Never Apologise, Never Explain - An Inspector Carlyle Novel by James Craig
Never Apologise, Never Explain - An Inspector Carlyle Novel by James Craig | |
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Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee | |
Summary: The second outing for Inspector John Carlyle sees him investigating what looks like a domestic murder, but could the husband be telling the truth, however outlandish it sounds? | |
Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
Pages: 320 | Date: February 2012 |
Publisher: Robinson Publishing | |
External links: Author's website | |
ISBN: 978-1849015844 | |
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Agatha Mills and her husband lived in a flat near the British Museum and her body was found in the kitchen one morning. There were no signs of a forced entry or of doors being left unlocked as an intruder left so her husband Henry was arrested and charged with her murder. His only defence is that Agatha had enemies: she had been pursuing the disappearance of her brother in Chile in 1973 and was hoping that there would be a trial which would provide an answer as to what happened to William. The defence is outlandish and impossible to investigate, but could it, just possibly, be true?
Part of Inspector John Carlyle wants to accept that Henry Mills killed his wife. I would be easy and a quick 'win' to go down in the stats, but he does have a niggling doubt. He's distracted too by two other cases – and they're not even down to him. Six-year-old Jake Haggar has been abducted by his father who is quite likely to sell the boy to a child-trafficking ring. His mother is a prostitute, so his future wasn't exactly looking bright to begin with. At the other end of the scale television reporter Rosanna Snowdon is being stalked. Neither case is being investigated by Carlyle, but both women had asked for his help and he feels a sense of responsibility – and guilt when things go wrong.
James Craig has lived in London for thirty years and there's a real sense of what it's like to live in the capital rather than just working there or visiting as a tourist. It's grimy. It's expensive. In parts it's depressingly seedy, but there's also a real community of people in the book, from the rich and famous to the tramp who lives on what other people throw away. The story's also grounded in what you'll know has been happening in London
It's a police procedural – although there are occasions when even the police don't seem entirely certain in which direction they're proceeding – and it's a good, satisfying story. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to Bookbag.
This is the second Inspector Carlyle novel and if it appeals you should certainly look out the first which is rather more raunchy than Never Apologise, Never Explain but is similarly grounded in a very real London.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Never Apologise, Never Explain - An Inspector Carlyle Novel by James Craig at Amazon.com.
Inspector John Carlyle Novels by James Craig in Chronological Order
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