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An Urgent Murder
A rookie who questions everything teams up with an experienced detective with a chequered past to investigate a chilling murder ...
He had to be killed urgently - if he suffered, all the better. If the blame could be shifted to someone else, so be it.
A murder in a private home is quickly and easily solved by the police, their culprit established by fingerprints on the murder weapon: a jar of poison. The private care nurse neither denies nor admits to it. A clear cut case - but one detective isn’t sure. John is an experienced Metropolitan Police detective with a chequered background and a laissez faire attitude who is knocked back when he is suddenly teamed with Alison, a prim young Sussex officer who is out to learn as much as possible in her ambitious pursuit of senior rank. With different approaches to the case and influences from various people, the two must learn to work together in order to bring the true killer to justice. Can Alison trust John? Can John shield Alison for what is to come? And are more laws about to be broken when a nefarious crime lord learns from a highly placed mole that their lucrative way of life is about to come to an end?
The reader is led through the ongoing investigation of an apparently solved, simple murder that transpires to be anything but. Twists, turns and clues abound but may not necessarily lead to the expected conclusion. Readers who enjoy thrilling crime books along with baffling mysteries will delight in this novel.
He had to be killed urgently - if he suffered, all the better. If the blame could be shifted to someone else, so be it.
A murder in a private home is quickly and easily solved by the police, their culprit established by fingerprints on the murder weapon: a jar of poison. The private care nurse neither denies nor admits to it. A clear cut case - but one detective isn’t sure. John is an experienced Metropolitan Police detective with a chequered background and a laissez faire attitude who is knocked back when he is suddenly teamed with Alison, a prim young Sussex officer who is out to learn as much as possible in her ambitious pursuit of senior rank. With different approaches to the case and influences from various people, the two must learn to work together in order to bring the true killer to justice. Can Alison trust John? Can John shield Alison for what is to come? And are more laws about to be broken when a nefarious crime lord learns from a highly placed mole that their lucrative way of life is about to come to an end?
The reader is led through the ongoing investigation of an apparently solved, simple murder that transpires to be anything but. Twists, turns and clues abound but may not necessarily lead to the expected conclusion. Readers who enjoy thrilling crime books along with baffling mysteries will delight in this novel.
544 pages, Paperback
Published August 28, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 14, 2018
I would like to thank Netgalley and Troubadour for a review copy of An Urgent Murder, a police procedural/thriller set in Sussex.
When 91 year old George Armstrong is poisoned the police are easily able to charge his carer with murder, only DC John Whiles, a maverick Met detective on loan to Sussex, isn’t so sure. In a pared down investigation team he is paired with PC Alison Daines to look into the anomalies he has spotted and what they discover is rather more than they bargained for. In the meantime other people are snooping around the pair.
I thoroughly enjoyed An Urgent Murder with its two separate plot lines, one a procedural and one a thriller, which should cover all tastes. It is a long novel (159 chapters of varying lengths) but it never falters and is gripping from start to finish. Admittedly it is slow to start with several chapters at the beginning setting the scene from various points of view so the reader doesn’t meet Alison and John until chapter 14. I found it quite confusing at first as I couldn’t see how much of it slotted together but it becomes clear as the novel progresses. The two plot lines run in tandem and the narrative switches between them as required. With the continuity of John and Alison it works well and both make for equally compulsive reading. There are twists aplenty in the procedural side while the thriller is more of a straightforward action adventure, replete with guns, baddies and an over the top plot. I found the mixture really good reading.
The main link between the plots is John Whiles. He is not your standard detective and has some unusual friends with some specialist skills. It’s all very exciting.
I found An Urgent Murder a difficult novel to review because it is crammed full of events and developments, making it almost impossible to discuss without issuing spoilers. So apologies for my vagueness. Nevertheless it is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.
When 91 year old George Armstrong is poisoned the police are easily able to charge his carer with murder, only DC John Whiles, a maverick Met detective on loan to Sussex, isn’t so sure. In a pared down investigation team he is paired with PC Alison Daines to look into the anomalies he has spotted and what they discover is rather more than they bargained for. In the meantime other people are snooping around the pair.
