Speaking Daggers by Lloyd Rees
There’s a killer on the loose on the streets of Swansea and they are leaving clues.
Detective Inspector Gus Reid and his team have a gruesome murder on their hands but there are no suspects and no obvious motive. All they have to go on is a series of literary quotations that appear like graffiti on walls throughout the city.
Can Gus’ daughter, an expert in Renaissance literature, help solve the crime? Or will she become the next victim?
The killer believes they are smarter than the police detectives. But are they too clever for their own good?
My Review
Being a massive Shakespeare fan all my life (honestly) I loved the ‘messages’ left by the killer. It was one of the most exciting parts of the book.
A body is found in a rubbish bin, the young woman having been murdered and her face smashed in beyond recognition. Who would do such a thing? These kinds of crimes don’t happen in Swansea. It’s not that type of place.
Detective Inspector Gus Reid and his team have very little to go on. The victim needs to be identified, but there are no dental records or any kind of ID. And until she can be identified there is no motive or sign of sexual assault. Only the graffiti on the wall behind the bin. A Shakespeare quote.
Gus has never had much of a relationship with his daughter Josie since his divorce from her mother, but he needs her help now to decipher the message. She’s a lecturer in literature at the university. Could this be an opportunity to rebuild their relationship?
I really enjoyed this book. Maybe a bit overlong, I did however love the ‘ramblings’ of the killer as he tries to prove how clever and witty he is, never missing an opportunity to refer to the police as a bunch of thickos (though in far more literary language).
We are also introduced to journalist Andrea Linney, always looking for the next sensational story. But will her interest put her in danger?
This was a book that sometimes split my fellow readers with the Pigeonhole book club. Some of us loved the ramblings and the references, while others thought they slowed down the pace of the story. I was in the ‘loved them’ camp. I hope there is a follow up.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Lloyd Rees was a Senior Lecturer in English and Education in Swansea. In addition to early novels, Don’t Stand So Close and The Show-Me State, he is a published poet and co-editor of the magazine Roundyhouse. Voices without parts is his first ‘literary’ novel and Speaking Daggers his first crime novel for Cambria Publishing.
Lloyd Rees’ poetry has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies and he was shortlisted for a Bridport Poetry Prize in 2000. The Two of Us is his fifth volume of poems.
