Simon Mason (1) (1962–)

One of the books I enjoyed most last year was [A Killing in November], which introduced two Detective Inspectors called Wilkins, both working on the Oxfordshire Constabulary. One, Ray Wilkins, is suave, well educated and tipped for great things. He is from a Nigerian family and grew up in relative affluence in leafy West London before going to oxford university and following a smooth path into the police force as one of the fast tracked leaders of the future. His namesake, Ryan Wilkins, was raised in a dysfunctional family, and has serious problems with authority, although his considerable native wit took him to the top his cohort in police training.

At the beginning of this novel, set a few months later, Ryan has left the force and is working as a night security guard at a van hire firm, while Ray has continued his steady progress and is still being groomed for future greatness. Their paths cross again after Ray is appointed Senior Investigating officer in the case of the abduction of a young girl while Ryan encounters a former schoolfriend who dies very shortly afterwards.

The contrast between the two protagonists could easily fall prey to rampant cliché, but Simon mason manages the story adroitly, and avoids that pitfall. The plots are well constructed, and cohere effectively, and the two contrasting characters are very deftly drawn. While the stories are set in oxford (which always appeals to me, anyway), any similarity with the slightly rarefied air of the Chief inspector Morse stories ends there.

Although I dislike the practice of inserting the opening chapters of the author’s next book at the end of editions (having been caught out too often thinking I still had thirty or forty pages left – enough to sustain me for the journey home – only to find that the story ends just three or four pages later) I was pleased to see that there will be at least one more volume in this series.… (meer)

Former police detective Ryan Wilkins is working as a night watchman when a former school mate appears in distress and then is killed minutes later. No-one is interested in the death except Ryan. At the same time a young girl is kidnapped from outside her nursery. Everyone is interested in this. The two cases bring Ryan and his former partner together and Ryan possibly has a chance of redemption.
I missed the first book in the series but this more than made up for it. There is a clever plot here and a nice juxtaposition between the two leads, so far so good for a police procedural. However some aspects grated. I like the fact that the black character is middle-class and educated whereas as the white character is 'trailer trash' but, after explaining that the service is a graduate one, it is then made clear that one character has little education. I also found it really annoying that the two had the same surname!… (meer)