Book 4 in the Utterly Crime Series. Sleepy Mid Suffolk (UK) wakes to the news that a man has been found hanging in a reclamation yard near Bury St Edmunds. Within days, a bronze statue is stolen, and a broken automaton with a singing bird mechanism arouses suspicion. Can there be a connection? It becomes increasingly clear that there is, as the action quickly spreads from Thorpe Morieux through to Lavenham and Woodbridge. Chrissie, Nick and Matt, friends since a carpentry course at Stowmarket's Utterly Academy, find themselves caught up with a network dealing in stolen metal and scrap. Add in a darkly brooding young man, a rundown pizza delivery service, a spooky, remote car wrecking yard and you have another witty and fast paced narrative from Pauline Manders. DI Clive Merry, along with the quirky main characters, previously encountered in Utterly Explosive, Utterly Fuelled & Utterly Rafted, fly by the seat of their pants through a plot filled with twists, deceit and bluff as the stakes are raised.
Pauline Manders was born in London where she went on to train as an ENT surgeon. She moved to East Anglia with her husband and two children, where she worked for over 30 years before retiring from the NHS. She lives in rural Suffolk in a converted barn and gains inspiration for her crime novels by walking in the countryside with her Weimaraner, Otto. Since retirement, she has had time to write, pursue her shared interest with her husband in classic cars, and also attend a local carpentry group. She is still working on carving three diving ducks as legs for a small table - some projects are more of a challenge than others!
A real page turner and gripping sequel for our intrepid trio. All the more engaging for its local settings and rural intrigues. I can't wait for their next adventure.