A Touch of Frost

I have a new love in my life, Detective Inspector Jack Frost. Well, I wouldn't want to actually spend time with him in Real Life, doncha know, but I love him madly on the page. Jack is crude, irreverent, and bumbling ala Colombo, but also crafty and compassionate. In the space of a couple of days he solves three different robberies, a hit and run death, the murders of a drug-addicted tramp and a policeman, the disappearance of a teenage girl, and a serial rapist case. This was my first Jack Frost mystery, and while it is mostly plot driven, the wild pace rockets one along so that character development hardly matters. I know I'll spend more happy time with Jack.

DNF'd after 3 chapters. I'd been concerned about the amount of misogynistic and objectifying commentary from our "hero" POV in the first book but this quickly took it to a new level with Frost lasciviously fantasising about a missing 15 year old girl based on her bikini line trimmer and a photo of the girl in said bikini. This after leching after the girl's mother moments before. It just makes my skin crawl, and the idea of spending another 20 chapters with this slimey individual is totally unappealing.

Despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed [b:Frost At Christmas|1111495|Frost At Christmas (Inspector Frost, #1)|R.D. Wingfield|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266720398s/1111495.jpg|1098467], I put off picking up the sequel for several months (nearly 8 to be exact). After finishing it, I feel like an idiot for waiting so long. I can easily state that I will not be making this mistake twice. The third book is ready to go and I’ll be diving in shortly.

Frost hates doing any sort of formal report. In fact, he hates it so much that he’ll take on an unreasonable amount of additional work to avoid the inevitable paperwork that will follow the closing of any one case. At one point, Frost is involved, in some shape or form, with 5 show more separate cases. He’s investigating the death of a vagabond in a public washroom, a hit and run potentially perpetrated by the son of a Member of Parliament, the murder of a stripper, the robbery of a bookie and finally, the disappearance of a fifteen year old girl.

Wingfield is simply incredible here, there’s no better way to explain it. As I’ve mentioned, he has Frost and his sidekick-of-the-week, Webster, running all over the streets of Denton involved in five separate crimes. What’s remarkable is that at no point did the plot seem convoluted nor did I feel lost. When Frost starts to make headway in one case, he’s reminded of, or provided with new evidence to, another.

It takes talent to present such an ambitious story and not leave the reader feeling confused. It also takes impressive writing chops to craft a type of prose that entertains the reader and keeps the narrative moving smoothly. There were more than a few moments where anything from a smirk to genuinely laughing out loud occurred.

It’s only the second book in the series but you can tell Wingfield has Frost nailed down. Not only that but a tremendous supporting cast that keep up the overall flow of the story. These reasons should be enough for a fan of the mystery genre to at least give it a shot. Judging by the first two books, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to read one before the other. Reading out of order shouldn’t prevent any problems so if you’re interested, give this one a shot first, you will not be disappointed! show less

In the first few pages of this book a body is discovered in a basement-level public toilet which is slowly flooding with all manner of awful liquids. This sets the scene for what follows in more ways than one: a particularly gritty police procedural which is full of really well described people and events.

Inspector Jack Frost is a coarse, disorganised Detective Inspector who has the misfortune to do his policing near the most dangerous woods in the universe (People are constantly getting raped, killed, bashed and otherwise ill-treated in Denton Woods). I like the fact that there are multiple crimes being investigated at once in this book and Wingfield does a good job of allowing readers to keep track of the various sub-plots.

I suspect show more my enjoymnet of this book suffered because I have seen the TV series but have never read any of the books before. So I had an idea of the lead character in my head and this idea didn't gel with the one in the book. For TV they took out some of the nastier sides of Frost's character and, while I acknowledge that was doing a disservice to the book, I prefer the TV version. I don't find the corase jokes and never ending sexism of the Frost in the book attractive at all which put a dampener on what is otherwise a solid read. show less

This book (unabridged on this 13.5 hr CD set) could just have easily be titled FROST's WEEK. Tuesday night brings with it the discovery of the body of a junkie in a public toilet, a rape in Denton Woods, a farewell party at Denton police station for a retiree, a hit and run death at a retirement village, a robbery at the town's strip joint, a missing school girl, and the crime stats are due. This CD reading gives you to time to wallow in Wingfield's excellent writing. But if you can't get the CD and haven't got 13.5 hours to spare (no long trips coming up), then get the book. The Frost series are worth the trouble. If you can't find the books, look for the TV series with David Jason.
1. Frost at Christmas (1984)
2. A Touch of Frost show more (1987)
3. Night Frost (1992)
4. Hard Frost (1995)
5. Winter Frost (1999) show less

In this book, the second of the Frost saga, Insp. Frost is teamed up with a demoted, former Inspector with rather a chip on his shoulder.

We begin by finding a drunk lying in sewage in a public toilet, apparently having chocked in his own vomit. Then too, a young, 15-year old has disappeared. She has rather nasty parents. When they think they'e found the girl in the woods, they eventually discover they've actually found a 30-something prostitute. And so forth.

Frost in the books is cruder and much less endearing than the guy in the video series. Apparently, Wingfield complained about that. I dunno, I'm not sure I want to read more of this if the book Frost is going to continue being such a coarse asshole. We'll see.

Thorougly enjoyed rereading this book. Can't help but hear and see David Jason in the TV role, which is quite a bit more sanitised.
Detective Inspector Jack Frost solves the murder of a drug-addicted tramp, the disappearance of a teenage girl, the robbery of money from a nightclub and gold sovereigns from a money lender and pawn shop, the ongoing case of a serial rapist/killer and the murder of a police colleague in a haphazard way accompanied by a disgruntled demoted inspector.