The Mathematical Bridge

Nighthawk #2

by Jim Kelly

Cambridge, 1940. It is the first winter of the war and the snow is falling thick and fast. A college porter, crossing the ancient Mathematical Bridge on his nightly rounds, is startled to hear a child’s cries for help coming from the icy river below. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke is summoned by police whistle and commandeers a punt in a desperate attempt to save the child, but the flood carries the boy away into the night. By dawn there is no trace of the victim.
The boy was Sean Flynn, part of a group of Irish Catholic children evacuated from a poor London parish. When an explosion causes damage at a factory engaged in war work and the bombers leave an Irish Republican slogan at the scene, Brooke questions whether there could be a connection between the two events. As more riddles come to light, he begins to close in on a killer, but there is one last it seems that Sean Flynn had his own startling secret.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Crime, British Literature, World War II

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 21, 2019

About the author

Jim Kelly is a journalist and education correspondent for the Financial Times. He lives in Ely with the biographer Midge Gilles and their young daughter. The Water Clock, his first novel, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Award for best first crime novel of 2002.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am at a loss to understand why Jim Kelly is not more widely known in the crime and thriller reading community, his writing is beautiful, with what I refer to as an almost zen like quality, with rich descriptions and extraordinarily atmospheric. This is the sequel to his new historical mystery Nighthawk series set in WW2, in Cambridge, the university city an integral central character in the books, and the Fens. It follows on from The Great Darkness, and its the first winter of the war, and DI Eden Brooke, is a survivor and war veteran of the WW1 Desert Campaign in which he was taken prisoner. He still suffers from ongoing nightmares from that time, blighted by a photophobia that necessitates the need for him to have several lenses for his eyes to cope in a variety of scenarios. He is afflicted by an insomnia that he is struggling to shake off, leaving him wandering Cambridge at night, a city he knows like the back of his hand and dropping in on people he knows that are awake too. Cambridge has blackouts enforced to ensure it does not provide a target to German bombers and is in the grip of a desperately freezing winter, with deep snow drifts.

A young child is dropped in the river in a bag, an alert is sent out when his cries are heard, the weather conditions and an icy river does not bode well for the chances of survival. Brooke does everything he can that night, haunted by the glimpse of a hand, but all to no avail. What kind of monster would set out to drown a child? It is vital that the body of the child is found, if any justice is to done. The impoverished Upper town is a magnet for the latest wave of migrants, the Irish, and the location of the Catholic Church of St Albans and school. Child evacuees have arrived the night before, and the police have been informed that one of them, a 5 year old Irish child is missing. It is almost certain they have the identity of their drowned child. At an electronics factory, the TV mast has been bombed and an Irish Republican slogan has been left at the scene. Eden is convinced that there must be a connection between the tragic fate of the boy and the bombing, and it suggests the IRA are planning further atrocities in the city, are there links with the bombing in Coventry the previous year? Matters are exacerbated with a planned visit to Cambridge by the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Henry, the King's brother, providing a potentially valuable target for the Irish bombers. Eden and the police have a nightmare of a security situation on their hands.

Eden has a missing policeman on his hands, all the worries and stress of family members involved in the war, and a complex and twisted investigations that takes in the Galton society, and events that have D notices slapped on them so that they do not receive the oxygen of publicity. This is a superbly gripping and intelligent historical espionage read, with numerous misdirections and twists. Kelly's historical research is impeccable as he gives the reader a detailed portrait of Cambridge at the beginning of the war. I always know that I will love a Jim Kelly novel, his diverse range of characters, and in Eden Brooke, he gives us a complicated and fascinating character that you just cannot help but root for. Highly recommended to crime and thriller readers and those who love historical fiction from this period of British history.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling, assured and atmospheric historical crime mystery set in WW2 Cambridge.

In The Mathematical Bridge, the author once again creates a vivid sense of what it must have been like to live in wartime Cambridge with familiar views transformed by the addition of rooftop observation posts and searchlights to detect enemy bombers. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke’s home life reflects the daily experience of families during wartime. He and his wife, Claire, are awaiting news of their son serving with the British Expeditionary Force and his pregnant daughter, Joy, is anxiously awaiting news of her submariner husband. Alongside this uncertainty, there are long night shifts, blackouts, air raid warnings and rationing to contend with, not to mention the threat of attacks by the IRA. One of the many things I enjoyed about the book is this mixture of the personal and the political, the local and the global.

