June 29

Outside Looking In – Michael Wood

Outside Looking In2When elderly George Rainsford goes to investigate a suspicious noise one night, the last thing he expects to find is a bloodbath. A man has been killed and a woman brutally beaten, left for dead.

The victims are Lois Craven and Kevin Hardaker – both married, but not to each other. Their spouses swear they knew nothing of the affair and, besides, they both have alibis for the attack. With nothing else to link the victims, the investigation hits a dead end.

The pressure is on for investigating officer, DCI Matilda Darke: there’s a violent killer on the loose, and it looks like her team members are the new targets. With no leads and no suspects, it’s going to take all Matilda’s wits to catch him, before he strikes again.

 

I had Outside Looking In ordered through the Kindle Store several weeks before release.  I am seldom this organised, however, as I had really enjoyed DCI Matilda Darke’s debut appearance in For Reasons Unknown I was keen for more.

A shocking opening chapter sees one man dead and a woman badly beaten and clinging to life. A couple who had been seeking a little solitude for a romantic extra-marital liaison have been subjected to a vicious attack. Matilda Darke is heading up the investigation, resources are stretched due to staff cut-backs and other personnel covering a spate of violent burglaries.

Matilda is still a vulnerable lead character and this makes the challenges she faces all the more fascinating to read. The anniversary of her husband’s death is approaching, an old-unsolved case of a missing child still hangs over her head (and is being raked up in the press by the child’s distraught family) and events from For Reasons Unknown are still fresh in her mind.  NB: I would recommend reading For Reasons Unknown before starting Outside Looking In.  Not strictly necessary but there are continuing plot threads which returning readers will recognise (new readers will encounter spoilers) so it’s best to read them in order.

I do enjoy a ‘proper’ detective story. The cops, the investigation, the hunt for a criminal and those pesky red herrings that will throw me off track. All present and correct here and I spent a few happy evenings picking my way through Outside Looking In. Michael Wood has done a great job of quickly establishing a cast of characters I want to read about. There are unresolved issues which I hope are not wrapped up too soon as I like there being a few demons hanging over Matilda. Yet I am also enjoying watching her making her slow recovery from the issues which have haunted her.

I found that Outside Looking In was quite dark in places, I don’t remember that being the case with For Reasons Unknown, but this was a pleasant surprise – it fitted the mood of the reader and I like when books are a bit more edgy when I read them.

So to recap…characters I like, unexpectedly dark, good continuity from the first novel and a story which kept me reading.  It’s what I look for in a book. Good job Mr Wood, one happy reader here.

 

Outside Looking In is published by Killer Reads and is available now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outside-Looking-compelling-shocking-Matilda-ebook/dp/B01BS9XGOS?ie=UTF8&qid=1467152167&ref_=la_B015CWYVFA_1_2&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

Outside Looking in Tour

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May 5

Guest Post – Michael Wood: Serial Heroes

Day 4 of Serial Heroes. So far we have had Serial Killers and Hannibal from Steven Dunne.  Caroline Mitchell brought Stephen King to the party – and that can only be a good thing!  Yesterday Alan Jones shared Ian Fleming’s licence to thrill and gave us James Bond.

Today I am delighted to be joined by Michael Wood who has picked a much loved duo from one of the finest crime writers I have read:

 

A Clubbable WomanI am not just a crime fiction writer, I’m a crime fiction reader. In fact, I devour the genre, and have done since I was a young teenager. I love series crime fiction and one of my all-time favourites is the Dalziel and Pascoe series by the late Reginald Hill.

We were first introduced to Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe in A Clubbable Woman (1970). A fresh-faced university graduate and a toughened, no-nonsense detective were thrown together to investigate the murder of a rugby player’s wife in the heart of Yorkshire. By today’s standards, the ‘opposites attract’ double act may seem cliche but in the 1970s it was a stark contrast staple of crime writing. And it worked.

Why did it work here? Because the man behind the words was Reginald Hill. He wasn’t just a storyteller, a creator of mysteries and plots, he was a wordsmith and a pioneer of the genre. His novels were literary and rich and every word felt like it was carefully chosen. There was no filler, no voyeuristic sensationalism, just pure drama written with heart and genuine likeable characters. Every book was multi-layered: a dark story, a labyrinthine plot with a host of supporting characters – some stuck around for more than one novel, others just a guest appearance, but all of them were well-rounded and deep. The victims, you cared for; the villains, you loathed. Reginald Hill made his novels seem simple as the plot and words flowed almost effortlessly, but you knew they were well researched, well thought out and lovingly written.

On Beulah HeightSo creative and seminal was Reginald Hill that he wrote a short story in which Dalziel and Pascoe investigated the first murder committed on the moon (One Small Step, 1990). In the hands of a lesser crime writer this would have seemed far-fetched and pathetic. In Hill’s dangerously capable hands it was a subtle and engaging story.

To support Dalziel and Pascoe, Hill created DS Edgar Wield, a dour-faced detective who was often in the middle of the titular characters’ many clashes and Peter’s wife, Ellie Pascoe, who had to support her husband and listen to his many rants about his irascible boss. However, unlike many supporting characters in series novels, Edgar and Ellie were very well written, and, on occasion, proved central to the plot.

Midnight FugueIn his career, Reginald Hill wrote 45 novels, 23 of them featured Dalziel and Pascoe. In 1990 he won the Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger Award for Bones and Silence. My favourite of the series is On Beulah Height from 1998 – a dark and unsettling story, tensely and expertly written. It is in my top ten crime fiction novels of all time and I have lost count of the many times I have read this particular book. In fact, I’ve had to buy it more than once to replace a well-thumbed copy.

Reginald Hill died in January 2012. His last Dalziel and Pascoe novel, Midnight Fugue, was published in 2009. It wasn’t the final novel. We didn’t get to say goodbye to the gruff detective and his sensitive sidekick (Dalziel wouldn’t have liked a soppy send-off anyway) but, like all the others, it was a deftly written and a thoroughly enjoyable thriller.

Hill’s legacy will live on in his great writing. I shall continue to read the Dalziel and Pascoe series for many years to come. Without them to influence me, I wouldn’t be a crime writer. I will never be as good as Reginald, but his work will always be an inspiration.

 

 

Outside Looking InMichael Wood’s Amazon page is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B015CWYVFA/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Michael+Wood&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Michael+Wood&sort=relevancerank where you can order copies of both his books.

 

On 26th May Michael’s new OUTSIDE LOOKING IN is released – you can order that here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outside-Looking-darkly-compelling-shocking-ebook/dp/B01BS9XGOS?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

 

Michael WoodYou can find Michael on Twitter @MichaelHWood

 

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