The Corpse's Tale

Detective Trevor Joseph Series #3.5

by Katherine John

Dai Morgan has the body of a man and the mind of a child. He lived with his mother in the Mid Wales village of Llan, next door to bright, beautiful 19 year old Anna Harris. The vicar found Anna's naked, battered body in the churchyard one morning. The police discovered Anna's bloodstained earring in Dai's pocket.
The judge gave Dai life.
After ten years in gaol Dai appealed against his sentence and was free. Sergeants Trevor Joseph and Peter Collins are sent to Llan to reopen the case. But the villagers refuse to believe Dai innocent. The Llan police do not make mistakes or allow murderers to walk free.
Do they?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2006

About the author

Katherine John is a pen name of the author Catrin Collier. She was born and brought up in Pontypridd and worked for a while in Europe and America before returning to her native Wales. She now lives on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea, with her family.

Reviews

[Erica⭐ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Wales. A young man with learning difficulties is sentenced for the murder of a local girl just as she is about to set off on an acting career. Dai serves ten years in prison before being released on appeal though the locals are still certain of his guilt. Then Sergeants Trevor Joseph and Peter Collins who take on the job of re-opening the case and seeking out new evidence without much co-operation from the villagers.

[Shahrun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice straight forward, uncomplicated murder mystery. I guessed who did it early on but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment. I’d like to try a full length story by this author to see if it is a little more complex.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, though its not as gripping as some of her books it is still a brilliant read, and I enjoyed it more this time, than in 2014 when I read it before.

[R.J. Spruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had begun reading the detective Trevor Joseph series with book one. I am hoping that the previous books have the same team dynamics of Peter Collins and Sarah Merchant, as I thoroughly enjoyed following them as they properly analysed and investigated the evidence of this cold case.

I am Welsh and reading this book made me feel as though I was at home, albeit, preferably one where I would be safe to walk through a churchyard without fear of falling axes!

I loved the idea of leaving a secret message for your illicit lover in an open, public place, even our dependable Welsh weather could not wash an eye liner pencil mark away. I did have my suspicions with the matching watches and when we saw the last resting place of Anna Harris. However, that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this great novel, by a reliably brilliant author.

[Book_Worm_Jim.83 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the synopsis reads…

“Dai Morgan has the body of a man and the mind of a child. He lived with his mother in the Mid Wales village of Llan, next door to bright, beautiful 19 year old Anna Harris. The vicar found Anna's naked, battered body in the churchyard one morning. The police discovered Anna's bloodstained earring in Dai's pocket. The judge gave Dai life. After ten years in gaol Dai appealed against his sentence and was freed”.


This is the first book by Katherine John that I have read, its short but I loved it. I was on Dai’s side from the start. It’s a simple murder mystery that’s well written and well developed given its such a shirt read.

The police do a great job but sometimes they can be prejudst and do get it wrong. This is a work if fiction but a quick google search for cases of injustice in Wales brings up a number of hits. Including that of ‘Mahmoud Matten’ who was a Somali sailer in Cardiff’s infamous docklands ‘Tiger Bay’ who was hung at Cardiff prison for a murder he did not commit.

Therefore reading ‘The Corpses Tale’ shows that injustice in Wales does occur from time to time and this makes it read like a nonfiction. It was gripping and the reader can only hope that Dai gets the justice he deserves.

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[Steven Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dai Morgan has the body of a man and the mind of a child. He lived with his mother in the Mid Wales village of Llan, next door to bright, beautiful 19 year old Anna Harris. The vicar found Anna's naked, battered body in the churchyard one morning. The police discovered Anna's bloodstained earring in Dai's pocket. The judge gave Dai life. After ten years in gaol Dai appealed against his sentence and was freed. Sergeants Trevor Joseph and Peter Collins are sent to Llan to reopen the case. But the villagers refuse to believe Dai innocent. The Llan police do not make mistakes or allow murderers to walk free. Do the

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short crime story set in a Welsh village. Sergeant Joseph and his team are sent to reinvestigate a 10 year old murder after the original suspect was acquitted of the crime and released.
I found the characters interesting and could picture the village and its inhabitants clearly - but I also figured out the truth much quicker than our police protagonists which took away from the reveal. Still, I enjoyed this quick read.

[Darla · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a another book I could not seem to get into. I tried. I got through one-third of it but was struggling to keep going. I've always found I might as well quit and try to read it at a later date. From the reviews posted by previous readers, I'm in the minority so you may like it.

[Danielle Durand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely interesting

Quick read. Kept my attention. Enjoyed the story. It kept me guessing. There did appear to be alot of typos though.

[Nataliec7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad little read actually. Seems to be part of a series which I wouldn't mind reading. Seems an easy read.

