I first came across the novels of Jim Kelly earlier this year while investigating the crime section in Norwich Millenium library seeking out books with that new unread look which usually means they are new to the stock. Jim Kelly is a journalist and lives in Ely with his biographer wife and their young daughter. His first novel, The Water Clock was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association John Creasy Award for best first crime novel of 2002. His second book, The Fire Baby was chosen by Booklist magazine a top ten crime novel in 2004. Last year saw the paperback publication by Penguin of his third novel The Moon Tunnel and the hardback publication of his latest The Coldest Blood. All these books feature the journalist Philip Dryden.
The Moon Tunnel is one of those past/present stories of which I’m fond. The Penguin website provides the following synopsis. “In the past: a man crawls desperately through a claustrophobic escape tunnel beneath a POW camp in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Above, a shadow passes across the moon, while ahead only death awaits him. In the present: Philip Dryden is reporting on an archaeological dig at the old POW camp when a body is uncovered. But there is something odd: the man appears to have been shot in the head, and the position indicates that he was trying to get into the camp, not escape it. It's a puzzle which excites Dryden far more than the archaeologists or the police. That is, until a second, more recent, body is discovered.”
Just the thing for a darkening autumn evening.
Jeff
Nothing special. Waterclock and The FireBaby must be a lot better than this to have won awards etc. The whole thing didn’t seem real. The characters were formulaic, particularly Phillip Dryden the gumshoe newspaper hack who lives on a houseboat. A sort of Shoestring/Lovejoy character. The other characters were mainly cardboard cut outs including Humph the alcoholic taxi driver. The plot was also pretty standard and why the author kept indicating that the missing painting would be found, would be sold for lots of money and life for at least one character would be happy ever after beats me. Maybe a little more effort should be put into both plot and character development. I think a first person narrative for Phillip Dryden would have helped but too late now!
I also didn’t recognise Ely and its environs in which the story was set. Maybe it’s because I always go in the summer. Any body reading this would I think keep well away from the place. I think I will try at least one of the other Phillip Dryden books just in case The Moon Tunnel was a one off. I like the idea but that’s about it at present.
Kate
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