The Trawlerman by William Shaw - Review

I previously read Deadland by William Shaw and really enjoyed it, so I got the other books in the Alex Cupidi series on my Kindle and started one between Christmas and New Year because it was easy reading and I needed that after Christmas. This is the fourth book in the series, which I didn't realise, but like most detective series it can be read as a standalone. I really will try to read the others in order, though. 

In this book, Alex is signed off with stress from work due to stuff which has happened in the previous books. She is suffering from PTSD and high anxiety; her fight or flight reflex is extremely heightened. She is having therapy. She lives in South Kent on the beach with her daughter Zoe. Next door lives Bill, an ex police officer who Alex was instrumental in getting convicted in I think the first book in the series. He's out of prison and the two have an uneasy truce, mostly because of Zoe's relationship with Bill and the birdwatching they do together. 

Alex is on the pier one day when she sees two brides getting married and coming for some food on the pier. She starts to feel funny and realises that a nearby lady has a knife. She stops the woman from attacking anyone, and she is arrested by Alex's colleague and close friend Jill. In the car on the way to the station, the woman alleges that one of the brides, Tina, killed her son Frank. 

Frank Hogben went missing eight years ago, when he went out on a trawler and presumably went over the edge of the boat and was lost at sea. But Tina was already seeing her new wife at the time, and Frank's mother is convinced that the two of them had something to do with Frank's death. Alex does some investigating into Frank's death and the trawler involved. 

Meanwhile, Jill and another colleague have been attending two murders which have happened in the vicinity. Husband and wife, Aylmer and Mary Younis, have been found brutally murdered in their home. The couple have a lot of money, and also have a disabled son who requires round the clock care. There are no prints in the house and investigations draw a blank - but someone tells Alex that on the night of the murder, he thinks he saw their souls leave the house. It may sound bonkers, but Alex does some investigating there, too.

She ends up solving two crimes while she is on sick leave, which her DCI isn't impressed with, but that's Alex for you! I like her as a DS, she's easy to like and so is Zoe. I wish the two of them would get on better and open up to each other, but maybe that's for the next book in the series...

I'm giving this four out of five and I'll look forward to the next! 

Deadland by William Shaw - Review

In October, my friend Janet recommend this book to me, saying she thought I would like it and it was only 99p on Kindle at that time. Janet and I have very similar taste in crime novels and in Youn g Adult novels, so I usually trust her judgement. Also, for a quid I don't really mind if I DON'T like it, so I took a chance and bought it. I've been meaning to get around to it for ages, and finally did in mid-August.

It's the second in the series about DS Alex Cupidi. While I haven't read the first one, I didn't really need to have. She is a single mum and lives on the beach in south Kent with her daughter Zoe, who is seventeen and who in the book is being a bit cagey about what she's doing all day. Their house is a bit spooky, in the wildness of the nature reserve, and I really liked the setting. 

So at the beginning of the book, two 17 year olds calle Tap and Sloth attempt to steal a phone off a woman, and then do steal a bag off a man. They rush home, thrilled with the up to date model iPhone they've got. In the bag is also an old brick of a mobile phone that can only text and do calls. The boys receive a call on the iPhone asking for the return of the phones and bag. Unsure what to do, they go to Taps' "Uncle" Mikey, who went out with his mum for a while, and Mikey makes a deal that he'll return the phone with the man in exchange for a few grand.

Meanwhile, a young man working in a gallery in Margate notices a strange smell coming from one of the works of art. The piece in question is a funerary urn, and inside it is an arm. Cupidi is called in, and so is a young DC called Jill Ferriter. She has just slept with a colleague, Peter Moon, and is mortified about it. They ask questions about the artwork and discover that it belongs to a foundation set up by Evert and Astrid Miller. Astrid was a model and Jill is a bit of a fangirl. Astrid now works for the foundation and buys art. Cupidi and Jill try to speak to her, but only manage to speak to the foundation workers and Evert. They also meet a strange artist called Ross, who is obsessed with Astrid. But back at HQ, no one is taking this crime seriously. 

Tap and Sloth discover that Mikey is dead, in what appears to be a gangland killing but which they know must be related to the phones. The man then turns up at both their houses and the two take off, hiding at the end of the Thames in a disused shack. They shoplift some food, and get chased by the security guard, who then gets killed by a motorboke going past. Tap and Sloth go to ground. 

Moon is at first investigating the death of Mikey, which appears to be gang related as I say, and then turns to the death of the security guard. All three strands can't possibly be related... can they? 

I really liked the story, I loved the Kent setting and I liked Cupidi as a detective. I liked the outcome and thought it all came together beautifully. I'm giving this four out of five and I'll definitely read something else in the series now!