Tangled Web UK Review June 2008
Waterloo Sunset by
Martin Edwards
hbk out April 08
Published by Allison Busby
at £19.99
No one expects to read his own obituary and Devlin never knew five short lines could be so menacing-someone wants him dead and he has only seven days to find out who. The terse notice of his death is out of place amid the hustle and bustle of Harry’s posh office off The Strand, but soon mysterious threats lurk in every familiar corner of Liverpool for the wary lawyer. The city quickly becomes a capital of crime as well as culture, when a mutilated female corpse washes up on the Waterloo Beach followed by another soon after. A loose serial killer does no good for Harry’s already morbidly preoccupied state, but between the elegant coroner Ceri Hussain and the endearing cleaner Gina he finds enough distraction. However, not all distractions in lovely packages are good. Juliet May, ex-wife of gangster Casper May and Harry’s former lover, sweeps back into the lawyer’s life with unforeseen consequences.
It’s been ten years since Martin Edwards last wrote about the Liverpool lawyer, Harry Devlin. In the meantime, the author concentrated instead on establishing his Hannah Scarlett / Daniel Kind Lake District Mystery series, with great success. So, has the wait for Devlin been worth it? The answer is a resounding "Yes", as Waterloo Sunset can rank amongst the best of anything the author has created. What is immediately striking is the tightness and dexterity of the writing. Zinging between Harry’s problems and those surrounding a murder hunt with consummate ease and clarity, the pace is relentless though never at the expense of detail or drama.
With a variety of peripheral characters who succeed in adding yet further depth and intrigue to an already compelling story - and a sense of the unexpected on every page - Waterloo Sunset without doubt sees a welcome return for the much loved solicitor and, also, adds further credence to Martin Edwards’s already iron-clad reputation as one of the best writers around.
With a variety of peripheral characters who succeed in adding yet further depth and intrigue to an already compelling story - and a sense of the unexpected on every page - his latest book adds further credence to Martin Edwards’s already iron-clad reputation as one of the best writers around.
www.martinedwardsbooks.co.uk
(
Chris High
Chris High - Author Multi-media Promotion Service www.chrishigh.com)
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