I thoroughly enjoyed An Urgent Murder with its two separate plot lines, one a procedural and one a thriller, which should cover all tastes. It is a long novel (159 chapters of varying lengths) but it never falters and is gripping from start to finish. Admittedly it is slow to start with several chapters at the beginning setting the scene from various points of view so the reader doesn’t meet Alison and John until chapter 14. I found it quite confusing at first as I couldn’t see how much of it slotted together but it becomes clear as the novel progresses. The two plot lines run in tandem and the narrative switches between them as required. With the continuity of John and Alison it works well and both make for equally compulsive reading. There are twists aplenty in the procedural side while the thriller is more of a straightforward action adventure, replete with guns, baddies and an over the top plot. I found the mixture really good reading.
The main link between the plots is John Whiles. He is not your standard detective and has some unusual friends with some specialist skills. It’s all very exciting.
I found An Urgent Murder a difficult novel to review because it is crammed full of events and developments, making it almost impossible to discuss without issuing spoilers. So apologies for my vagueness. Nevertheless it is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.
October 5, 2018
Who can trust whom in the Police?
Alison is a rookie in a murder investigation and is paired with John, a strange but excellent cop. Soon she is entrenched in the investigation, but John is hiding something, and it concerns her and her policeman father. When she is kidnapped, John has no choice but to rescue her with the help of some of his ‘secret’ friends.
Meanwhile, the murder enquiry takes a turn into something far more disturbing than just one murder of an old man.
Will Alison and John solve the strange case and discover who wants Alison out of the way?
Two stories are interwoven to make a very long book. Both stories were good, but together it was too tangled and hard to keep up with. By the time one or other of the plot lines reappear you have forgotten what was going on.
The plots are well thought out but should be written as separate books as they don’t have anything to do with each other. There are so many characters appearing, sometimes hundreds of pages later, it makes it difficult to remember who they are. By the finale, I was bored and couldn’t care less who did what to whom and why. I did enjoy the book and only dropped the one star because of that, but it was too long and unnecessarily complicated.
My real complaint is about some of the grammar, a pet hate of mine. I realise it was only the proof, but I was so annoyed I must mention it. Firstly, you ‘scratch’ an itch you do not itch it! Ahh! Also, as it was set in England, why did the author use the horrible Americanism of ‘dove’ instead of ‘dived’? Lastly, what do the words ‘chards’ and ‘chary’ mean? I could go on.
I am sorry to whinge but reading such a possibly good story was spoiled for me by the above reasons.
Give the book a read for yourselves and make up your own mind.
Seshat
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
Alison is a rookie in a murder investigation and is paired with John, a strange but excellent cop. Soon she is entrenched in the investigation, but John is hiding something, and it concerns her and her policeman father. When she is kidnapped, John has no choice but to rescue her with the help of some of his ‘secret’ friends.
Meanwhile, the murder enquiry takes a turn into something far more disturbing than just one murder of an old man.
Will Alison and John solve the strange case and discover who wants Alison out of the way?
Two stories are interwoven to make a very long book. Both stories were good, but together it was too tangled and hard to keep up with. By the time one or other of the plot lines reappear you have forgotten what was going on.
The plots are well thought out but should be written as separate books as they don’t have anything to do with each other. There are so many characters appearing, sometimes hundreds of pages later, it makes it difficult to remember who they are. By the finale, I was bored and couldn’t care less who did what to whom and why. I did enjoy the book and only dropped the one star because of that, but it was too long and unnecessarily complicated.
My real complaint is about some of the grammar, a pet hate of mine. I realise it was only the proof, but I was so annoyed I must mention it. Firstly, you ‘scratch’ an itch you do not itch it! Ahh! Also, as it was set in England, why did the author use the horrible Americanism of ‘dove’ instead of ‘dived’? Lastly, what do the words ‘chards’ and ‘chary’ mean? I could go on.
I am sorry to whinge but reading such a possibly good story was spoiled for me by the above reasons.
Give the book a read for yourselves and make up your own mind.
Seshat
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
December 8, 2018
There is a lot going on at the start of this lengthy book. It begins with the 2011 murder of an elderly man, the 1941 meeting of two men and a child on a train bombed by the Germans, the movements of an elite force in 1986 Angola and then the 2010 discussion to replace a corrupt police commissioner. All these events appear to be unconnected and almost put me off reading the rest of the book as it took more than a dozen chapters for anything to make start to make sense. However I was very glad I continued as it turned out to be an excellent choice. The investigation into the murder of 91 year old George Armstrong is scaled down after a suitable suspect is charged but a small team is retained to check up on any loose ends. Alison Daines, a young seconded uniformed constable, and experienced detective John Whiles are part of this team and begin to work well together. This forms the police procedural side of thee story but there is also a thriller plot of police corruption and gun-toting gangster like criminals going on alongside. The book is full of wonderful colourful characters, my favourite being John who appears also to have a foot in the murkier world of national security and protection. It's difficult to go into much more detail without giving away spoilers but the descriptions of the gadgetry involved were great and simple to understand and I loved the way everything came together in the end. Highly recommended and I hope there will be more to come from this author.
