This is my discontent and also my pleasure to bring you a catch-up on Faraday and Winter.
I’ve been very busy reading partly due to holiday times but also due to the magnetism of these excellent police procedurals. In fact I’ve finished the Faraday and Winter series (hence the discontent) since I last blogged Blood and Honey. Without doing the spoiler thing there are no more Faraday stories but having already read the first three Jimmy Suttle novels I now have the follow-up in hard back The Order of Things which I’ll be blogging in the forthcoming weeks. Due to this I know that Paul Winter continues in a small way these books.
In parallel I am also reading Backstory by Hurley which is a companion / memoire about the history of the writing of these fantastic books.
I absolutely love these books and have started passing them on to a neighbour who is consuming them at an alarming rate – he’s retired so has probably more time than me. As of today I have got No.5 and No.6 ready for him.
My neighbour and I have also been studying the maps of the area around Langstone Harbour and we think we have found out where Faraday’s home, known as The Bargemaster’s House, is located. It’s actually called Beach Lodge. How do I know.. Hurley admits this in the companion Backstory I mentioned am reading. I am excited by this because it’s like the Wallander trail in Sweden – finding the locations for the crimes and homes of the perpetrators and of course the CID characters. Adrian and I may find time to go down there in the next few days and stand on the foreshore and gaze out at Faraday’s view. I haven’t got to North Shore Road on Hayling Island yet where Misty lives towards the end of the current series. Nor have I been to Craneswater where Bazza and some of the crimes play-out but there is time.
The Bargemaster’s House
If you’re a fan of crime novels with the practicalities of the police procedural with a parallel thread that runs through with the story line from the other side of the thin blue line following the unlawful then this is the series for you.
As I got further into the books it wasn’t about the individual crimes in each book it was about the main characters, Joe Faraday, Paul Winter, Bazza Mackenzie and of course the developing story of Jimmy Suttle.
These novels over the course of the last six develop some interesting plot lines:-
- Joe Faraday’s love life and his relationship with his son J.J.
- Paul Winter’s relationship with Bazza, the law and Misty!
- Jimmy’s relationship with the journalist Lizzie.
I can’t say more than this about these books because I will spoil them for you but please read them.
N0 7. One Under
A dismembered body is found in the Buriton tunnel.
Whilst I was reading this one I was away on a short break in a hotel near Ross on Wye so took the opportunity to visit Hay on Wye which as you know is a centre of books of course the Festival. I trawelled the books shops and found two hard back editions of One Under and Angels Passing.
No 8 The Price of Darkness
A business man interested in developing the wasteland in Tipner is shot and the forensics have been very well cleaned – is this an inside job? Then a junior govement minister is also shot in the heart of the city. Faraday and Suttle face some challenges.
No 9 No Lovelier Death
Two young people are found dead at the side of Bazza’s swimming pool – Winter, Faraday and Suttle investigate.
No 10 Beyond Reach
A hit and run on a road leading up to Portsdown Hill. Is this a revenge killing or drug related?
N0 11 Borrowed Light
Four bodies are found in a burned out farm building on the Isle of Wight – there are connections to Bazza, but where will this lead?
No 12 Happy Days
Set at the time of the election in 2010 this follows Bazaa’s exploits in trying to change the political landscape in Pompey.
All these books run a constant thread and that explains why I’ve had problems putting them down. Five stars for Mr Hurley.
Lest I forget there are reviews of all the previous books in the series and the three Jimmy books in the ‘backstory’ on my blog.
La Creme De La Crime 