Book Review ~ The Trawlerman by William Shaw

 

Quercus/Riverrun
13 May 2021

DS Alexandra Cupidi #4

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

A DOUBLE MURDER The naked corpses of Aylmer and Mary Younis are discovered in their home. The only clues are a note written in blood and an eerie report of two spectral figures departing the crime scene. Officer Jill Ferriter is charged with investigating the murders while her colleague Alex Cupidi is on leave, recovering from post-traumatic stress. 

AN ELABORATE SCAM The dead couple had made investments in a green reforestry scheme in Guatemala, resulting in the loss of all their savings. What is more disturbing is that Cupidi and Ferriter's disgraced former colleague and friend Bill South is also on the list of investors and the Younis's were not the only losers. 

AN UNLIKELY KILLER Despite being in counselling and receiving official warnings to stay away from police work Cupidi finds herself dragged into the case and begins to trawl among the secrets and lies that are held in the fishing community of Folkestone. Desperate to exonerate South she finds herself murderously compromised when personal relationships cloud her judgement.

My Thoughts..

DS Alex Cupidi is finding it difficult to be on sick leave especially when two serious crimes occurs almost on her doorstep. Bored, and with nothing better to do than see a counsellor to talk about her PTSD, Alex soon discovers that once a crime detective, always a crime detective, and she just can't stop herself from getting involved in a rather gruesome, crime scene.

Both crimes, one which happened in the past, and one very much placed in the future, are well plotted and explained and all the details are nicely woven together to form a complicated crime drama. The story flows really well and once I started to get involved with the story, and the characters, I found that I couldn't put the book down and that's unusual for me with a new series where I haven't read any of the previous books. The author gives enough of the back story to understand what makes Alexandra Cupidi tick, and there are interesting snippets of her somewhat fractious life with her seventeen year old daughter, Zӧe.

The Trawlerman is a well put together crime drama, which I could easily see translate well to a television series. I enjoyed how the author brought to life both the wildness of Dungeness and the closeness of a small community who suddenly find themselves under police scrutiny.

As with all series it is better to start at the beginning but The Trawlerman, as I found out, also works well as a standalone police drama.

About the Author

WILLIAM SHAW was born in Newton Abbot, Devon, grew up in Nigeria and lived for sixteen years in Hackney. He has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, longlisted for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and nominated for a Barry Award. A regular at festivals, he organises panel talks and CWA events across the country. He is the author of the Breen & Tozer crime series set in sixties London: A Song from Dead Lips, A House of Knives and A Book of Scars; and the standalone The Birdwatcher. Salt Lane and Deadland are spin-offs to The Birdwatcher. For over twenty years he has written on popular culture and sub-culture for various publications including the Observer and the New York Times. He lives in Brighton with his family.

Twitter @william1shaw #TheTrawlerman

Website

@riverrunbooks @QuercusBooks