Beneath The House of Sin (DCI Mike Saxby #1) by David Field
17 Cavendish Square. The home of the Pelican Club – a notorious upmarket brothel. Now the scene of a murder.
DCI Mike Saxby is the officer in charge. He’s straight-shooting and by-the-book. There are no grey areas – Saxby is called in to investigate the death of the madame, Linda Clifford but the case throws up more questions than answers, as well as a slew of suspects.
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Saxby and his team also uncover secrets which involve the highest echelons of the police – and a centuries-old mystery of a murdered witch. Juggling issues, which concern both his family and his mis-matched personnel, Saxby struggles with the investigation.
As they begin to dig up the past, Saxby will be forced to face the depths of human depravity.
My Review
It’s like two separate books in one and the first two in a series, which I guess it is. I actually could not put this down, but not just because of the story but because I loved the characters. All of them, but particularly DCI Mike Saxby, his wife Alison, young police officer Cathy who reminds Mike of his daughter and keeps feeding him yoghurt so he can lose weight (orders from above ie Alison) and even boring Dave Petrie. Or Paperless Petrie as he is known, because he never does his admin. Mike is known as Paddington for reasons that will become clear and marmalade keeps turning up on his desk, usually on toast.
In fact the list of characters I loved is too long to mention here, but it’s the banter that really makes this book so readable. I often laughed out loud. One word of warning though. It is at times, VERY politically incorrect, but remember, this is the banter between the police officers and I’m sure it doesn’t reflect the author’s opinions, but you may be shocked.
The relationships are so much part of the book, I almost forgot that serious crimes had been committed. In the first half we have the murder of Linda Clifford, the madame of a posh brothel. How did she die, who killed her and what was the motive? The ‘how’ is easy to figure out, but the ‘why’ and ‘who’ are much harder. There are plenty of witnesses (though many scarpered as soon as the police arrived – no surprise there) but are any of them reliable. And who was the ‘sales rep’ who mysteriously replaced Linda’s usual drug dealer?.
The brothel also happens to be located in one of the town’s most infamous houses – built in the former forest where in the 1600s a so-called witch was wrongly hanged and the house is now reputed to be haunted. In its time as lots of things before it became a brothel – it was even a church – there have been far more strange and grisly deaths than is usual in one location.
Is it just coincidence or is there a link to the witch’s death? We all know that police officers don’t believe in coincidences and Mike Saxby is no exception. But is the witch the only connection or are there more sinister goings on much closer to home. Writer and journalist Jeremy Giles believes in the hauntings, though he is dismissed as a crank. But is he?
What a great book! Definitely one of my favourites of the year. Bring on many more books in the series. I can’t wait to read them all.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
David was born in post-war Nottingham and educated at Nottingham High School. After obtaining a Law degree he became a career-long criminal law practitioner and academic, emigrating in 1989 to Australia, where he still lives. Combining his two great loves of History and the English language he began writing historical novels as an escape from the realities of life in the criminal law, but did not begin to publish them until close to full-time retirement, when digital publishing offered a viable alternative to literary agencies, print publishers and rejection slips. Now blessed with all the time in the world, his former hobby has become a full-time occupation as he enjoys life in rural New South Wales with his wife, sons and grandchildren to keep him firmly grounded in the reality of the contemporary world.
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