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Death Wore White
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Death Wore White
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Death Wore White
Ebook384 pages6 hours

Death Wore White

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

Rookie detective Peter Shaw, along with his chain-smoking, hard-as-nails, veteran partner, is confronted with a baffling crime that stretches his wits and nerves to the breaking point, in Jim Kelly's quirky and intelligent mystery novel Death Wore White.

The Washington Post say Jim Kelly has a "biting knack for capturing the essence of people."

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 9, 2009
ISBN9781429990431
Unavailable
Death Wore White
Author

Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly was born in 1957 and is the son of a Scotland Yard detective. He went to university in Sheffield, later training as a journalist and worked on the Bedfordshire Times, Yorkshire Evening Press and the Financial Times. His first book, The Water Clock, was shortlisted for the John Creasey Award and he has since won a CWA Dagger in the Library and the New Angle Prize for Literature. He lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Read more from Jim Kelly

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Reviews for Death Wore White

Rating: 3.6875 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first book in a new series by Jim Kelly whose books I have enjoyed in the past. This is a police procedural set in King's Lynn, Norfolk and is based on a tremendous set up; a series of cars are trapped by a tree fall in the midst of a blizzard and there is a body. What follows is an excellent who-dun-it and why, with twists, turns and red herrings and a series of intriguing characters, including the twin series protagonists, who have their own history and a cold case with personal connections. I really enjoyed it and have a,lready acquired the sequel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thoroughly enjoyed this one, not my usual genre but a change is as good as a rest. I will be looking out for more from this author in the future I think.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I know that I am no judge of what constitutes good writing, but this book is filled with evocative images. For example, as the inspectors regarded a beach following a snowstorm where a man had been found dead, "sometimes a seagull wheeled, ripping a tiny white tear in the monochrome canvas." Or, "Crews disembarked, pencil-gray outlines working in a bank of falling snowflakes, bristling with rakes and buckets and forks."

    As Stephen points out, this is a form of "locked room" mystery.""There's a passenger in the murder victim's vehicle, but she's gone. There's an apple in the murder victim's vehicle, but it's not his. The corpse on the beach is involved in some form of illegal trade in wildlife, and that's gone too. It wasn't a simple inquiry to begin with." A fresh fallen snow, but no footprints. The man who last spoke to the victim suffers a heart attack. And what's with the used spark plugs found in the victim's car? And was there a connection between the people caught behind the victim's car in the blizzard? See Stephen's nice review for a more complete plot summary. Ripping good yarn.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a good conundrum that kept me wondering until the last page. Bleak cold landscapes, interesting characters and a good story. Even the personal deacons of the main characters where not over done.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Some books have a premise with draws me in like the proverbial moth to a flame. Death Wore White offered a modern version of a locked room mystery in which a handful of people are trapped in their cars during blizzard and one of drivers has a chisel plunged into his eye seemingly in full view of everyone else but no one saw anything. We won’t ponder what it says about me that I rubbed my hands with glee when I read a blurb like that.

    The book turned out to be a more standard police procedural than the blurb suggested (how shocking, a misleading book blurb). It’s a solid example of its sub genre but as the vast majority of the action takes place long after the blizzard-trapped people have gone home it wasn’t really the book I was expecting.

    The two policemen at the heart of the are quite fascinating. Peter Shaw is something of a hotshot: a forensic artist, rescue boat crewman and loving husband and father as well as being a Detective Inspector. Shaw’s father was a policeman too until he was accused of planting evidence when investigating the case of a murdered boy ten years previously. Shaw has now been partnered with George Valentine who had been his father’s partner during that disastrous case. Valentine has been demoted and must now take orders from his old partner’s son. The two men work through initial distrust and hostility towards something of a grudging, though sporadic, respect as the book progresses and the relationship between these two is the kind of thing that will bring me back to more books in this series.

