I’m spoilt for choice with books to read at the moment. It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that a few minutes after midnight, as soon as I could download it on publication day morning, I plunged straight into Damien Boyd’s latest novel, ‘Blue Blood’, his latest Acting Detective Superintendent Nick Dixon book, fifteenth in the series:
It is Acting Detective Superintendent Nick Dixon’s wedding day. Gig rowers find a body floating in Bridgwater Bay and when the victim is identified as a serving police officer, executed at point blank range with a 3D printed gun, the assistant chief constable is soon knocking on Dixon’s door—wedding night or not.
It is the third such killing in as many weeks, but the first two victims were drug dealers, with no apparent connection to the dead officer other than the murder weapon itself.
Dixon must navigate a complex web of lies, corruption and betrayal. Taking charge of two major investigation teams, it quickly becomes clear that no one is who they seem. But is it two cases or just one? Is he looking for a motive that doesn’t exist? And can he find the gunsmith before another 3D printed gun finds its way into the wrong hands?
(Amazon)
I was gripped from the start which was the long-awaited nuptials of Nick and his long-suffering bride, Jane. As ever there are many current issues as well as intriguing but believable plot twists, and I’m trying not to read it too quickly, to pace myself. With one of Damien’s novels, I started it at midnight and had finished by 4:30 a.m. – with another I had to confess to myself I had read it too quickly and had got in a muddle so had to read it again!
One of my book club recommended three books she’d heard discussed on BBC 4’s ‘Start the Week’
- Marina Warner – ‘Sanctuary’
- Oliver Basciano – ‘Outcast’
- Fergus Butler-Gallie – ‘Twelve Churches’
My cousin recommended
- Elif Shafak – ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’
and another book clubber recommended another book by Elif Shafak – ‘The Island of Missing Trees’
I in turn recommended the Radio 4 Book of the Week, ‘When the Dust Settles’ by Lucy Easthope who I was lucky enough to hear speaking at the St Endellion Literary Festival last year.
I’m not going to be short on night time entertainment any time soon!
Lois Elsden 