‘The Oxford Murders’ by Peter Tickler

Published by Joffe Books,
2 May 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-80405876-3 (PB)            

Private Investigator Doug Mullen is at a difficult stage of his life: his home has been destroyed by arson and he and his dog have taken refuge with his friend, Becca. Unfortunately, this involves Doug sleeping on the living room couch because Becca’s spare room is still dedicated to the cot and other things she prepared for her new baby. Baby Alice died at birth and Becca is still too traumatised and depressed to change anything. Doug was not the baby’s father, but he has been understanding and supportive throughout Becca’s grief. However, he is struggling with his inability to help her and is beginning to think it might be better for both of them if he found somewhere else to live.

Doug goes to the cinema one evening and gets into conversation with a woman called Julie after he picks up the bus pass she had dropped. Doug spends a few minutes chatting to Julie and buys her a soft drink before the film. Afterwards he realises the boyfriend she was expecting has not turned up and offers her a lift home. Julie refuses but the fact that Doug was seen approaching her and talking to her is remembered when Julie’s dead body is discovered. The evidence is flimsy and circumstantial but Detective Sergeant Kingston and Detective Constable Royce, who are investigating Julie’s murder, think that Doug is a credible and convenient suspect, which will allow them to solve the case quickly and with minimal effort.

Detective Inspector Susan Holden has just returned to duty after a long absence. She knows Doug well and disagrees with her junior officers’ lazy methods and trite conclusions but, as a friend of Doug, she has to keep a discreet distance from the investigation.

Doug’s solicitor facilitates his release and Doug carries on with his work. A lady contacts him and asks for a meeting at a pub in Oxford and he takes his dog with him to meet the elderly woman, who says her name is Kat. She is dressed in a distinctive green coat and red boots. Kat likes Doug’s dog and sits cuddling it but, while Doug is fetching something from the bar, she leaves his dog and disappears. Doug is accustomed to prospective clients having second thoughts and finds nothing odd in the woman walking out on him. However, when Becca decides to adopt a new fitness regime and goes for a country walk, she discovers the body of a woman who is dressed in a green coat and red boots. What is even worse, it seems possible that the dog hair on her coat may prove to belong to Doug’s dog.

Despite inconsistencies in the evidence, Doug is arrested again and this time the circumstantial evidence starts to mount up against him. With Doug in custody, Becca decides she has no faith in Kingston and Voyce to even attempt to discover the truth and sets out to investigate for herself. She attempts to discover if there was a link between Julie and Kat. Julie was a hairdresser who did her clients’ hair in their own homes and, with some surreptitious help from Detective Constable Krystyna Wozniak, a beautiful and highly intelligent young woman, who is uncomfortable with the behaviour of her male colleagues, Becca discovers several anomalies in the case against Doug. But Becca has gone too far out on a limb and has placed herself in danger.

The Oxford Murders is the fourth book in the series featuring Doug Mullen, but it also features Detective Inspector  Susan Holden, who is the protagonist of her own series, which is also set in Oxford. This results in a fascinating combination of characters which works remarkably well. The book has a well-crafted, interesting plot and excellent characterisation. Doug Mullen, Susan Holden, Becca and Krystyna are all flawed but engaging characters, which forms a stark contrast to other members of the CID team. It is an exciting and admirable feature of this book that it portrays with brutal honesty the misogyny, stupidity, ambition and corruption of certain of the police officers. The Oxford Murders is a superb book, relentlessly honest and filled with mounting tension. It is a page turner, which I wholeheartedly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Peter Tickler has lived and worked in Oxford for nearly 30 years, and before that he was a university student, reading classics at Keble College.  Peter is a member of the Crime Writer's Association and Mystery People group.

 http://www.petertickler.co.uk/

 

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 6 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. To read the interview click on the link below. 

https://promotingcrime.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/carol-westron.html www.carolwestron.com
http://carolwestron.blogspot.co.uk/
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
The Curse of the Concrete Griffin