The Last Dance: A Detective Miller case - the first new Billingham series in 20 years

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This is the first in a new series featuring Declan Miller and his colleague Sara Xiu. Xiu has character quirks aplenty, but I particularly loved the way she never got Declan's (constant) jokes. To be fair, I think some of them went over my head. The blurb is correct in that this features ballroom dancing and Declan talking to his dead wife Alex, but the dancing bits are spaced out and the talking to a 'ghost' is in the context of a recent bereavement. This was basically a funny, well-paced police procedural about two contract killings, with the overarching mystery of what happened to Alex left to be continued into the rest of the series. Readers rejoice! A captivating new series from Mark Billingham, the very best in the business’— RICHARD OSMAN A dogged London cop whose beat somehow invariably crosses into the dark side and confronts evil at its cleverest. DEATH MESSAGE is the 7th in the series, and BLOOD LINE appears in August 2009. What is so different is Miller. He's hilarious. It takes Xiu awhile to warm up but you can tell it's going to be a good pairing. All through the book, new facts that may or may not have anything to do with the murder appear. His wife's death, friendships with street people and other assorted folks. It's up to the reader to decipher if these facts and folks are relevant. Three British couples meet by chance during a vacation in Sarasota, Fla., in this intricate psychological thriller from Billingham (Die of Shame). They share fruity drinks and promise to Continue reading »

In Billingham's thrilling eighth crime novel featuring London police detective Tom Thorne (after Death Message), Thorne welcomes the distraction of a new case after his girlfriend, Det. Insp. Louise Continue reading » The investigation moves around between people who are ‘known to police’ and others who turn up. While he and Xiu deal with their bosses and assignments, another team is looking into Alex’s murder. He misses her badly, listens to her voice and scrolls through her old phone messages. He’s not allowed to ask questions. OK, well . . . thank you all for coming.’ He manufactured that smile he’d been practising in the mirror before leaving the house. ‘I’ll try to keep this brief because we’ve all got crimes to solve . . . alcohol habits to support, gambling debts to pay off, whatever. So, just to say, my wife Alex, who some of you knew, is dead. She’s . . . dead. It’s a pisser, but there you are. With each of his books, Mark Billingham gets better and better. These are stories and characters you don’t want to leave.”— Michael ConnellyWill this eccentric, offbeat sleuth find answers where more traditional police have found only a puzzle? A gritty, engaging novel that balances light with dark, offering wit and wisdom in equal measure. Billingham’s new lead detective, DS Miller, may not be able to dance, but he never misses a step when it comes to solving crime.”— Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid Behind his wry, witty and outwardly upbeat nature hides a tragic recent past, the aforementioned death of his wife. Alex was a fellow police detective who died in the line of duty. Her murder remains unsolved and this sits very badly with Miller - and he lets the team working the case know of his displeasure…with predictable results. Readers rejoice! A captivating new series from Mark Billingham, the very best in the business' --- RICHARD OSMAN

There’s some great humour in this book as Declan has his own form of humour and tries to explain it to his new partner, Xiu. Billingham is a world-class writer and Thom Thorne is a wonderful creation. Rush to read these books.”— Karin Slaughter Best Books Set in the 1920s — from Stories That Shimmer with Champagne and Social Change, to Rip-roaring Reads Covering Crime, Colonialism and Beyond. The detective, Declan Miller, was likeable enough, but his humor got cheesy after a while. He is assigned to a new murder case while he is still recovering from the death of his wife (unsolved). With a distinctly loose relationship with reality and a new partner to deal with, can eccentric, offbeat Miller find answers where more traditional police have found only an impossible puzzle?It’s always fun to get in on the ground floor of a new series. And in this case, fun is the operative word. The Last Dance introduces us to DS Declan Miller. He’s unconventional, to say the least. “Were you like this before your wife died?” “You’ll need to be more specific,” Miller said. “Annoying.” Xiu paused, but only to take a deep breath. She’d obviously compiled a healthy list. “Bloody minded. childish…” “Are you actually doing them alphabetically?” “Insensitive, inappropriate, pig-headed, rude…stupidly over-confident and completely dismissive of authority…Inattentive, flippant, sarcastic, annoying, erratic, unreliable, flaky—“ To be honest I didn’t much warm to this new character of Marks. I love the Tom Thorne books so much that it will take a lot for another character to live up to him. A big part of it was the silly jokey nature of Miller. It is one of the reasons I gave up on Stuart MacBride as do people really talk and behave like that 24/7.

Declan Millar is a right pain to work with, seemingly taking nothing seriously, flouting authority and deliberately taking things the wrong way to wind up his senior colleagues. To start with I found him funny, then increasingly irritating and finally, when understanding it was a coping mechanism, growing to like him. Readers rejoice! A captivating new series from Mark Billingham—the very best in the business.”— Richard Osman, #1 bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club Alex appears to him now and then and has conversations with him, but as with the good ‘ghost’ stories I’ve read recently, nothing she says actually tells him anything he doesn’t already know. He knows he’s invented her, but he still enjoys her company and it does clarify his thinking. Brimming with wit, expertly paced, and wholly enjoyable — The Last Dance is a showcase of Billingham’s exceptionally gifted storytelling. Mark Billingham is at his best!”— Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of the Will Trent series

There was another murder which was not resolved (actually the 1st and 4th murders) I don't like loose ends, I know it is a hook to read the next book, but I am not sure if I will read the next one. Almost immediately, he meets his new partner and is handed a double homicide case by his DI. The case takes him to a local motel where two men have been killed, shot in the head. They occupied adjacent rooms but were apparently unrelated and unknown to one another. The nature of the case leads them into a lion’s den because one of the dead men is a known gangster who could have any number of enemies willing to put a bullet in his head. As what is clearly the first book in a series, I will be more than happy to return to find out how Miller and Xiu are getting on. I kept thinking of the quote by Fran Lebowitz while I read this book, “A book is not supposed to be a mirror. It’s supposed to be a door.” With that in mind, the fact that this author wanted to write a “humorous” book is not enough. I cannot believe the amount of stars this book has received. It is truly perplexing.

A growing number of suicides start looking like murder in Billingham’s absorbing 11th novel featuring Det. Insp. Tom Thorne (after 2012’s The Demands). With the apparent joint suicide of an elderly Continue reading » as he sauntered across the office. Sauntered, which was bloody ridiculous and only went to prove that he was brimming with misplaced confidence. Miller might have ambled now and again and may even have meandered on occasion, but he had never been one for sauntering anywhere. He was more of a lolloper.”AT times I liked Miller but most of the time he was irritating. I didn't warm up to other characters as well. Why was his partner Xiu even there?