Nick Morris, a man struggling to make ends meets as a painter who doesn’t have to resort to cat portraits, has recovered from the events of The Art Of Murder, and is looking forward to a simple opportunity. Businessman Derek Swann is selling his Georgian house and wants a painting to remember it by. A week in the Peak District with a handsome commission sounds ideal.

No sooner has Nick settled into his chalet on a nearby holiday park when a body is found in the nearby woods. Nick had met the victim briefly when he arrived, and feels compelled to find the truth behind his death. But it seems this is far more than a simple case of a troubled young man getting in with the wrong people. An awful lot is going on in the area – and Nick may well regret sticking his nose into things.

So, book 2 from friend of the blog Michael Jecks in this series. You will remember his work from the Templar series, the Jack Blackjack series, and the recently started Shanghailanders series, all of which have something in common, namely the vivid historical background to set the story against. So I find it very interesting to look at the work of an author when one of his strengths is deliberately stripped away – because, to me at least, the 21^st century Peak District does not hold a candle to 14^th Century Devon. On the other hand, I understand that for a lot of readers, they wouldn’t touch an historical mystery, so here’s a chance to read Mike’s work without have to expand their horizons.

Ooh, that sounded a bit snotty, didn’t it? But hey, most of my favourite authors write historical mysteries, so you really ought to try them…

Anyway, enough with offending my loyal readers and anyone passing by. How is this one?

Obviously, it’s a good read. Nick is an interesting narrator. I’m not completely sure why he isn’t dead, or at least suffering a serious brain injury, by the end of the book, but the idea of a non-detective trying to solve a crime works well. There’s a decent set of support characters, most of which have rounded back-stories that contribute to the story rather than just get in the way.

That’s a good point actually, one that I’ve not considered before. When good authors (as in this case) drop a chunk of backstory, a) it doesn’t feel like exposition and b) it’s there to service the story. Aspiring authors could take lessons here – don’t give a five page flashback to someone losing their favourite teddy bear when they were six just to pad the page count.

As is the case with Mike’s books, almost everyone is up to something and you only see what at the end, despite a clue or two that you probably missed. There is a really nice double-bluff at one point, although that had nothing really to do with the murder, and the reveal is handled very nicely.

Niggles? Well, I prefer a more competent henchman, and I’m not sure how much money there is in a certain enterprise on the scale we see here, but as I said, those are niggles.

Oh, one last aside. I’ve been taken to task by one of my blogging buddies because he doesn’t like the word “niggle”, I guess it’s a British-ism. Well, just in case, I thought I’d provide the definition from an online dictionary and…

So as the dictionary is completely on my side, I’m going to carry on using it!

Ah, got distracted again. Landscape Of Murder is out in hardback and ebook from Severn House on 2^nd April 2024. Many thanks for the e-review copy.