‘The Old Religion’ by Martyn Waites

Published by Bonnier Zaffre,
14 June 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-78576-414-1 (PB)

A new novel from Martyn Waites is something of an event in crime fiction circles, although he was never far away even when his name wasn't on the cover; for the past few years his alter ego Tania Carver has been enjoying great success. But now he's back under his own name, exposing the dark underbelly of another popular tourist destination.

The Old Religion is set in north Cornwall, better known for picturesque tea rooms, glorious coastal scenery and a history of fishing and mining than for vicious crime. But in Waites's Cornwall, drug dealing has taken the place of tin mining, and even the tourism that replaced the fishing is on the decline. There's a general air of decay and depression, largely brought about by the fallout from Brexit.

All the main characters seem to be in thrall to something. Ex-copper turned barman Tom Kilgannon is haunted by a past which could catch up with him at any time. Teenage Lila is trying to escape from the traveller community she has become caught up in, and Kai, one of its more naïve members, is obsessed with her. Noah, the community leader, is under the thumb of the mysterious Morrigan, as is the entire village of St Petroc, including the eccentric Pirate John, who isn't as batty as people think.

And when a lad on a surfing holiday nearby disappears without trace, everyone seems to be involved one way or another.

It's all set against a dark, brooding background of the kind of power-wielding and sinister ritualism that gives paganism a bad name, and it's down to Tom Kilgannon to set it all to rights. Which he does, but not without treading down some sordid and convoluted paths, sometimes literally.

There's a cast of characters who are all distinct and vivid, right down to the farmers and surfers who are only bit-part players. Tom Kilgannon is perhaps the most shadowy of them – but even that is as it should be. He is an incomer to the tight-knit community, and since the ending suggests that a series might be on the cards, there's clearly a lot to learn about him which Waites is saving for future volumes. And the not so pretty north Cornwall he creates is a rich seam to mine. I look forward to it.

-------

Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Martyn Waites was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and worked as an actor for many years before becoming a writer. He has been nominated for every major British crime fiction award and has enjoyed international commercial success with eight novels written under the name Tania Carver.

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction. 

‘In the Cage Where Your Saviours Hide’ by Malcolm Mackay

Published by Head of Zeus,
4 April 2018.
ISBN: 9781786697097(HB)

Readers of this unusual and exciting novel should forget anything they ever knew about Scottish history from the seventeenth century on, and quite probably before then. The author has provided an alternative history. The Darien Venture, in which almost the entire population invested substantial funds, brought, not complete financial disaster as readers may previously have thought, but success. The first settlers in Panama prospered and the settlement expanded, becoming known as New Caledonia. Thus, the Act of Union 1707 never happened, and Scotland kept its independence, not to say its own royal family. Were there any Jacobite rebellions, or clearances in the Highlands? Alternative history is silent on this point, as it is on the previous history. Did the Stuarts ever come to rule, not just Scotland but England and Ireland as well? Did Charles I lose his head, or Mary Queen of Scots hers? Indeed, were there ever any Stuart kings?

In this alternative Scotland, as New Caledonia prospers, Scotland itself declines. This story is set in its chief port the Scots Gaelic speaking Challaid on the north coast. Once flourishing Challaid is now run-down and in its mean streets crime is rampant while within the police force a strong degree of corruption exists. It is in those mean streets that the protagonist of this story has to search for the truth. He is Darian Ross, junior operative in Douglas Independent Research, a two-man firm of not quite private investigators. The senior partner, former police officer Sholto Douglas, is anxious to keep his former colleagues at arms’ length, particularly Detective Inspector Folan Corey, head of the anti-corruption squad of the Challaid police who is himself highly corrupt. But Darian is driven by his innate sense of justice, first in the case of a young girl who is attacked by someone whom Corey wishes to protect, secondly in the case of the murder of Moses Guerra, a small-time crook and money launderer. Police investigation of this last has been more or less non-existent and it is when Guerra’s partner Maeve Campbell asks Darian to search for the truth that he is drawn into a complex series of events. What is the nature of that truth?