Another theme, as in the first book in the series, is that of darkness and light. Eden Brooke himself is the most obvious manifestation of this. The damage to his vision and the insomnia caused by his traumatic experiences in the desert during the First World War make the night time streets of Cambridge a sanctuary. It’s one he shares with fellow “nighthawks”, such as cafe owner Rose King, expert in circadian rhythms Aldiss, or night porter  Doric, ‘condemned to live life out of the light, at home in the shadowy world of the college after dark’. There are also some wonderfully atmospheric night time scenes such as the search of the drained River Cam.

However, although Brooke may welcome the darkness in a physical sense, his moral and professional impulse is to seek just the opposite. ‘Joining the Borough, on his return from the desert, had offered an opportunity to tilt the world towards light, and away from the darkness, even by small fractions of a degree.’

As in The Great Darkness, the author makes the reader feel they are alongside Brooke as he travels the streets of Cambridge in the course of his investigations, crossing the various bridges over the River Cam, including the famous Mathematical Bridge of the book’s title. And I’m sure I’m not the only reader who reacted with joy when they opened the book and found there was a map in the front.

In the enthralling final chapters, there are dramatic events, surprising revelations, split second life and death decisions to be taken and some poignant moments. At one point, Brooke observes, ‘He didn’t like the sense that fate was contriving a circular narrative, a story that was being drawn back to the beginning’. As a reader, I can only disagree (sorry, Eden) because I loved the way the various storylines were skilfully brought together. Oh, and a word of advice for Eden – listen to your wife when it comes to making assumptions about the identity of a murderer in future.

I loved The Great Darkness and this follow-up certainly didn’t disappoint. The Mathematical Bridge would be perfect for those mourning the demise of TV’s Foyle’s War or for fans of James Runcie’s ‘Grantchester Mysteries’ series. Readers who enjoyed The Great Darkness and have read, or are looking forward to reading, The Mathematical Bridge will be pleased to learn (as I was) that a third book in the series is due to be published early next year. It already has a place on my wishlist.

[Gram · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second in the Nighthawk series and once again author Jim Kelly shines a light on a lesser known part of Britain's history in the 2nd World War.
This time, the focus is on the S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign carried out by members of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) on mainland Britain from 1939 to 1940.
The story opens with the drowning of a 5 year old boy, tied in a sack and dumped in the freezing waters of the River Cam which flows through the centre of Cambridge. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke narrowly misses rescuing the boy who turns out to be an evacuee from London, moved to Cambridge in order to avoid the expected bombing of the capital city by Germany's Luftwaffe.
As police dredge the river for the boy's body, the radio tower at a local electronics factory is damaged by an explosion and an Irish republican slogan daubed on a wall at the scene.
To add to his problems, Brooke learns that Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and brother of King George VI, is to visit Cambridge. He is a likely target for assassination by the IRA.
Jim Kelly paints a striking picture of Britain in the opening year of the 2nd World War and his description of Cambridge in the winter almost adds another character to this story.
Brooke is convinced that there's a link between the IRA attack and the drowned boy. He and his fellow police officers determinedly hunt down clues in the city, particularly among the Irish Catholics who form part of Cambridge's growing immigrant community. The city has already received 10,000 evacuees.
Before this case is over, Brooke will have to uncover some dark secrets and face down some demons of his own. Another gripping tale, recommended for fans of crime stories and historical fiction.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a fantastic read and works equally well as a follow up to the first book, in which I hope will be a series, or as a stand alone novel. The setting of a snow covered Cambridge in the winter of 1940 creates an evocative backdrop to a well plotted story with an interesting and believable blend of real and imaginary characters. Those of us who've discovered Mr. Kelly's talent are fortunate. I found this to be a hugely satisfying story with exactly the right level of historical detail to make the period feel ring true.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed this latest in the nighthawk series its early 1940 Cambridge and a search for a child in the river cam and IRA bomb a local factory but the child seems to have a dark past. liked the many twists this crime thriller has and its like several different stories which interlink with each other. the book itself is an easy going and fast paced read

[Marilyn Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, we’ll-crafted police procedural. Early WWII; Cambridge, England. Looking forward to reading more by Jim Kelly.

[Mandy Radley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Shaw and Valentine series by Jim Kelly but struggled with this one, maybe just not in the right frame.........

[Jürgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehr lesenswerter Kriminalroman mit schön gestalteten Figuren, einer spannenden Story und einer ganzen Reihe von Plot-Twists. Zudem ist sehr genau recherchiert worden. Kein Thriller, das will das Buch aber auch gar nicht sein. Ich werde definitiv an Jim Kelly dranbleiben.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title intrigued me. I found that it was a real bridge, a fascinating complex wooden structure in Cambridge and a site pivotal to the plot of this book. Great sense of place, good characters and historical setting. I plan to read more of Kelly’s mysteries.

[Stuart Graveston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was very poorly written and only persevered to the end because I live in Cambridge. I realise it’s a novel but there were so many things Kelly got wrong unnecessarily e.g. A boat moored at Coldham’ s Common.

The novels chief character has a father who supposedly recived the Nobel Prize for finding a cure for diphtheria. In fact a German doctor, Emil von Behring, got the prize. This stupid feature of the detective’s father added nothing to the book. Kelly say that the prize is awarded in Oslo by the King of Norway. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. The award is in Stockholm.

At one point there is a suggestion that a canal boat might go out to sea. Madness! Canal boats have no keel and would capsize in no time. The book is full of these sloppy details.

[Julie Stielstra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't work for me. Kelly works too hard in using every single historical detail of every building in Cambridge in 1940. I'm more patient than many with slow pace, but after thirteen chapters, we know who the kid is and there's been a presumed IRA bombing, and that's it. Disappointed.

[BrianC75 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out well and enjoyed Cambridge setting and gentle approach. Found the plot stretched and difficult to give credibility to. Characters a little stereotyped. Pity!

[David Prestidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Detective Inspector Eden Brooke trudged into Market Hill, the city’s great square, as snowflakes fell, thick and slow, each one a mathematical gem, seesawing down through the dead of night. Every sound was muffled, a clock striking the hour out of time, the rhythmic bark of a riverside dog, the distant rumble of a munitions train to the east, heading for the coastal ports. The blackout was complete, but the snow held its own light, an interior luminescence, revealing the low clouds above. Brooke stopped in his tracks, his last crisp footstep echoless, and wondered if he could hear the snow falling; an icy whisper in time with the sparkling of the crystals as they settled on the cobbles, composing themselves into a seamless white sheet.”

“Begin as you mean to go on” says the old adage, and Jim Kelly sets himself a hard task with the brilliant and evocative first paragraph of The Mathematical Bridge. The beautiful use of language aside, Kelly’s first 126 words convey a wealth of information. A country at war. Midwinter. A city preparing for an attack from the air. A policeman out and about when honest men are abed.

Eden Brooke first appeared in The Great Darkness (2018). A copper in the university city of Cambridge, he is a war veteran, not of the Western Front, but of the desert campaign, one of ‘Allenby’s Lads.’ We join him in that first winter of the Second World War, when German bombers have yet to inflict their terror on the houses and streets below them. Tragedy strikes when a boy, evacuated from his London home to the relative safety of a Roman Catholic community in Cambridge, is feared drowned in the fast-freezing River Cam. His body is eventually recovered, but not before Brooke has unearthed a plot to bring death and destruction to the streets of Cambridge.

The conspirators are not Germans but people from much nearer home who firmly believe that their enemy’s enemy is their friend. With two Irish republican conspirators sitting in a Birmingham jail, sentenced to death for a 1939 bomb atrocity in Coventry, Brooke realises that the next potential target for the IRA is Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother to the King. Henry is due to make a morale-boosting visit to Cambridge to boost the war effort, and Brooke is desperate to find the link between the dead boy in the river and the Irish community who worship at St Alban’s church.

Eden Brooke is an engaging character. Blighted by vision problems and chronic insomnia – both the result of his wartime treatment at the hands of brutal Turkish captors – he goes about his work with a steely intensity, much to the despair of his wife and daughter. Kelly’s portrait of provincial England in the first months of WW2 is mesmerising, more so given the added piquancy of our knowledge of what will happen, contrasted with the uncertainty of the characters in the novel.

Give Jim Kelly a landscape, a town, a city, an isolated village, and he will mobilise and send it off to war. Fans of his Philip Dryden novels will know the dramatic chiaroscuro he paints that shows how the comfortable middle-class cathedral city of Ely sits surrounded by dark and broken hard-scrabble villages out in the Fen. His Norfolk copper, Peter Shaw, knows only too well the contrast between the rough estates of King’s Lynn and the Chelsea-On-Sea second homes further up the Norfolk coastline. Eden Brooke’s Cambridge is a vivid and vital character in The Mathematical Bridge. Kelly makes it, despite the murders, an island of relative calm and rationality, for beyond it, out there in the flat darkness, lies The Fen.

