looking for answers, Detective Inspector Thornhill finds that there are many more questions and a number of the inhabitants of Lydmouth have secrets which they’d rather not share.

I enjoyed this novel (published in 1995), and I’m looking forward to reading Mr Taylor’s other novels – including the series of which this book is the first instalment.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? I love Andrew Taylor. I love his writing, his characterization, his dry wit. No character is fully bad -- nor fully good. Just like in life. I look forward to devouring all the Lydmouth series and have them lined up from the library, like circling planes ready to land.

I have to say that his plot was one he semi-recycled in one of his later books and that I had a suspicion of what was coming near the end. But mostly it was the interplay between the characters that kept me eagerly reading. When I enter his world, I enter it completely.

[Sue Corbett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow to start with but slowly warmed up. Feels very old fashioned - suppose that’s AT deliberately giving it the post war atmosphere. Not sure it as quitevenough to persuade me to read the rest of the trilogy - definitely wouldn’t have been until the last few chapters but now, maybe I’ll look at part two. Not sure about the relationship between jill and thornhill for ages but I think that will develop in later books and the apparent animosity will show to be grudging admiration... hope not, in a way.
A bit too much explanation in places, unusual for AT.

[Bill Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was likeable. I don't think it was my cup of tea. Although, as the first in the series, I may venture further. I have read some of Andrew Taylor's other books and really enjoyed them, particularly Ashes of London and The Silent Boy. I think I felt I was watching a B Movie from the 1950s a lot of the time, and there is nothing wrong with that, it just didn't 'nourish' me. But it was an enjoyable page turning read and key relationships are set up for the next volumes, so I'm tempted to find out what next in the tense relationship between Thornhill and Francis.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Taylor's writing and the fact that this is number 1 of a series gives me new books to seek out. Great crime writing with strong characters, including a detective to root for, in the mid 20th century. I have also just bought The Fire court which is Taylor's historical crime sequel to The Fires of London which I am looking forward to.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too long, and just plain boring.

[Emg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much personal drama, not enough mystery.

[Bryngel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too slow for my liking and not enough mystery in this one. None of the characters were anyway near likeable, so no help there either. Lots and lots of drama, but no mystery.

[Lusephur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to reread.
Far better second time round. Will certainly be continuing the series.

[Moravian1297 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously, as an Andrew Taylor novel, this was technically well writen, there was no complaints on that score, but unfortunately though, I did find it somewhat boring.
I'm afraid to say, that nothing terribly exciting happened down Lydmouth way at all!

The main premise of the story, was that half a dozen tiny bones, which turned out to be the bones of a baby, but didn't even include a skull, were dug up during the renovation of some dilapidated buildings. With the excessive length of time it took the plot to confirm that they were indeed human bones and not those of a cat or a chicken, or indeed, of more interest to an archeologist than the police, diminished any iota of excitement at the discovery, as rapidly as it had begun.

In the meantime, there were a couple of subplots going down, which involved a small time crook, Charlie Meague, who'd returned to Lydmouth to escape the attention of his former London gang land boss, which believe me, sounds way more thrilling than it actually was, whom was also present at the discovery of the bones.
There was an incoming journalist, Jill Francis, who'd moved up to Lydmouth to escape the rat race in London and had moved in with her childhood friends, a husband and wife team, who were the proprietor and editor of the local rag and local busybodies. Where we eventually learned she was in fact trying to run away from a miscarriage to a married M.P. and again, this sounds way more melodramatic and provocative than it ever was, and didn’t seem to have any bearing whatsoever to the endgame of this particular story! A midweek, afternoon soap opera at best.
And finally we had the newly arrived in Lydmouth and sex starved police officer Detective Inspector Richard Thornhill, who's failed attempts at initiating sex with his wife were as excruciating as they were dull.

The bones were eventually taken along to a local amateur historian, the seemingly and somewhat eccentric, Major Harcutt, to see if he could shed any light on how and/or why they could have ended up where they were found.
But not long after, Major Harcutt, who'd obviously seen better days, ended up in the local hospital after almost being run down, which again sounds way, way more interesting than it ever actually was.
The afore mentioned newspaper proprietor and local busybody then sends her old school chum Jill Frances to fetch Major Harcutt's estranged daughter, Tony Harcutt, to come back to Lydmouth and look after her father on his release from hospital.
But as soon as Tony's absolute horror and reticence to do so is made apparent, I immediately knew then and there, that the child's bones would've been her baby and that her father had probably raped her and disposed of the infant, aaaand….. so it proved, removing even the slightest crumbs of any jeopardy and suspense, as well as being complete and utter humdrum.

This could have been the plot to an episode of Father Brown or Doctors any afternoon of the week you like, but unfortunately I didn't really like at all and admittedly, I will read the second installment of the Lydmouth series, but mainly because I've already bought it! It certainly wasn’t awful, but I do hope it improves.

