Blood on the Tongue — an above-average whodunit
Blood On The Tongue by Stephen Booth
An above-average whodunit.
Set in the Peak District of Derbyshire in England (which I have never been to), I kept thinking of the setting as similar to that of the detective novels of Peter Robinson with his detective Alan Banks, set just a bit further north in Yorkshire.
But unlike the Alan Manks series, and most other crimy mystery novels nowadays, the protagonis in this one is a junior officer, a mere Detective Constable, and not an inspector or chief inspector. He also is peculiar in not having lots of hangups and problems. He isn’t an alcoholic, nor is he going though a messy divorce. His biggest decision is whether to move to town to be closer to his work.
The novel also poses some interesting questions about life in general, I rather liked this one on “community”, in the mouth of one of the characters:
(Community) isn’t something real, though. Is it? It’s a word that we use in the titles of reports. Community liaison. Working with the community. Understanding the ethnic community. It’s a word, Ben. It’s not something you actually live in, not these days.
So if you enjoy crime fiction, this one is worth a look.
Notes from underground 