This is writing of the highest quality. Not just with the lame caveat ‘for a crime novel’ but writing with a touch of poetry and elegance gracing every line. Even when the crime is solved, the perpetrators are behind bars, and the delightfully complex contradictions of the plot have been explained, Kelly still has the emotional energy to give us a last scene which manages to be poignant but, at the same time, life-affirming.
The Mathematical Bridge is published by Allison & Busby and is out on 21st February.

[Buchbesprechung · Rating 4 out of 5]

REZENSION – Bei der Vielzahl historischer deutscher Krimis, deren Handlung in den Jahren der Weimarer Republik und des Zweiten Weltkriegs angesiedelt ist, ist bei neuen Romanen kaum Neues zu erwarten. Da bringt ein Blick ins Ausland willkommene Abwechslung – wie die neue Krimireihe des britischen Schriftstellers und Journalisten Jim Kelly (66) um Detective Inspector Eden Brooke. Darin erleben wir, als Rahmen spannender Mordfälle anschaulich und überzeugend beschrieben, Alltagsleben und zunehmende Kriegsangst der Bevölkerung der historischen Universitätsstadt Cambridge ab dem Jahr 1939.
Nach „Die dunklen Stunden der Nacht“ (2021) befinden wir uns im zweiten Band „Die Schatten von Cambridge“, im November 2022 beim Lübbe-Verlag erschienen, bereits im Winter 1940. Wehrfähige Männer sind zum Kriegsdienst eingezogen, Ruheständler als Ersatz in ihre früheren Berufe zurückgeholt. Erste Angriffe der deutschen Luftwaffe auf London sorgen für zunehmende Verunsicherung, Stadtkinder werden in die ländliche Provinz evakuiert. Knapp gewordene Lebensmittel werden nur gegen Bezugsschein abgegeben. Großbritannien rechnet mit der Invasion deutscher Truppen. Doch es gibt nicht nur den Kampf gegen Deutschland. Zugleich terrorisieren die nordirischen Kämpfer der Irisch-Republikanischen Armee das Land mit Bombenanschlägen.
Inspector Eden Brooke, der seit seiner Gefangenschaft im Ersten Weltkrieg, in der er nachts gefoltert und geblendet wurde, an Schlaflosigkeit (Insomnie) und Lichtempfindlichkeit (Photophobie) leidet, läuft in einer dunklen Winternacht ziellos durch die Straßen von Cambridge. Plötzlich hört er Hilferufe vom Fluss: In einem Sack verschnürt, treibt ein kleiner Junge hilflos in eiskalter Strömung. Der Rettungsversuch misslingt, die Leiche des Jungen, der, wie sich später herausstellt, zuvor schwer verletzt worden war, wird später gefunden. Wie die Ermittlungen ergeben, handelt es sich um einen irisch-stämmigen Jungen, der mit Gleichaltrigen aus London evakuiert und auf dem Gelände der St. Alban's Church untergebracht worden war. Tags darauf explodiert auf einem Fabrikgelände, in dem kriegswichtige Radar-Komponenten hergestellt werden, eine kleine Bombe, die auf die IRA hindeutet. Der Inspector vermutet einen Zusammenhang zwischen beiden Fällen. „Aber das Kind war ein Gast, das niemanden hier kannte. Wie konnte dieser kleine Junge eine Gefahr für irgendjemanden dargestellt haben? Unterhielt seine Familie Verbindungen zur IRA?“ Gemeinsam mit Sergeant Edison ermittelt Brooke unter Zeitdruck, denn Prinz Henry, Bruder des britischen Königs Georg VI., will die Universitätsstadt besuchen.
„Die Schatten von Cambridge“ ist ein ruhiger, aber deshalb nicht weniger spannender Krimi. Überraschende Wendungen führen immer wieder zu neuen Erkenntnissen und bringen neuen Schwung. Kellys Hauptfigur, der kriegsversehrte Inspector Brooke, ist wahrlich kein Super Action Hero – seine vielen Wege durch die Stadt muss er bei Schnee und Regen sogar zu Fuß erledigen! –, sondern überzeugt als besonnen und empathisch handelnder Kriminalbeamter sowie als ein mit seinen Leiden kämpfender, lebenserfahrener Familienvater. Doch der Reiz des Romans liegt nicht allein in seiner Handlung. Vor allem die detaillierte Beschreibung der Universitätsstadt mit ihren historischen Gebäuden, engen Straßen und alten Brücken sowie des Alltagslebens der Bevölkerung von Cambridge unter Kriegsbedingung ist für uns Deutsche eine neue und interessante Erfahrung. Man darf auf den dritten Band dieser Krimireihe gespannt sein. Das Original „The night raids“ erschien bereits vor drei Jahren und spielt im Sommer 1940 zu Beginn der berüchtigten Luftschlacht um England.