This is in effect a classic private eye story set in this densely-imagined context. It is the latter which makes it truly remarkable. But it was the context which left with me with a whole lot of questions. Quite apart from the historical questions asked at the beginning of this review I wanted to know about the geography of this alternative Scotland. The location of Challaid is possible – near the real Loch Eriboll which is carved deep into the northern coast of Scotland. But does it include the Orkneys and Shetlands? What about the Outer Isles? How far south? How far east? Are Edinburgh and Glasgow included? If so, do they also speak the Gaelic? And on the religious issues, formerly so divisive, is this alternative Scotland uniformly and unyieldingly Presbyterian? Or am I just nit-picking? Anyway, highly recommended.

------

Reviewer: Radmila May

  

Malcolm Mackay was born and grew up in Stornoway where he still lives. His debut, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, marked the beginning of the Glasgow Trilogy, set in the city's underworld and was longlisted for both the CWA John Creasey Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year. How a Gunman Says Goodbye is the second of the series.

Radmila May was born in the U.S. but has lived in the U.K. since she was seven apart from seven years in The Hague. She read law at university but did not go into practice. Instead she worked for many years for a firm of law publishers and still does occasional work for them including taking part in a substantial revision and updating of her late husband’s legal practitioners’ work on Criminal Evidence published late 2015. She has also contributed short stories with a distinctly criminal flavour to two of the Oxford Stories anthologies published by Oxpens Press – a third story is to be published shortly in another Oxford Stories anthology – and is now concentrating on her own writing.

‘Some Particular Evil’ by Vera Morris

Published by Accent Press,
21 October 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-78615-061-5 (PB)

Some Particular Evil is a sort-of police procedural firmly rooted in those far-off 1970s with all that that implies, and Vera Morris makes an excellent job of bringing the period to life. Mobile phones were the stuff of science fiction; DNA testing hadn't been thought of. Sexism was rampant, and anything resembling the right kind of political correctness was a distant dream for the strong, capable women who inhabit Morris's Suffolk landscape. There are passing references to plane hi-jackings, a Tory Party conference in Brighton (though not the infamous one), and plodding, opinionated senior policemen (women had yet to rise that far) with a talent for ignoring the obvious.

When the wife of the headmaster of a small private school is murdered, everyone on the staff becomes a suspect and sparky young DI Frank Diamond is tasked with tracking down the killer. Something of a maverick, with a nose for the truth rather than a convenient solution, Frank has been to university – far rarer and worthier of comment than is the case nowadays. He even treats Laurel Bowman, the school's bright and feisty new senior mistress, as an equal, which is more than any other man on the staff does.

Frank soon discovers how unpopular the victim was, and why. The entire staff seem to be harbouring secrets, and only Laurel is above suspicion – and even she has a past she prefers to keep under wraps.

All the characters, even the dead ones, are colourfully drawn, from Miss Piff the unassuming school secretary who turns out to have a core of steel as well as a heart of gold, to stolid Sergeant Elderkin, who reveals not only hidden depths but also a romantic streak.

The school, too, comes to life – shabby and frayed at the edges, located perilously close to the crumbling Suffolk coast. The author is clearly well acquainted with the area's changeable weather and ever-shifting sands and shingle.

Laurel Bowman and Frank Diamond make a fine team, ably supported by several other characters who could well continue beyond the not entirely unexpected ending. It all augurs well for a series which, even in the absence of the technology and forensic expertise we now take for granted, could run for some time. I sincerely hope it does.

------

Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Vera Morris blew soap bubbles in Woolworth's, cooked in hotels and electro-fished in Welsh rivers, before becoming a teacher.  Most of her teaching career was in a local mixed comprehensive in South Oxfordshire, where she became Headteacher. Her interests include writing, gardening, cooking, reading, the theatre, museums and art galleries, and travelling in her campervan.

http://www.veramorris.co.uk/

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction. 

 Now available the second in the series
            The Temptation

Where is David Pemberton?
Two years ago, thirteen-year-old David Pemberton vanished without a trace. It's up to detectives Laurel Bowman and Frank Diamond to find him. But how do you solve a case without a lead?
When three local residents meet brutal deaths, something more sinister certainly seems to be at heart. And now, it's not just David they should be worried about. As they're drawn into a circle of temptation, destruction and deceit, they find themselves close to cracking the case. But the closer they get, the more vulnerable they become and soon their lives are at risk…

Published by Accent Press Ltd 17 May 2018