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

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My only suggestion would be Ryan junior should be at least 3 years old with his speech and understanding- so that niggled me abit! I don't read many crime novels, but I was in Oxford and it was November, so I thought it would be the best moment to read it. The story has modern relevance, ingenious plotting, vivid characterisation , a touching father-son relationship and impressively accurate city geography. Perhaps a second outing of the duo, with Ryan kicked out of the police force, is a more plausible endeavor. The author does an excellent job of creating two well defined detectives, who each have their own issues to deal with and who complement each other well.

A Killing in November also gives us a colorful murder with another to follow, an unlikely criminal, creepy academics, and a twisty ending.A stunning Oxford-set whodunit featuring two finely drawn detectives, A Killing in November focuses on a University college murder and the visit of a Middle-Eastern sheik notorious for human rights abuses. The plot is engaging though had a few holes and improbabilities, not least the idea that a British police force would be remotely bothered that one of its officers was violent, xenophobic or misogynist. 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.

He is teamed in an inspired piece of writing with Ray, the other Wilkins, who is Oxford educated, a boxing blue and completely the opposite of Ryan.He splits his time between writing at home and a part-time editorial position with David Fickling Books, an imprint of Random House and publisher of his 2011 children's novel, Moon Pie. On the face of it, it sounds like a collection of clichés of the genre strung together: the chalk-and-cheese partners, the rebellious working-class detective in a posh environment and so on. I listened to he audiobook and the narrator did a decent job, he is good at switching between dialects and altering his voice so that female voices are rendered plausibly.

This moody, atmospheric novel is full of surprises, with subplots about sexual harassment and the impact of the Syrian civil war. His professional partner, DI Ray Wilkins, of affluent Nigerian-London heritage, is an impeccably groomed, smooth-talking graduate of Balliol College, Oxford. I was done as I really couldn’t take to him but something made me just carry On a little longer and In doing so I’m very glad I did as I’ve read one of my favourite books this year and Ryan became a character I loved. I loved that characters and the contrasts between quicksilver, slightly mad Ryan in his trackies and black, smartly dressed, well-behaved Raymond.But I did find a lot of the tropes pretty lazy (posh guy eating Waitrose meals, poor guy wearing trackies and being casually bigoted) and while I get that the novel was going for the edgy detective as its USP, I found the Ryan character to verge too far towards the offensive, implausible and unlikeable. It's likely to win awards, and at some point, perhaps when Endeavour reaches the end of his road and something new is asked of Oxford, it will make great television.

I am very partial to "Running Girl" and Garvie, but I've say this is my new favourite novel by Mason and I can't wait to read the next one. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

Ryan grew up in a nearby trailer park where he was considered “white trash”, dresses sloppily, and is rude and aggressive to almost everyone, except for his two-year old son, whom he adores. There are some similarities to Tim Sullivan's personalities, but I found the latter's books a far better read. För övrigt: smart av Mason att så medvetet (och för historien avgörande) låta sina karaktärer ha så snarlika namn.