Hingston: Smoke and Mispers – Decima Blake
As the first door on the Advent calendar is opened, DS Hingston attempts to save the life of a teenager in a crowded London café, but ultimately fails. Seventeen-year-old Leanna Snow chokes to death.
Days later, a girl from Leanna Snow’s school is missing and another misper is found dead: his body hanging within the iconic Egyptian Avenue at Highgate Cemetery.
Working under the bombastic DCI Smythe and alongside Remi, his ex-girlfriend whom he still holds a torch for, Hingston discovers the magic of London this December is dark, deceptive and murderous.
Hingston and the Murder Squad are put to the test with this complex investigation that proves to be as mystifying as being asked by a magician to pick a card, any card, not knowing where you will be taken.
My thanks to the author for providing a copy of Smoke and Mispers for review
This was fun. After a wee run of books which didn’t really grab my attention I was glad to let Smoke and Mispers sink its hooks into me and pull me along with a tight, exciting story.
DS Hingston is on the scene when a teenage girl starts to choke on her drink. Despite his very best attempts to save her life he is unsuccessful and the girl dies. Just days later a classmate of the dead girl goes missing and Hingston is called to the school to investigate, there may be a connection between the missing girl and her dead classmate but finding out what that connection may be is going to be challenging. Perhaps not as challenging as dealing with the missing girl’s mother – even the Headteacher seems to cower in her presence. But Hingston feels her behaviour is totally wrong for a mother concerned about her missing daughter.
Hingston’s attention will be divided as in a London cemetery a body has been found hanging. Highgate Cemetry has an Egyptian Avenue and Egyptian history and the mythology of the nation will play a significant role in this book as the police find themselves investigating a number of associated incidents which all connect to this period of history. The Egyptian storyline rather caught me unaware (as I hadn’t read the blurb before I began reading) so I was totally caught up in events before I actually understood how significant some of the early clues were going to be to the story.
Perhaps if I had been better prepared I may have stood a chance in puzzling out where Smoke and Mispers may be heading? Happily for me I didn’t anticpate what Hingston and his colleagues were about to experience and I delighted in discovering the surprises at the same time as they did.
Hingston is an extremely likeable lead character and the supporting characters in the Murder Squad are nicely defined and relatable too. Two of them squabble, one is dating the boss, Hingston used to date the one now dating the boss – it all makes them more engaging and I looked forward to the briefing scenes where the sniping and niggles would play out. Quick housekeeping too – this is Hingston’s second outing but I didn’t find I was disadvantaged by not having read the first story. One or two sub-plots do seem to have a foundation in the first book but all clearly explained by the author so there is no confusion.
Trying not to share too much of the story for fear of leaking spoilers but suffice to say there is a highly entertaining investigation for Hingston which has roots in the past and a legacy of evil which is being kept alive by people who should know better. Story is tightly written with some well worked twists and surprises and, as I said at the start, I had lots of fun reading Smoke and Mispers. It’s nice to find something which felt a bit different and left me ready for more.
Hingston: Smoke and Mispers is published by Pegasus and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09N7NSV1B/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1