November 27, 2018
An Urgent Murder by Alex Winchester. Troubador Publishing Limited; Matador, 2018.
This seems to be a straight forward piece of crime fiction. Two police officers, one a young woman and the other a man about to retire, are seconded from their respective police forces and partnered to work on a murder.
But there is quite a lot going on in an Urgent Murder, beginning with two men on a train in 1941, an elite UK armed force serving in Angola in 1986, a search to replace a corrupt police commissioner in 2010. An elderly gentleman is murdered before he can die the way he’d hoped; there seems to be a crime boss in the background pulling strings. We suspect there has been an identity theft. The veteran police officer seems to be working on two cases simultaneously. And there is a romance.
This clockwork of a story is impossible to put down, comes together beautifully, and ends in ways I didn’t expect.
I enjoyed reading An Urgent Murder and I recommend it.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of An Urgent Murder free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This seems to be a straight forward piece of crime fiction. Two police officers, one a young woman and the other a man about to retire, are seconded from their respective police forces and partnered to work on a murder.
But there is quite a lot going on in an Urgent Murder, beginning with two men on a train in 1941, an elite UK armed force serving in Angola in 1986, a search to replace a corrupt police commissioner in 2010. An elderly gentleman is murdered before he can die the way he’d hoped; there seems to be a crime boss in the background pulling strings. We suspect there has been an identity theft. The veteran police officer seems to be working on two cases simultaneously. And there is a romance.
This clockwork of a story is impossible to put down, comes together beautifully, and ends in ways I didn’t expect.
I enjoyed reading An Urgent Murder and I recommend it.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of An Urgent Murder free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 18, 2018
Thank you NetGalley and Matador for the eARC.
This is a lengthy book that starts out with the murder of George Armstrong, a 91-year old man, in 2010 England, then to George as a boy in London during WWI, to 1986 Angola and back to 2011 England. A bit of a confusing start that becomes clearer the further one reads.
Alison Daines, a rookie, and John Whiles, an experienced detective, are thrown together to investigate George's death.
There are two distinct storylines, quite a few characters and much detailed description of electronic surveillance, something I found a bit tedious, as I'm a Luddite when it comes to technology. I had to pay very close attention but it was worth it in the end. The ending made satisfactory sense of everything and I was sorry to say goodbye to the main protagonists.
This is a lengthy book that starts out with the murder of George Armstrong, a 91-year old man, in 2010 England, then to George as a boy in London during WWI, to 1986 Angola and back to 2011 England. A bit of a confusing start that becomes clearer the further one reads.
Alison Daines, a rookie, and John Whiles, an experienced detective, are thrown together to investigate George's death.
There are two distinct storylines, quite a few characters and much detailed description of electronic surveillance, something I found a bit tedious, as I'm a Luddite when it comes to technology. I had to pay very close attention but it was worth it in the end. The ending made satisfactory sense of everything and I was sorry to say goodbye to the main protagonists.
January 6, 2019
This seems like a long story but there are a wide range of things going on and background to be covered in some of it. George Armstrong is poisoned. All of the evidence points to the nurse who visits him but John a very experienced detective thinks otherwise. John begins to think this isn't a one time thing. He watches the house where George has died and see something no one else has noticed. There is a bird feeder facing the house and in a position to see the coming and going of everyone. There is a camera in the bird house and this is a key to much of what happens from then on with the case. Alison, John's partner is kidnapped and this also keeps us all busy trying to find out why and who is behind it. Well worth the read.
March 21, 2020
An Urgent Murder is a complex detective/thriller written by someone who is extremely knowledgeable about such matters. It takes a while to get into but about fifty pages in and you are absolutely hooked. My husband and I both couldn’t put it down. It reminded me of a British David Baldacci thriller, it’s that good, and an extraordinary first novel. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews