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Yellowhammer by James Henry
Dec. 30th, 2018 12:43 amThe Blurb On The Back:
July 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 catalyse 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 neighbours, shady businessmen, 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 see a web of rural politics, dodgy dealings and fragmented families – one that they must unpick before it ensnares them.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
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.
YELLOWHAMMER was released in the United Kingdom on 26th July 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
July 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 catalyse 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 neighbours, shady businessmen, 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 see a web of rural politics, dodgy dealings and fragmented families – one that they must unpick before it ensnares them.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
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.
YELLOWHAMMER was released in the United Kingdom on 26th July 2018. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