[Alison Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read. Easily relatable to true life events . Keeps you in suspence till the end

[Linda Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What fun to read a mystery that’s mostly bones with just enough meat to add interest. And, there are more of them! Prompt #18 An Apostrophe in the Title

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a good idea are Quick Reads, first of all? I think they're fantastic for getting people reading, good for finding new authors, and excellent when you just want instant gratification in your reading. I went through a spate of reading them a few years back, although I don't very much any more because I find the ones I read just too quick, too easy, with very little depth to them. But reviewing them, I think you need to bear in mind their purpose: they aren't meant to be anything other than very straightforward.

I also hadn't come across Katherine John before. I think I like her detectives better than the rest of her characters, and I think they'd come to life a bit more in a longer book, where they might have a bit more of a chance to do some actual detecting.

The Corpse's Tale is pretty straightforward. In a little Welsh village, a grown man with the mind of a ten year old is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of the village sweetheart, just before she leaves for drama school. Ten years later, he's let out of prison because the conviction was unsafe. You wonder how the hell he ever got locked up in the first place, whether his barrister really understood the phrase "beyond reasonable doubt" in any sense, and in come the hardboiled inner city detectives to show everyone how it's really done. Jealousy commences. The secret turbulence under an apparently serene picturesque village is revealed. The vicar, for some reason, is about as ominous as the rest of the cast put together. (It always seems to happen like that, I fear it might be an overzealous attempt to subvert religious stereotypes from about a century ago.) And then the great secret is revealed, the detectives finally come to terms with the fact that This Isn't London And That's Okay, and we all go merrily on our way.

It was creditable. I enjoyed it. It did the basics well, mostly, but it didn't go beyond them and I didn't get excited. It wasn't particularly special, but if I see anything a bit longer by the same author, I will probably pick it up. I think she might do better with a bigger canvas. I particularly liked that some of the things that usually get passed off as the way things are in this kind of novel (police incompetence, anyone?) actually got explained - it's a good sign that I might enjoy some of her other work.

This review originally posted at Kill Your Characters

[Susan Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Corpse's Tale was an excellent mystery in the quick Reads series. It tells the story of a disabled man, David Morgan who was charged with the murder of Anna Harris – a young attractive drama student. Ten years later David is released from prison still protesting his innocence.

Sergeant Trevor Joseph and his team reopen the case to discover new evidence and wonder why this was not uncovered at the time of David's arrest.

The author, Katherine John does a great job of leaving all the necessary clues to solve this murder throughout the book. However I still did not realize who the real murderer was until the end. It is a very well constructed story.

A very enjoyable murder mystery.

[Leanne Keenoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this short story.
A woman has been murdered and a local man with a learning disability has been imprisoned for the last ten years for her murder.
When he is released the locals torment him and prevent him from carrying on his life even though he has always protested his innocence.
Detectives Joseph and Collins are sent in to investigate and things are not quite as straight forward as the locals would have them believe.
Only a really quick read, think it took me less than two hours and I didn't guess the killer.
Really well written

[Maureen Vincent-Northam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ‘quick read’ whodunit, A Corpse’s Tale was a good story set in Wales. A young man with learning difficulties is sentenced for the murder of a local girl just as she is about to set off on an acting career. Dai serves ten years in prison before being released on appeal though the locals are still certain of his guilt. Enter Sergeants Trevor Joseph and Peter Collins who take on the job of re-opening the case and seeking out new evidence without much co-operation from the villagers.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a terrific short story, I polished it off in a few hours. The characters rang true, the storyline flowed, basically it had all the right stuff to hold my interest. A great "who really done it" tale.ps I think I got this free from amazon

[Letitia Dixon-coombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story. Not the editing, weird breaks in sentences and paragraph structure. Run together words. It definitely detracted from the reading experience. But the storytelling was good and I will be looking for more from this author.

[Woofas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too long for a short story, too short and rushed for a novel. The characters are too sketchy and the plot rather obvious. Certainly not a mystery or a thriller.
Read this on Kindle where the number of joined and split words would make this an editor's nightmare.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick easy read, I worked out the ending though!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good quick read

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although very short I enjoyed this murder mystery. Set in a village in Wales it is a case of mistaken identity which is solved ten years after the event. Will be reading more of this author.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read

[Angela]

I know it's short and I really should have just finished it, but I was too bored. It didn't grip me or make me want to read anymore after the first few pages. On to the next!

[Lillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intriguing mystery, but it seemed strange that the whole community would believe Dai capable of murder when they had all had him work for them.

[Jurate Gr · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read, only downside is that you can easily guess who is the murderer almost in the beginning

[John Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story very much and its characters it had a brilliant twist

[Shelle Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read. Nice twists.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice quick and easy read.