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

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The plot is engaging though had a few holes and improbabilities, not least the idea that a British police force would be remotely bothered that one of its officers was violent, xenophobic or misogynist. 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. Meet DI Ryan Wilkins, slouching onto the Oxford crime scene in ill-fitting tracksuit trousers, mistaken for a teenage offender with that scowl on his youthful face, and just about to put his anger management problems on display.

The story has modern relevance, ingenious plotting, vivid characterisation, a touching father-son relationship and impressively accurate city geography. It's likely to win awards, and at some point, perhaps when Endeavour reaches the end of his road and something new is asked of Oxford, it will make great television. His professional partner, DI Ray Wilkins, of affluent Nigerian-London heritage, is an impeccably groomed, smooth-talking graduate of Balliol College, Oxford. 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.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. Add to this the idea that Ryan, a CID Inspector, would turn up to investigate a death in an Oxford college wearing tracksuit bottoms and a baseball cap on backward, tell the Provost to “calm the [copulatory obscenity] down” and so on and it sounds utterly preposterous. A lot of the humour comes from their contrasting class and backgrounds - white 'trailer trash' versus black Oxford-educated - but it works and the dialogue is wholly convincing (would make great TV screenplay). Oxford in general contains a high proportion of powerfully placed people operating quietly away from the glare of publicity. Honestly if you loved inspector Morse books, a flawed and poor and tough genius police officer this book is one for you, it’s almost like Morse has reversed into a young tough chap, with a past that is brutal and trying to make sure his kid lives the best life he can.

Suffice it to say that I found the idea of the double detective excellent and entertaining, Stereotypical characters, certain lack of verisimilitude at times, but fleshed out with some individuality and a bit of complexity. A very readable debut and clearly the start of a new detective series starring DIs Wilkins and Wilkins. But it had been recommended by well-regarded Goodreads friends, and so I decided to read one more short chapter.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. There had been a dinner in the honour of the controversial billionaire Sheik al-Medina, with his history of human rights abuses at home and atrocities in other countries. The colleges are of course bastions of privilege and power, not just in terms of wealth but – more importantly, in terms of knowledge and influence. I also agree that Ryan the elder is slightly over the top - it really is hard to see why he was allowed to stay in the police for five minutes, never mind becoming a DI - on the other hand it makes for an entertaining read.