[Elizabeth Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This melancholy tale is set in a small English town a few years after the second world war. Lydmouth is a place where everyone knows everybody else. The class system is alive and well, even though it is now much harder to find women willing to clean for their “betters.” Into this parochial atmosphere arrives London journalist Jill Francis whose nervous disposition on the train belies the confidence you would expect from her career. Staying with old friend Phillip and his stately wife Charlotte, a pillar of the community, she soon meets the other new inhabitant of the town. Richard Thornhill is a recently appointed Police Inspector trying to find his feet in the new job. His boss is a stereotypical Police Chief who likes to take credit for the work others have done. Meanwhile his wife Edith is worn out with housework and caring for two children, wishing her husband could be at home for longer hours.

The initial investigation concerns a box discovered on a building site which contains bones of a baby, a Victorian brooch and a newspaper scrap. A local historian attributes it to a murderer who lived in the building many years earlier and of course there is no DNA evidence to help with dating.
Meanwhile we find ourselves inside the heads of the other protagonists. The historian, Harcutt, lives alone in a large messy house with his dog, drinking more than is good for his advanced age. Reluctantly, his daughter, Antonia, is summoned to care for him and it is evident that there is no love lost between them. Local ne’er do well, Charlie Meague, who discovered the old box, is worried about his old mother’s health and he is also hoping he won’t be found by gangster “Genghis” Carn.

When a burglary and an unexpected death occur, it is only the beginning of dreadful events and Thornhill is determined to find the guilty. The plot moves slowly until the last few chapters, but it is beautifully revealed in excellent characterisation and telling dialogue. The reader is given sufficient information to be a few steps ahead of the detective and the vignettes of life leading up to a Remembrance Day denouement are delightful. Andrew Taylor’s beautiful prose will certainly tempt me to pick up the next episode of the Lydmouth Crime Series.

[Aisling Eislev · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was... okay?
Not impressive for a thriller. Perhaps I expected more from the writer; I was expecting the whole Charlie Meague story to connect with the bones one. I was expecting something unexpected, but clever instead, what we got was a 'shock' plot twist that didn't really connect with the rest of the story.
Too much stuff about irrelevant characters that didn't have anything to add to the main plot of the book, which was 'bones found in the cesspit'. I felt disappointed.
If I were not so stubborn about finishing it, there is a high chance I would've stopped reading it after 50 pages because it was not so very interesting of a crime novel, and a lot of random UNNECESSARY details were thrown and don't get me started on Thornhill's desire to cheat.
Jill Francis's whole character was unnecessary; if she were not there, then it wouldn't have had any effect on the story. I assume that she is being set up as a character for the next book in the series, but she didn't have to get treated as the main character in this one. And where was the part when she became 'an unwilling partner in Detective Inspector Thornhill’s investigation'? She never became a partner; the overreview was misleading.
Plus, I was praying the whole book that Thornhill, a man with a wife and CHILDREN, won't cheat with Jill Francis and thank God he didn't, but the last line of the book was literally him thinking of her when he's with his wife. So yeah, I don't think I want to read the next book in the series. And I won't recommend it to any of my friends cuz I am not cruel, and they are not that patient, neither am I, that's why I feel underwhelmed by getting this story after reading almost 400 PAGES.

[Wide Eyes, Big Ears! · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the years of poverty and struggle after WWII, the bones of a small child are found by workmen in the dour small UK town of Lydmouth. Newly promoted from the Fens, DI Thornhill is not fitting with the local police force. Emotionally battered, journalist Jill Francis encounters a sinister man on the train as she travels to Lydmouth to stay with friends and sort out her head. This is a town of secrets, of simmering violence and desperation, and the dominoes are about to fall. I liked a lot of things about this: the plot was complex, detailing different lives and fortunes with a slow reveal of their secrets; the murders weren’t rolled out at the start like a traditional whodunit, they happened organically over the life of the story; and the characters all felt real and three-dimensional. The only downside was the unrelentingly depressing tone: life is hard, no one is happy, not even after the murders are all solved - phew, talk about sombre. Audio narrator Philip Franks captured the mood and the characters perfectly. I’ll definitely chase up more of this series, once my mood has recovered!

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my introduction to Andrew Taylor's writing and it certainly didn't disappoint.

In the fictional town of Lydmouth which is situated on the boarder between the UK and Wales, two newcomers are caught up in a crime investigation. One is Detective Thornhill, the other a journalist Jill Francis. The entire book is set in the 1950s and paints a picture of a bleak time where people still clung to the past and in a place where everyone knows so much as everyone else's business.

When clearing out an old site some baby's bones are found alongside an old newspaper and a silver broach. Detective Thornhill wants to undertake a proper investigation. Meanwhile the local ne'er do well is having problems, and his mother has just been sacked.

This was a good listen albeit with more emphasis on the time, place and characters rather than any deep mystery for the reader to solve.

[jakkicook · Rating 5 out of 5]

So redolent of how I think of the 50s

This book was very atmospheric in the way it represented post war Britain, attitudes of the police, attitudes towards women, the hypocrisy and double standards, rather than being a crime novel, it seemed like the crimes, two of which I felt deep sympathy towards the perpetrators, were secondary to the social commentary.
I really liked this book, it left me with a sense of wanting more.
I did click into the next book in the series and was a bit surprised to be directed to Amazon music and to be told 'nous sommes desole'. Had a quick browse , not my type of music!😀 and my French is very basic!🤔