| Publisher | Severn House |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 30 April 2016 |
| ISBN-10 | 0727886134 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0727886132 |
| Format | hardcover |
| Pages | 224 |
| Price | £ 20.89 |
Dust To Dust
by
National Crime Agency boss Richard Daws is murdered in his supposedly secure Kent castle. Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley are determined to track down his killer.
Review
You know how you develop a soft spot for certain authors … They may not be the best author ever to have graced your bookshelves, but they can tell a good tale and you care about their characters – and, in the days of disposable identikit gory serial killer books, both these are worth their weight in gold.
Margaret Duffy’s series featuring Ingrid Langley and Patrick Gillard has been around since the 1980s. She’s up to number 19 now in their adventures where the books aren’t quite thrillers, or cosies or police procedurals. And it features this rather unusual husband and wife team; he’s a soldier-turned-spook, and she’s a writer who acts as a consultant to her other half – which means hauling this loose cannon out of frequent trouble.
Ashes to Ashes ended on one hell of a cliffhanger after some very spooky goings-on in a crematorium that had me reading through my fingers. Dust to Dust starts with a monumental information dump, which is likely to put off anyone not already invested in this series. Stick with it, though, as the action hots up no end.
Ingrid and Patrick work for the National Crime Agency and are hell-bent on tracking down the murderer of their boss. Richard Daws, an Earl, was killed at his supposedly secure Kent castle. Cue a crooked former civil servant, a dodgy American trying to claim his supposed inheritance, a deeply strange retired cop, the overbearing new woman at the helm of the NCA, and MI5 sticking their oar in, and the book isn’t short of action.
Duffy’s plots tend to teeter on the edge of plausibility, particularly when it comes to Patrick being let off the leash. But I find that doesn’t worry me a huge amount, as the plotting is reasonably watertight, and I read the books for the two lead characters. Ingrid, who has a very distinctive no-nonsense tone, narrates the adventures, somehow manages to keep Patrick out of trouble, and turns out successful novels. Fortunately she has a nanny to deal with the tribe of sprogs (three of their own and two adopted) at home in rural Somerset.
Patrick’s a complex character who behaves in many ways like an all-action superman hero, but has enough personal baggage to fill Bath city centre. He was badly injured during the Falklands and now has an artificial leg – which doesn’t slow him down much. Duffy shades in a man of contradictions – a cold-blooded killer who revels in undercover work, but who, during the course of the series, muses as to whether he should follow his vicar father into the church.
Dust to Dust isn’t short on action, but I remain endlessly fascinated by the two lead characters, both brave and tenacious, but plagued by doubts about the work they get caught up in.
Margaret Duffy’s series featuring Ingrid Langley and Patrick Gillard has been around since the 1980s. She’s up to number 19 now in their adventures where the books aren’t quite thrillers, or cosies or police procedurals. And it features this rather unusual husband and wife team; he’s a soldier-turned-spook, and she’s a writer who acts as a consultant to her other half – which means hauling this loose cannon out of frequent trouble.
Ashes to Ashes ended on one hell of a cliffhanger after some very spooky goings-on in a crematorium that had me reading through my fingers. Dust to Dust starts with a monumental information dump, which is likely to put off anyone not already invested in this series. Stick with it, though, as the action hots up no end.
Ingrid and Patrick work for the National Crime Agency and are hell-bent on tracking down the murderer of their boss. Richard Daws, an Earl, was killed at his supposedly secure Kent castle. Cue a crooked former civil servant, a dodgy American trying to claim his supposed inheritance, a deeply strange retired cop, the overbearing new woman at the helm of the NCA, and MI5 sticking their oar in, and the book isn’t short of action.
Duffy’s plots tend to teeter on the edge of plausibility, particularly when it comes to Patrick being let off the leash. But I find that doesn’t worry me a huge amount, as the plotting is reasonably watertight, and I read the books for the two lead characters. Ingrid, who has a very distinctive no-nonsense tone, narrates the adventures, somehow manages to keep Patrick out of trouble, and turns out successful novels. Fortunately she has a nanny to deal with the tribe of sprogs (three of their own and two adopted) at home in rural Somerset.
Patrick’s a complex character who behaves in many ways like an all-action superman hero, but has enough personal baggage to fill Bath city centre. He was badly injured during the Falklands and now has an artificial leg – which doesn’t slow him down much. Duffy shades in a man of contradictions – a cold-blooded killer who revels in undercover work, but who, during the course of the series, muses as to whether he should follow his vicar father into the church.
Dust to Dust isn’t short on action, but I remain endlessly fascinated by the two lead characters, both brave and tenacious, but plagued by doubts about the work they get caught up in.
Reviewed 14 May 2016 by Sharon Wheeler
