Yellowhammer

DI Nick Lowry #2

by James Henry

'With well-rounded characters, a terrific sense of time and place and masterful plotting, this solid police procedural is a 24-carat holiday read' GuardianJuly 1983, Essex. Fox Farm is, thanks to two corpses, neither picturesque nor peaceful. The body in its kitchen belongs to eminent historian Christopher Cliff, who has taken his own life with an antique shotgun. The second, found on the property boundary, remains unidentified.DI Nick Lowry's summer is neither sleepy nor serene. And the two deaths are just the half of it. The fact County Chief Merrydown was a college friend of Cliff's means Lowry is now, in turn, under scrutiny from his severely stressed and singularly unsympathetic boss, Sparks.To catalyze his investigation, Lowry enlists the services of DC Daniel Kenton and WPC Jane Gabriel. Gabriel needs direction, if she is to begin a career as a detective. While Kenton, who appears solely focused on beginning a relationship with Gabriel, needs distraction.Both the heat and the investigation soon intensify. The team find themselves interrogating enigmatic neighbors, antiques merchants, jilted lovers and wronged relatives; all the while negotiating the caprices of Sparks - whose attitudes remain as dated as Fox Farm's antiques.Only when they fully open their eyes and minds will they begin to unpick a web of rural rituals, dodgy dealings and fragmented families - and uncover not just one murder, but two.

Genres: Crime, British Literature

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 26, 2018

About the author

James Henry is the pen name for James Gurbutt. James is a publisher at Constable & Robinson, R.D. Wingfield’s original publisher back in the 1980s. Philip Wingfield, son of the late R. D. Wingfield approves; he remarked, 'The author has captured my father's style superbly. Fans and newcomers alike will not be disappointed.' That’s a good sign but how did they go about it? And just like Talking Heads, we set them up and here is the result.

Note: There are multiple authors with this name. This author has one space.
James^Henry

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd in the Essex based series set in the 1980s featuring DI Nick Lowry of Colchester CID. This has a great sense of location, rural Essex in the summer of 1983, where on Fox Farm, well known TV academic historian, Christopher Cliff, appears to have committed suicide using his antique gun and near the rail tracks on the edge of the property is another dead body. ACC Merrydown piles the pressure on the police team as she went to university with Cliff. We are given a great set of characters such as Kate, a teacher interested in paganism and herbs, a dodgy gay antique dealer whose businesses are used to launder money, and Edward Hoare, a disaffected son being released from Borstal who has struggled to adapt to his rural setting after living in London.

Henry provides us with great insights into the police dynamics and the personal lives of the investigating team. Lowry has split from wife, Jacqui, after marital infidelity and has yet to commit to another relationship. His energies have been directed to birdwatching as a hobby and his upcoming boxing match. Jacqui contacts Chief Sparks, wanting help with personal problems and making it clear she wants to get back together with Nick. WPC Jane Gabriel has been moved into CID, she is young and naive, with a lot to learn. DC Daniel Kenton is enamoured of Gabriel, and having a tough time convincing Sparks that he is a competent detective. Whilst one murder is resolved, the Cliff death is proving to be problematic, requiring Nick to spend considerable time on Fox Farm getting to know the Cliff family before he gets an inkling as to where the disturbing truth lies.

Henry has created a great series, and this is a terrifically compelling addition. I liked the multiple storylines involving personal lives and the murder investigation that they revolve around. The 1980s vibe is done well, along with a rural environment with all the intrigue and hot emotions that lie behind the facade of apparently serene and untroubled characters. A read to savour and enjoy, with a great location and a diverse set of characters. This is wonderful crime storytelling.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yellowhammer – Swing Back to the 80s

Yellowhammer is the second DI Nick Lowry thriller based around Essex and the City of Colchester in the main. This is a blast back to the 1980s when policing was slightly different to what happens today. This is a taut police procedural thriller, that also brings back some of the police habits of the time.

The Police are called out to what looks like a suicide at a farmhouse where on a nearby railway embanking is also another dead body. Nick Lowry needs to work out what has happened, and nothing is as clear as it seems.

With strong characters around him, there is a dark humour, pace which will absorb the reader. The list of shady Essex characters is impressive, the only things missing are the women in denim skirts, white stilettos and the XR3i. At least Depeche Mode gets a mention.

While the murder on the railway bank is soon solved it reverberates throughout the thriller and it is like an itch that cannot be scratched for Lowry. When the suicide turns out to be a murder, it really sends the police in all directions, but not close enough to solve the new murder.

When looking closer at the family, is there a dark heart, or pagan rituals in play that are confusing what can be proven. It does not help that at the same time Lowry comes out of retirement and has a boxing bout for the police which leaves him black and blue. He wants to clear the fug, but when it clears will he be able to see clearly enough?

James Henry has written an excellent thriller which draws the reader in end envelops them in the midst of the 80s as the Police have to solve murders without any modern techniques so well known today. This book is proof that life in the countryside is anything but boring

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a quietly evolving investigation encapsulating 1980s policing, Yellowhammer presents an apparent case of suicide that unexpectedly morphs into an unnerving and complex affair.

Set amidst an era where nothing is implied, simply blurted out without conscience or fear of repercussion, DI Nick Lowry’s unruffled composure reminded me of a conductor calmly attempting to coax a worthy performance from an amateur orchestra at times!

