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

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Both with some heavy emotional baggage that try to manage in their own way - predictably, Ryan with outbursts of anger and Ray with long hours at work. The two central characters are perhaps a little overdone, but they are interesting studies nonetheless, both flawed in their own way and with plenty of messy stuff left unresolved, rather than the trite little Life Lessons which so often pollute this kind of portrayal. I've read a lot of whodunnits, but this one really stood out, and each time I stopped, I couldn't wait to get back to it. It's really stretching the imagination to ask us to believe someone as 'chav' as that would get employment anywhere, leave alone in a county police force. I would certainly look forward to reading more about Ryan and the Great Raymundo… I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

But it had been recommended by well-regarded Goodreads friends, and so I decided to read one more short chapter. The photographer worked for one of the ‘lads mags’ then very popular, and he mainly photographed undressed women. 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. These two could not be more different and this is what makes “A Killing in November” such a great read.I couldn’t possibly say how my friend responded, though I will say that he had a wicked sense of fun. The highlight for me was the developing relationship between Ray and Ryan as they worked the case that seemed impossible initially. There are riots in the Leys (a child has been killed by the police) whilst in Barnabas College, the Provost is trying to lure an Arab sheik to finance a project. 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. The Oxford college setting is perfect for Ryan's first outing, emphasising his otherness and setting him up in belligerent opposition to the forces of tradition and establishment.

are superb and his relationship with Ray, a snob with a heart of gold beneath the sharp suit, shows huge potential. A decent crime thriller but a little too stereotyped in its character portrayals to be an instant classic. It is not entirely filled in how Ryan became a DI with his amazingly bad attitude and refusal to adapt his clothing or manner or anything else, though he's a kind of crime solving savant.

Ryan Wilkins is about as far removed from George Smiley as a protagonist can be, he may in time become as memorable. A Killing in November is the freshest, most original police procedural I've come across since the first time I read the late and much missed Susie Steiner's first Manon Bradshaw novel.

He was having a drink one evening in a pub, when he was approached by a photographer with an unusual proposal. And like the great Colin Dexter, Mason brings Oxford alive, in all its Dreaming Towers glory and gloom.They’re highly exaggerated characters and I’d have preferred more subtlety in their dialogue and behaviour. This is a terrific crime nov el, with a startlingly original protagonist we're going to see a lot more of. I really enjoyed this book, the back stories, the characters and their relationships, the investigation and for once this book lived up to all the positive critiques it has received. Absolutely brilliant and classic Oxford murder mystery set around topics such as Syrian Refugee crisis, UEA humanitarian rights and ofc money. it was enhanced by deft prose and the detective duo of social misfit Ryan Wilkins and the Balliol-educated Ray Wilkins.

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