    I didn’t find the story itself quite as compelling. The plot is terribly complicated and I never became fully engaged with it so had to re-read several portions in order for the chain of events to make sense, especially for the first half of the book. It seemed to me that there were a lot of events crammed into the story and all, apart from the minor thread relating to the old case that ruined the career of Shaw’s father and George Valentine, were treated fairly superficially. With a few less dead bodies and overlapping crimes to investigate there might have been time for a closer look at the victims or the motivations of the criminals (of whom there were many).

    However, I did enjoy the writing style of Death Wore White and the main characters were interesting enough for me to want to read more about them so I will seek out, Death Watch, the second book in this series which is due for release this year.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This first attracted me as it is set in north-east Norfolk which I know, or did know quite well from living in Norfolk and visiting relatives. The plot is extremely convoluted but topical in many ways, featuring Chinese cockle-pickers in the Wash. I was kept guessing up until the end as who had done what and to whom! The characters, especially the leading policemen, are well-drawn and believable and it keeps your attention throughout. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Maybe I wasn't in the mood for this book, but I found the denouement rather convoluted.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a clever murder mystery, set in bleak midwinter conditions on the Norfolk coast, and introducing a new investigative partnership of DI Shaw and DS Valentine. These two do not get on particularly well, and there is an intriguing additional factor in their collaborative dynamic in that valentine had previously been a DI himself, before being demoted after a scandalously mismanaged investigation some years earlier into the murder of a young boy in King's Lynn. Further poignancy is added by the fact that Valentine had been close confidant (almost "bagman") to Shaw's estranged father, a DCI who had been renowned for his dodginess evince in his propensity to cut corners and willingness to accept bribes.On a bleak February afternoon Shaw and Valentine have been dispatched to a beach near Hunstanton where they have been told to anticipate the beaching of some radioactive waste. While there they see an inflatable dinghy drift into shore carrying a recently killed corpse. Meanwhile, just inland, eight cars have been diverted off the main road in the midst of a serious blizzard on to a narrow, treacherous lane where they grind to a halt because a tree is blocking the road. Owing to the combination of awful weather and atrocious road they are unable to back up and have to wait for rescue. While they are stranded the driver of the front car is stabbed, but no-one sees anything, and no footprints are left in the snow.The scenario is certainly gripping and the dynamic between the two detectives is cleverly managed, but somehow the novel failed to ignite my attention, and I won't be looking for any more in this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First Line: The Alpha Romeo ran a lipstick-red smear across a sepia landscape.At 5:15 PM, Harvey Ellis was stranded in a line of eight cars by a blizzard on a Norfolk coast road. Three hours later, Harvey Ellis was dead, stabbed at the wheel of his truck. His killer has achieved the impossible: killing without being seen and leaving not one footprint in the snow.This is merely the beginning of an exasperating investigation. The crime scene is melting, the murderer has vanished, and the witnesses have scattered. It's going to take everything D.I. Peter Shaw and D.S. George Valentine have to piece all the facts together and solve the case.Shaw and Valentine are a very good pairing of opposites. Shaw is the young whiz kid on the fast track to chief constable and beyond. Known as "Check It" at the station, he's known for believing in the forensics and for checking each and every bit of evidence time and again.His new partner, D.S. George Valentine, is at the end of a long career. He's a dinosaur, believing that people-- not forensics-- are at the heart of each investigation. Shaw and Valentine are both under a cloud: Shaw's father (and Valentine's former partner) left the force after it was proven that the pair did not follow procedure and seriously botched the outcome of an important case. The present-day partnership of Shaw and Valentine have to come to grips with the old case as well as solving the new.Although characters and the weather play important roles in this book, by far the star of the show is the tightly wound and smartly executed plot. Clues are subtly planted and can be easily missed, and even though I eventually figured it all out, I refuse to claim any sort of victory because my enlightenment occurred so close to the end.If you're in the mood to read about a couple of indefatigable coppers who are faced with an Agatha Christie-like locked room mystery in the snow, locate a copy of Death Wore White. (Just make sure the heating isn't on the blink, and you have a spare blanket just in case!)