[Scouter · Rating 4 out of 5]

In einer kalten Winternacht sieht Inspektor Brooke einen Körper den Fluss hinuntertreiben. Ein Arm ragt aus dem Sack und macht deutlich, dass es sich um einen Jungen handelt Brooke versucht alles um dem Körper zu folgen. Doch es ist zu dunkel und auch zu Hilfe geholte Kollegen können den Sack nicht mehr entdecken. Als sie den Sack finden wird die Vermutung zur Wirklichkeit. Sie finden einen toten Jungen. Brooks und seine Kollegen machen sich an die Identifikation des Jungen und die Spur führt zur Abbey. Hier wird klar, wer der Junge war, doch das Motiv bleibt im Dunkeln. Doch dieser Fall ist nicht der Einzige. Brooks wird Zeuge, wie eine Bombe hochgeht und er ist in Sorge, ob es weitere Anschläge gibt, da der Besuch des Thronfolgers ansteht Die Bombe wird der IRA zugeordnet und das Macht Brooks große Sorgen, da auch die Kirche St Abbys irisch geführt wird. Brooks und seine Kollegen sind auf der Hut, doch wie wird es weitergehen?
Die Schatten von Cambridge von Jim Kelly ist ein sehr dicht erzählter Krimi, der im zweiten Weltkrieg in Cambridge spielt. Anhand des Mordes an einem Kind wird der Konflikt zwischen der irischen IRA und den Engländern dargestellt. Außerdem werden die Wege des Terrors aufgezeigt und die begrenzten Möglichkeiten der Polizei. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Krimis steht Inspektor Brooke, an dem die ganze Last dieser Aufklärung liegt. Aber nicht nur der Polizist steht hier im Mittelpunkt, sondern auch die Person des Inspektors wird erzählt. So erfährt der Leser, dass Brooke eine ausgeprägte Insomnie hat, die mit einem Schlafdefizit in der Nacht und Schlafphasen am Tag einhergeht. Auch die Situation um seine schwangere Tochter und deren Mann, der auf einem U-Boot dient, wird thematisiert. Sehr beeindruckend fand ich die historische Einordnung des irisch-englischen Konflikts in diesen Krimi, der ihm auch diese gewisse dicht gegeben hat. Dieses Verhältnis ist an sich schon spannend und hat mich sehr interessiert. Gut dadurch wird der Lesefluss etwas beeinträchtigt, war für mich aber nicht störend. Ganz im Gegenteil hat mich diese Einordnung von Anfang an interessiert und auch die Darstellung der Verflechtung innerhalb der Bevölkerung, war sehr interessant. Der Spannungsbogen hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen, besonders, dass er zum Ende hin sehr schnell in den Höhepunkt mündete und auch noch mal die persönlichen Emotionen von Brooke thematisierte.
Alles in allem fand ich diesen historischen Krimi sehr interessant und spannend und hat mich gut unterhalten. Wer an Historischem interessiert ist, das auch noch in eine Krimihandlung eingebunden ist, der ist bei diesem Buch von Jim Kelly gut aufgehoben.

[Tauriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was als Spiel begann

Von diesem Autor habe ich noch kein Buch gelesen.Aber das Setting sowie die Handlung haben mich auf dieses Buch neugierig gemacht.
Der Protagonist Inspector Eden Brooke hat mit den Schatten seiner Vergangenheit zu kämpfen. Er ist ein von Unrast getriebener. Er leidet seit seinem letzten Kriegseinsatz unter Schlaflosigkeit und Tageslicht vertragen seine Augen seitdem auch nicht mehr. Deshalb ist er hauptsächlich nachts unterwegs und besucht andere Nachtdienstler. Darunter auch seine Ehefrau Claire, die als Krankenschwester hier die Nachtschicht verrichtet.
Später lerne ich seine Tochter Joy näher kennen. Privates Leid und Glück liegen hier eng bei einander und machen diesen Krimi noch realer.
1940, es ist Winter und ich begleite Brooke auf seiner nächtlichen Tour durch das winterliche Cambridge.
Er nimmt mich hier als stiller Beobachter mit und ich lerne einen erfahrenen Ermittler und Beobachter kennen.
Ich begleite Brooke auf Schritt und Tritt und als ein kleiner Junge leblos aus dem eiskalten Fluss gezogen wird und wenig später eine Explosion nahe einer Elektrofabrik passiert,vermutet Booke einen Zusammenhang. Doch liegt Brooke richtig?

Ein Katz und Maus Spiel beginnt und ich vermisse hier anfänglich etwas Spannung. Doch durch unerwartete Wendungen schafft es der Autor die Spannung gegen Ende zu erhöhen.
Verschiedene Handlungsstränge werden langsam aufgedröselt und menschliche Abgründe tun sich auf. Ein Krimi ,der es in sich hat und zum nebenbei lesen nicht geeignet ist.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detective Inspector Eden Brooke is a wounded man from the Great War, both literally and figuratively. He is most comfortable at night, when his damaged eyesight is less painful. That doesn’t stop him from solving crimes, wearing special eyeglass lenses as he goes about the streets of Cambridge. But he is ever reminded of what he has lost, and what the world has lost from that war. And now another one has begun. It is 1940.

In The Mathematical Bridge Brooke believes there is a connection between Nazis, Irish revolutionaries, and the visit of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester to the city. But how does the drowning of a young boy fit into this picture? Brooke and his fellow coppers doggedly crisscross the city, following clues, checking leads, a race against time. Finally, all is revealed, and he will have the sad but necessary task of informing a family of the death of their young son. But the culprits have been caught, and for them there is no mercy.

As in the other book in the series, the evocation of time and place is exemplary. Cambridge is once again as much a character as the humans that populate the pages. Changes are coming, for the city as well as its people, for the war is coming. Disheartening as that prospect is, one should read The Mathematical Bridge with pleasure, to see a master writer at work.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could be just because I don't actually read much mystery but I really didn't get on with this book very well.
I read it as part of our book group, since we're in Cambridge and the book is set n Cambridge.

I found it to be so waffly, telling us all the things with 3 times the amount of words needed, rather than showing us. Again, I think this is down to the genre perhaps. There were a few times when I rolled my eyes at clichés or just really unrealistic and cheesy things that were said.

The story itself was very good, and I found that I was really motivated to read on until the solution. I do think Brooke would have done a lot better if he'd stopped telling every Tom, Dick and Harry updates on the case!

It's a quick read due to the short chapters. If you know Cambridge at all it's a delight to walk through the streets with Brooke, though don't do what I did and look up the histories of the buildings mentioned!

[Vetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply satisfying novel. The writing style itself was very good, with meticulous attention to detail. Initially it felt dense and took me a few pages to be drawn in, possibly because the writer made every effort to bring alive the atmosphere of 1940 Cambridge, the workings of river traffic, the character of Detective Inspector Brooke, and most importantly, the anticipation for a war to finally start. The story itself builds gradually, and then in leaps and bounds, and it never lets go. One gets totally immersed in a time and place where people's daily shopping is rationed, where loved ones are missing, where children are sent away from their families for safety, and where multiple conflicting interests emerge and intermingle. A great knot of mystery which gets untangled, allowing Brooke, a chronic insomniac, a few hours of healing sleep.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

I really enjoyed this, it turned out much better than I'd have expected for a book found on the 2 for £5 display at the garden centre to be! It was well written, slow moving and atmospheric, I see other people saying it was repetitive but I didn't find that, I found it a slow uncovering of information, the pieces of the puzzle gradually revealing their colours. It is set in Second World War Cambridge, It's an icy frozen winter and a young evacuee from a London Irish family has been dropped into the river. The detective ticks more than a few boxes on the troubled detective cheat sheet but I liked that he didn't tick them all - his wife was a strong caring presence for instance. I'd like to read more, I hadn't realised this was the second in the series but I think I'll probably search out the next one rather than going back for now.

