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Saturday, 2 February 2019

‘Remember No More’ by Jan Newton

Published by Honno Welsh Women's Press,
16 March 2017.
ISBN: 978-190998356-4


DS Julie Kite moves with her husband Adam away from the bustling vibrant city of
Manchester to a remote farming community in Mid-Wales.  Only recently promoted to Sergeant and in, for her, a strange and unfamiliar environment, she finds herself on her first day in the centre of a murder investigation.

The victim is identified as a local solicitor, and friend of her new boss DI Swift.  As the investigation gets underway Julie realises that DI Swift knows the victim’s family well.  In fact, everyone seems either to be related or to know everyone else, which suggests one of this tightly-knit community is a killer.  Or could the murder be something to do with the man in black that Julie has caught sight of once or twice?

Struggling to adapt to her new position and grappling with the pronunciation of the Welsh place names, she is also aware of animosity from DC Morgan Evans for which she cannot account.  ‘You have to earn respect’ says DI Swift.

I liked Julie enormously. Clearly a good detective, she copes with all that is thrown at her and continues undaunted by the set-backs, doggedly pursuing the killer.  That she has also personal problems is slowly revealed, although not fully specified, we surmise that they are linked to her husband Adam. 

This is a well-plotted and gripping debut book.  The characters are well-drawn, and I am delighted to learn that a second book is due out next month.  I look forward to another interesting mystery and hearing more of Julie and how she will resolve her work and personal problems.  Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett


Jan Newton grew up in Manchester and Derbyshire, spending her formative years on the back of a pony, exploring the hills and moorland around her home. She lived and worked in London and Buckinghamshire for 19 years until moving to Wales in 2005. Jan has won several writing competitions, including the Allen Raine Short Story competition, the WI Lady Denman Cup, and the Oriel Davies Gallery competition for nature-writing. She has been published in New Welsh Review. Remember No More is her first novel





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