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The snows of January complicate the investigations of three mysterious deaths in Jim Kelly’s marvelous police procedural set on northern Norfolk coast of England where Death Wore White. Kelly’s well-developed characters and atmospheric location drive a complex plot that should satisfy the pickiest of mystery buffs. As upstart Detective Inspector Peter Shaw and embattled aging Detective Sergeant George Valentine examine a toxic waste drum drifting near shore off Ingol Beach, they spot a child’s raft floating in the waves carrying one dead male with a deep human bite mark on one arm—the first of three bodies that will mark these two mismatched partners’ first week of working together. At the same time not a half-mile away from the two detectives on the beach, on a road known as Siberia Belt, eight vehicles are trapped behind a fallen tree, unable to advance or retreat as a blizzard moves in from the sea blanketing everything in white. When Shaw and Valentine arrive a few hours later to aid the stranded motorists, they discover the lone occupant of the first vehicle with a chisel protruding from his left eye—clearly dead, and just as clearly the victim of murder. Later, on a sandbar known as Styleman’s Middle, another body is discovered buried in sand with only the head and a single foot and hand showing. Are the three deaths related, or are they each separate cases? Surrounded by death and snow, detectives Shaw and Valentine struggle to find a way to work together despite a shared history with Shaw’s now-deceased father that has mysteries of its own. Kelly’s masterful manipulation of the events will keep readers guessing up to the end. We can only hope this is the start of new series featuring these two crime-solvers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Det. Inspector Peter Shaw and veteran officer, Det. Sgt. George Valentine are sent to look for containers of toxic waste on a Norfold, England beach. While there, they discover a dead body in a raft, washing against the shore. The wheather is terrible, blizzard conditions prevail.Not far away, someone has placed a sign on the main road that there is flooding ahead and vehicles should detour to the coastal road. A tree has been cut and is across the road, stranding eight cars. In addition, someone has killed the driver of the first car, Harvey Ellis.When Shaw and Valentine arrive, they are perplexed to find that although Ellis has been killed in a violent manner, there are no footprints in the snow.D. I. Shaw followed his father, Jack, into the police department. He is currently the youngest Detective Inspector on the job. He's teamed up with the tough, no nonsense veteran, George Valentine who had been Peter's father's old partner. Twelve years prior, Valentine and Peter's father made a mistake with the evidence on a case, ending Shaw's career. Now, Peter surprises Valentine by asking about the case and telling him that he wants to look into it.This is a well done novel. It is a variation of the locked door mystery. The author's literary style make this a pleasure to read and Shaw and Valentine make a good team. It is interesting to see the interreaction between the crusty old vet under the supervision of the young Chief Inspector who has a talent for forensics and in dealing with suspects.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A line of eight cars is trapped in a blizzard on a Norfolk coast road in the intriguingly named Siberia Belt between Cromer and King's Lynn. They've been diverted into this by-road by an AA road works sign that mysteriously disappears. The passage of the truck at the head of the line is blocked by a fallen tree, showing all the signs of having been deliberately chopped down. And three hours after the blizzard began Harvey Ellis, the driver of the truck, is dead. And no-one saw anything. But Harvey Ellis has been murdered.Two bodies are separately found at low tide in the coastal cockle pits. As these bodies are identified DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine discover they have connections with people in the line of stranded cars.Jim Kelly is an established author with 5 novels already under the belt (the Philip Dryden series), and in 2006 he won the 2006 CWA Dagger in the Library for the series. DEATH WORE WHITE is the beginning of a new series, with a second title promised for 2010.Not only has Kelly created an interesting puzzle in DEATH WORE WHITE - who kills Harvey Ellis if no-one saw anything - but he has created a fascinating new detective duo in Shaw and Valentine. These two already have a history. Valentine worked with Shaw's father Jack, on a case which spelled the end of Jack Shaw's career, and saw Valentine demoted. Peter Shaw comes into the series already fully fledged as it were - the new style of detective, careful, determined not to make his father's mistakes, but an artist who can draw his own identikit pictures, and a boatie with a hovercraft licence.You've probably detected that I found this a very enjoyable read, and I'll certainly now try to get hold of the Philip Dryden titles, as well as look out for the next in the Shaw and Valentine series: DEATH WATCH.