A Killing in November: The Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month (DI Wilkins Mysteries)

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They’re highly exaggerated characters and I’d have preferred more subtlety in their dialogue and behaviour. But it’s convenient because I live here and know it better than any other place, with the possible exception of Sheffield, where I grew up. It is not entirely filled in how Ryan became a DI with his amazingly bad attitude and refusal to adapt his clothing or manner or anything else, though he's a kind of crime solving savant. It's really stretching the imagination to ask us to believe someone as 'chav' as that would get employment anywhere, leave alone in a county police force.

And like the great Colin Dexter, Mason brings Oxford alive, in all its Dreaming Towers glory and gloom. Ryan grew up in a trailer park (rich Oxford also has its share of these), the son of a violent alcoholic. I couldn’t possibly say how my friend responded, though I will say that he had a wicked sense of fun. För övrigt: smart av Mason att så medvetet (och för historien avgörande) låta sina karaktärer ha så snarlika namn. Ray is closer to Morse, with his Balliol education and his classical music, while Ryan is more like the working class Lewis, albeit that he has none of Lewis's patience or measured approach to life and work.

This novel uses the friction of ‘town and gown,’ well and throws fast tracked Ray into uncomfortable situations as he is first stunned by Ryan’s unconventional behaviour and yet finds his initial dislike changes into grudging respect. I must admit at the beginning I found Ryan a character that stretched credulity as he dressed in trackies and a baseball cap worn backwards, arriving from Wiltshire under a dark cloud, rude and aggressive in his questioning of suspects and witnesses, with strong anger management issues, but he grew on me, and I found I was more than willing to suspend my sense of disbelief. I liked the fact the two policemen were so completely different, it really added a different tone to the book and made it much more interesting.

Mason knows all of Oxford's little corners and I could easily picture the scenes from his descriptions. it was enhanced by deft prose and the detective duo of social misfit Ryan Wilkins and the Balliol-educated Ray Wilkins. Om inte annat för att jag gav Anne Holt en trea häromsistens - det här är bättre läsning, även om det tar emot att säga som gammalt Holt-fan).Discretion is a venerable Oxford tradition, so too refinement and good manners; it is rare for a college to have anything so crude as a sign with its name on outside its gates. Absolutely brilliant and classic Oxford murder mystery set around topics such as Syrian Refugee crisis, UEA humanitarian rights and ofc money.

Suffice it to say that I found the idea of the double detective excellent and entertaining, Stereotypical characters, certain lack of verisimilitude at times, but fleshed out with some individuality and a bit of complexity.

All police procedurals have to have two misaligned partners and this was no exception - the posh Oxbridge educated black cop and the trailer park wrong-side-of-the-tracks white cop. A fast paced, enjoyable thriller that challenges our assumptions about class, race, goodness, corruption and depravity.

I got the point that one is natty, one slobby, early on, so didn’t need all the brand names all the way thru. He was having a drink one evening in a pub, when he was approached by a photographer with an unusual proposal. I've read a lot of whodunnits, but this one really stood out, and each time I stopped, I couldn't wait to get back to it.The story has modern relevance, ingenious plotting, vivid characterisation , a touching father-son relationship and impressively accurate city geography. Honestly if you loved inspector Morse books, a flawed and poor and tough genius police officer this book is one for you, it’s almost like Morse has reversed into a young tough chap, with a past that is brutal and trying to make sure his kid lives the best life he can.