Stephen Puleston

Murder in the mountains.
I listened to the audiobook of this novella and I have to say, the narration by Richard Elfyn, was excellent. So I was already in a receptive mood as I prepared to set out for a long drive.

I'm actually not quite sure what the purpose is of prequels. I've asked a few authors at Lit Fests and got varied responses, though it seems it's often the publisher's idea.
In this case, we are introduced to detective inspector Ian Drake, just after he has been promoted, and his show more side-kick, Ceren Waits. They are an interesting pair, as he's meticulously tidy and she's, well, a bit of a slob really. As I'd never read any of Stephen Puleston's books, I had no prior image of either character, which was possibly a good thing.

Two bodies are found on a Welsh mountain, husband and wife. The wife appears to have been murdered but it's not immediately apparent how the husband came to be sprawled close by.
It would have been easy to have gone with the obvious conclusion - that the husband murdered his wife and then committed suicide, but Drake's intuition suggests there's more to it. Being his first murder enquiry, he needs to be sure he gets it right and he persuades his superior to allow him a little more time to turn all the stones.

It did make me think about how easy it would have been for the incorrect conclusion to have been drawn and the case closed. How often must this happen??

This was an enjoyable listen, not too drawn out and fairly straight forward. I wasn't confused at the end as I have been by some books I've read recently. I'd probably give the first book in the series a try if it were to become available in audio - and especially if it's read by Richard Elfyn. show less

It's rare for me to start a series at book one. These days I seem to accidentally find myself starting at book four or five and then have to go back and find out how the characters got to the point where I discovered them. This time I'm starting at the beginning and thrilled to know there are many more in the Ian Drake series for me to enjoy.

A police procedural is one of my favourite types of story. And when it is done well it is an unputdownable format. There are lots of clues in this story show more that send me off in one direction or another but time after time they turn into red herrings that have fooled me with misdirection.

The various murders, with the different methods of killing and the different settings for the crime meant that it was even harder than usual to identify the killer. Stephen Puleston did a brilliant job in making me suspect everybody. I did have an aha moment and work out for myself who the killer was and why but not until close to the end of the book.

It was interesting to see how Inspector Drake's OCD was dealt with in the story. His need to rearrange the items on his desk, to be tidy and precise was emphasised time and time again. I found it a literary device that emphasised the uncontrollable nature of OCD and how it can be as distressing for the people around the sufferer as it is for the person themselves.

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I very much enjoyed listening to Richard Elyfn narrate this audiobook. For the most part, his Welsh accent fitted the whole cast of characters. So often people don't realise that the Welsh accent changes from North to South but this is definitely the right voice for this book show less

Another murder in Wales.
Goodness, book 6 already. This is the furthest I have ever got through a series. And I'm sure that one of the reasons I've become so invested with this particular series is the sultry Welsh tones of the narrator, Richard Elfyn. No disrespect meant to the author, but what better combination is there that an excellent author supported by the perfect narrator?

I now know Inspector Drake well enough that I would recognise him if I were to pass him in the street. show more Unfortunately I'm a long way from his Welsh haunts (and I'm not allowed out on the street anyway!). He is currently on his third side-kick, Sara. (Has the author worked his way through the previous contenders and decided Sara is the best fit?) I like Sara, but if I'm honest, she has less character than her predecessors. Hopefully we are going to get to know her a bit better now that Drake has a new lady in his life, the lovely Annie.

So, on to the investigation that is the central theme of the book. An eminent barrister is found murdered in his holiday home, in a fashion that reminds Drake of a particularly nasty series of past murders. (Murders in Wales do seem to be rather brutal and exhibitionist, I must admit, and they rarely come singly either). Over the course of the Easter holiday, Drake and Sara battle against false leads and conflicting information, to find an explanation for this death and prevent further loss of life.

I was listening to this over the Easter period, which made it all the more poignant, but it was the ending of the book that raised this from a 4 to 5 star read and cost me an hour and a half of sleep. I now have book 7 lined up and I am very much looking forward to spending more time with Drake and Sara. show less

This is the first book in the Detective Inspector Ian Drake series, set in North Wales. Drake is somewhat OCD with a penchant for sudoku, a pastime which seems to calm him and help him to reorganise his thoughts. He has a very useful assistant in Sián Waits, married to an alpaca farmer.
We observe the deaths of two police patrolmen through the eyes of their killer, although we have no idea who he is. Neither do the North Wales Police, and Drake and Waits have a real problem with a killer show more who has an agenda, but one that is not obvious to the reader until quite late on in the book, and to the police somewhat later!
There is a great deal of speeding around in North wales, with the A55 getting a particular and frequent pounding!
I found the book engrossing, mainly on the grounds that the author very successfully conceals the killer until very late in the book, with only occasional and very small clues thrown in to suggest to the reader that the killer's identity should have been questioned earlier. We do get drawn into the seedy world of drug dealing and violence as well as businessmen finding nefarious ways to achieve their objectives.
Good stuff - will have to look up the next one in the series. show less