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Love puzzles, police procedurals, and your classic locked room mystery? Jim Kelly introduces a new team of detectives, Inspector Peter Shaw and Sergeant George Valentine, in Death Wore White, sent out into a blizzard to track down a hazardous waste barrel on a Norfolk beach they start uncovering a string of bodies instead. Shaw and Valentine probably should never have been paired up, they have a long history and it isn't all pleasant, trust will be one of the many missing pieces in solving this complicated puzzle.All police procedurals have common elements but Kelly's twist in this book is the nod to the locked room mystery genre, which is pulled off rather cleverly, eight cars trapped by the snow and of course the requisite body -brutally and ironically mutilated. The story is much larger than this central crime and the past and present are drawn closer as Shaw and Valentine come together to track the murderer. Kelly brings an original voice to this genre, decidedly British and a bit bleak, building his characters and settings with the small details that leave the reader wanting more of both Shaw and Valentine. The descriptive language can be odd at times but chalk it up to indecipherable British idioms.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I thought Death Wore White started out strong but sort of fizzled. It got too bogged down and had a contrived ending and an all too obvious allusion to a sequel.Peter Shaw, Detective Inspector, in his 30s is partnered with George Valentine, the partner of Shaw's father who died disgraced, accused of planting evidence. A line of cars has been diverted to a desolate side road and stopped, due to a fallen tree. The driver in the first car is found dead, no footprints leading to or away from the car. On the same night, not a hundred yards away, a man is washed up on shore in a rubber raft, brutally murdered. Can these two murders be connected? Well, only if you suspend belief, really, but they are, as well as one or two other murders. I lost count.The dialogue is stilted. The descriptions get a little tedious. I couldn't wait to finish the book so it was done and I could see how Kelly wrapped things up. This got good reviews in the NY Times, I think, but is was just OK.Now on to Steve Martini's the Guardian, which sounds good from page 1. Hope it continues to be good.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    There's nothing better than a well-executed version of one of the good old staples of crime fiction - a twist on the locked room scenario.DEATH WORE WHITE is the first in a new series from CWA Dagger Winner Jim Kelly, an author well known for his ongoing Philip Dryden books. DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine are a good pairing - Valentine the older cop, ex-partner of Shaw's father, his career has seen higher points. Shaw, on the other hand, is a rising star, keen to prove himself and to clear his father's, and consequently Valentine's, reputations over the last case they both investigated. Despite what sounds like a pretty predictable scenario (and let's face it - most of everything's been done before), Shaw and Valentine rub along together as you'd expect the old buck and the young upstart to do for a while, eventually coming to a grudging if not quite respect, then at least understanding.At the heart of DEATH WORE WHITE there's a very complicated plot which unravels for some aspects predictably, and in others unexpectedly. One of the best parts of this particular locked room scenario is that whilst it's obvious that's what the reader is being confronted with, and therefore there must be more to the initial discovery of the scene, the full story is revealed in a way that the reader can draw some conclusions, maybe completely solve the puzzle. The story is, however, incredibly complicated and some readers might find that it stretches credibility somewhat, having said that, personally I had no problem with the interconnectedness of the entire thing. The book is really a great story, told well, with a couple of interesting central characters, set in a vividly drawn and ever so slightly quirky setting. Kelly knows how to write good, solid entertaining crime fiction - a bit of a puzzle solver, as gruesome as the killing may be, these books aren't particularly confrontational and characters and the settings are a big part of what he does. DEATH WORE WHITE should appeal to fans of the Dryden series, as well as to readers who are new to Jim Kelly's books.