A Killing in November: The Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month (DI Wilkins Mysteries)

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But there are shadows of Morse in Ryan's fierce cleverness, his forensic mind and his relentless pursuit of the truth whatever the personal and professional cost. Also it's clear that his Dad is some kind of super bright young man so it makes sense that his son might be a little above average. He was having a drink one evening in a pub, when he was approached by a photographer with an unusual proposal.

As is well known, Oxford also contains areas of real deprivation, the estates of Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill and Barton, for instance. Overall I found this a lively entertaining read and I thoroughly enjoyed suspending disbelief over the characters.This has done nothing to change his behaviour, however, which remains crude, coarse and not infrequently offensive. The anxious Provost had been hoping to elicit funding for the new Institute for Peace Studies, only to be disappointed in what turned out to be a disastrous evening. You can see Ryan hanging around town in his trackie bottoms and Loop jacket and plaid baseball cap, the epitome of the chav.

This is such a brilliant, compelling, gripping and thrilling book, that as soon as I had it in my hands I had to read it. He’s a good detective though, with an eye for detail and the character is further redeemed by Ryan’s relationship with his toddler son. Discretion is a venerable Oxford tradition, so too refinement and good manners; it is rare for a college to have anything so crude as a sign with its name on outside its gates.And for good measure, I thought I’d give Ryan an unlikely partner, the suave and sophisticated Ray, London-Nigerian graduate of Balliol College and boxing blue of the university. This is light reading which entertains and also touches, like most good detective stories, on real issues of some import (from class to race, to illegal immigration and sexual abuse). But it’s convenient because I live here and know it better than any other place, with the possible exception of Sheffield, where I grew up. My only suggestion would be Ryan junior should be at least 3 years old with his speech and understanding- so that niggled me abit! Simon Mason sets his crime novel amidst the dreaming spires of Oxford, depicting the contrasting picture of the city, the sharp divides in social class with those that inhabit the entitled, privileged, wealthy academic circles at the fictional Barnabas College, and the more socially deprived parts with riots taking place amidst the notorious council estates of Blackbird Leys.

I couldn’t possibly say how my friend responded, though I will say that he had a wicked sense of fun. I listened to he audiobook and the narrator did a decent job, he is good at switching between dialects and altering his voice so that female voices are rendered plausibly. Boken är förvisso välskriven, med fina miljöbeskrivningar och mestadels runda karaktärer (stereotypiseringen är tillräckligt medveten för att inte kunna kritiseras) - men det är ju ingen "ren" fyra.There are several possible avenues to consider, including possible jihadi action, straightforward theft, sexual harassment and so on. He is the author of the Quigleys series for young readers: The Quigleys (Highly Commended in the UK's Branford Boase Award), The Quigleys at Large, The Quigleys Not for Sale, and The Quigleys in a Spin. Ray is closer to Morse, with his Balliol education and his classical music, while Ryan is more like the working class Lewis, albeit that he has none of Lewis's patience or measured approach to life and work. I could not "hang" on to any of the characters, they just tried so hard to fall into their portraits. In contrast, Ray Wilkins is the son of African immigrants, university educated with a wife and is a suave dresser.