Even though his fight oddly evades him, both inside and out of the boxing ring, still he methodically breezes through obstacles in the investigation, subtly absorbing their potential significance while attempting to corral the less experienced members of his team toward keeping their minds open to all manner of possibilities.

I particularly liked the rural backdrop and its potential effect on a community: logistically, socially and criminally. Lowry gives a convincing and controlled performance throughout, as the mysteries surrounding the tragic events at Fox Farm are solved.

This is the second in the DI Nick Lowry series, and although I haven’t read the first I had no problems following the professional life of the characters and the obvious developments in his domestic one.

(I’d like to thank the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this title.)

[A W · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hardest place to set a novel is the recent past since a good proportion of your audience, like the current reviewer, were around then and know what things were really like. On that score James Henry describes provincial life in the eighties with painful accuracy.

Nowhere is this more evident than when he writes about police procedure. His old school coppers aren't just Sweeny style wish fulfilment figures with ready fists, a disdain for paperwork and a bottle in their bottom drawer. They are, mostly, men of limited education and narrow experience trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world.

The plot is satisfyingly complicated and he manages to work in the folkloric element without lapsing into Hammer Horror style silliness. Lowry is, away from the day job, a character with a suitably tangled private life that should unravel nicely over then next few books.

Nostalgia may draw some readers to James Henry's work featuring Nick Lowry and his team. An appreciation of high quality crime writing will ensure many make a second visit to the world he has created.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first James Henry novel and probably my last.

Disappointing read, a story that didn't capture me as can be seen from the fact that I took nearly 8 weeks to finish it.

[Dan Sumption · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy-to-read police procedural novel, set in 1980s Essex. The sense of place and time are well captured, and the book moves along quickly in a way that makes it almost, but not quite, unputdownable. For all that, there was something about it that left me a bit flat - it seemed almost a bit too "crime novel by numbers", despite the detailed setting and some rather unusual developments. The characters' quirks seemed to be there just to prevent them from becoming two-dimensional, but that didn't entirely succeed. Still, I enjoyed reading it, and devoured all 450+ pages in a couple of sittings.

[Robin Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is summer 1983. DI Nick Lowry's wife has left him. His son is at boarding school. A celebrity historian is found dead by his children in their remote farmhouse. The police think it is suicide but another corpse is found next to the railway track behind the farm.
The plot is much stronger and more intriguing than Blackwater. Dan Kenton and Jane Gabriel are growing as characters. The location and period setting add a further layer of interest. A good book with some chilling moments of pagan lore played out in the remoteness of Essex.

[I Read, Therefore I Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second in James Henry’s DI LOWRY SERIES is a disappointing historical crime novel that fails to build on the promise of the first novel with a plodding central mystery that takes an abrupt turn about half way through and gets bogged down in Lowry’s marriage break up (with Jacqui in particular losing a lot of her nuanced characterisation) and Kenton’s pursuit of Gabriel such that I’m not sure I’d rush to read the next in the series.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Blackwater' caught my attention for being set in Essex. I read, enjoyed the premise, lamented the lack of editing but applauded no typos and promised myself I'd read the second.

'Yellowhammer' started well, 'Hooray' I thought, but the latter half was hard to follow, the dialogue got stiffer and I spotted at least half a dozen mis-spellings which ought to have been eradicated by at least one of the the several names acknowledged.

[Genady Keiserman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lightly written and simple detective story. Nothing in particular stands out, neither characters nor the murder mystery are complicated nor particularly interesting. I'd categorise it as light reading for people liking murder mysteries.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Click here for review

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read that is heavy on character development and a storyline you didn't expect
Looking forward to reading more from the author

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book.

Interesting plot. Characters okay.

Would read more by this author if I come across them, but won't go out of my way to find them.

[Sophie Houston · Rating 2 out of 5]

So littered with spelling mistakes that I could barely bring myself to finish it. Decent plot, badly let down by a slapdash proofreader.

[John Nicholson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent novel. Unfortunately I read this before the first.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing pageturner

I've read another of the Lowry books, so i was already enjoying the characters and setting, this was a continuation of that enjoyment and it didn't disappoint.

[Neil Hallam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book I have read, but certainly worth reading. The draw for me was being set in England, as most crime thrillers are American. An interesting twist, that I wasn’t expecting.

[Mrs Gail P Madeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally different style of writing to the Frost books. Really good, with different suspects being the murderer right up until the end. Can't wait for the next Nick Lowry book.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very close to a 5 indeed probably 4.75....

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read even with a slightly disturbing passage towards the end.

[Stuart Haining · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 19%. A bit of a plodding police mystery but didn’t guess all the plot and a few LOL moments. Won’t read again but good holiday fodder.

[Maria Snowdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absorbing story

Really enjoyed this police procedural. Well written, moved forward in a good manner. I like the characters and look forward to reading the next book.

[PAUL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mt first Nick Lowry book. Absolutely brilliant. The plot. The characters. The denouement. Superb. One slight naming mistake (I think) by the author on page 128 but that's only nitpicking.

[Graham Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly long and complex, but it gets there in the end.

[Sue Garwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely being directed through the streets of my childhood and a good plot to entertain too. Did not see where it was going. Excellent.

[Wendy Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another easy read

[Kimblecart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, so well written and fabulous characters. Am from Colchester so brilliant knowing all theocations too, five star 🌟