‘First Act’ by Rachel Lynch

Published by Canelo Crime,
29 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83598-121-4  (PB)

London in 2008 is experiencing a surge in new buildings as it prepares for the 2012 Olympics and, when a body is unearthed on a building site, the Bethnal Green CID is contacted.  It is DI Kelly Porter’s last day there, as she is moving to a new post with the Metropolitan Police’s Major Investigation Team.  However, it’s an important case and she does not feel that she can leave her colleagues (and, indeed, friends) to cope unaided.  When she arrives at the scene, she discovers that the age of the body is uncertain and it will not be clear who is responsible for the case until this is ascertained.  However, the body does have some interesting grave goods, including a plastic nose and a wooden toy that looks like Pinocchio.  

Kelly arrives at her new post on the following Monday feeling slightly hot and bothered and perhaps a bit nervous.  She is introduced to her partner, DI Seb Crook, who seems helpful and shows her around.  Almost immediately they are assigned to a murder case following the discovery of a body at a school.  They are faced with the body of a woman, which appears to have been arranged for maximum effect.  Behind the body is a small booth in which is a puppet of Mr Punch (the violent protagonist of the traditional British Punch and Judy seaside puppet shows).  Kelly and Seb start their investigation on this somewhat grisly case and it becomes clear that there is a connection between this and the murder on the building site (on which her colleagues at Bethnal Green are still working).  A sad story emerges of historical institutional ill-treatment of children and its continuing malign legacy.  As Kelly and Seb get to know one another, Kelly discovers things about him that don’t quite make sense.  She also feels that, despite her new boss, DCI Leia Lord, being complimentary about her work, there is something not quite right about her.  

This is a carefully plotted story, with quite a large cast (including the Museum of Childhood, now the Young V&A).  It maintains a continuing tension and varied pace, tracing events over several decades, and having a realistic setting in 2008.  The pressures of maintaining personal lives and loyalties come up against professional expectations.  

The story is actually a prequel to the author’s popular D I Kelly Porter series and works completely as a stand-alone.  For those readers already captured by Kelly and her life it will be and interesting and informative read, as well as being a good introduction to the series for newcomers.
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Books by this author:  Detective Kelly Porter series:  as well as this prequel, Dark Game;  Deep Fear;  Dead End;  Bitter Edge; Bold Lies; Blood Rites; Little Doubt; Lost Cause; Lying Ways; Sudden Death; Silent Bones; Shared Remains.  Helen Scott Royal Military Police Thrillers: The Rift, The Line. Stand-Alones:  The Rich; The Famous. 

Rachel Lynch grew up in Cumbria and regularly hiked the fells from a young age. She studied History at the University of Lancaster and gained her Post graduate Certificate of Education at the Institute of Education, London. She married an Army Officer, whom she followed around the globe for thirteen years. After children led to personal training and sports therapy, but writing was always the overwhelming force driving the future. The human capacity for compassion as well as its descent into the brutal and murky world of crime are fundamental to her work.

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.