[Sandra Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich durfte bereits ein Rezensionsexemplar lesen! Zusätzlich hörte ich mir das neu dazu erschienene Hörbuch an!
Es ist Winter im Jahr 1940 im 2. Weltkrieg im englischen Cambridge in der Nähe von London! Doch in der Eiseskälte sieht jemand, dass ein Sack auf dem Fluß liegt und hört dann Hilfeschreie und sieht eine Hand! Kurz danach wird die Leiche eiines 5-jährigen Jungen gefunden! Und kurz danach gibt es einen Bombenanschlag der IRA! Gibt es da irgendeinen Zusammenhang und wenn ja, wie? Eden Brooks ermittelt und es bleibt nicht bei der einen Leiche! Ein sehr spannender historischer Krimi, der sehr viele historische Fakten darstellt! Daher gefällt mir das Hörbuch sogar besser als das E-book! Denn das Hörbuch kann man praktisch anhören, wenn man tiefer in die historischen Fakten einsteigen möchte! Meine absolute Empfehlung für diesen historischen Krimi!-SandraFritz-magicmouse

[GBL · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mathematical Bridge is set in Cambridge in early 1940, at the beginning of the Second World War, with the central character Eden Brooke investigating the death of a young evacuee and terrorist attacks by the IRA.

Jim Kelly creates a complex interlinked story with various strands that he draws together as the novel develops; the death of an evacuee, a bombing campaign by the IRA, a visit of a member of the Royal Family and a possible spying ring. He creates a real sense of the tension as the war begins to affect people’s lives and there is a sense of the threat to the nation from both external and internal enemies. Eden Brooke is an interesting character and Kelly introduces enough of Brooke’s back story to flesh him out as a character.

[MaryJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was a complex mystery, but it was so well written it was easy to keep track of people, places, and events. The book was muted and slow moving, however, perhaps a factor of its wintertime setting and the insomniac protagonist often working during the night. I kept thinking it was set in the 19th century, until something like the appearance of a Bakelite telephone in the story reminded me it was the 1940s. The book didn't hold me in thrall; at times I found it difficult to pick back up again. But I was interested enough (just) to keep reading til the end, which was as complex and well written as the rest of the book. Despite its strengths, I don't intend to pick up another in this series.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not especially familiar with Cambridge but Queens' College with its Mathematical Bridge is one of my favourite places there and Jim Kelly makes fine use of it as a setting for a very interesting and complex historical crime novel. I had already enjoyed his choice to set a series in the earliest days of WWII and to have a detective without the usual flaws (although he gives Eden Brooke some serious personal challenges all the same)

It's an upsetting book, opening with an unsuccessful attempt to rescue a child who has been put into the river... alive... in a sack and I think the particular time stamp adds to the unsettling feel of the book. The plot was captivating and introduced me to an aspect of history of which I had been almost totally ignorant.

[Larry Fontenot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading Jim Kelly books for a few years, primarily the Philip Dryden novels. This novel is the second in a new series featuring a man whose eyesight has been compromised due to injury in the First World War. Eden Brooke has returned to Cambridge and enrolled in the police forces. He has become a detective inspector. This is a finely written book and features the years right before the outbreak of WWII. Characters are strong and the crime center upon possible IRA activities. I recommend all Kelly books, and this new series is a continuation of the author's skill and passion.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So happy to discover this in the public library! I've read the Valentine and Shaw series and enjoyed them but this foray into historical mystery is even better. Set in Cambridge during World War II it not only tantalises with a twisty mystery but gives an insight into a difficult time in the past. The protagonist is character damaged by his experiences during World War I and there is a constant exploration fo the way we're all shaped by our experience, whether we know it or not. I'm going to hunt out book one now, while awaiting book three.

[RICHARD STONE · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in the Nighthawk series. A Cambridge Wartime Mystery

The second book see’s a young boy in a sack frantically waving his hand as he floats down the River Cam. Fleeting seen by a college Porter it see’s the police Lead by Aiden Brooke called out with others to find him.

Is it related to the IRA activity that is building up, or a freak accident. With the bombing imminent by Germany the town is on Red Alert.

Superbly written with great discriptive text it is a great read.

[Jean Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a very atmospheric novel set in Cambridge in the 1940s. The characters are well drawn and there is a definite air of menace with a child being killed and a police constable missing and then another body being found in a poor part of the town. The Detective has his own demons and inhabits a night time world along with other "nighthawks" wandering around Cambridge in the winter weather.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the second installment in this series. DI Eden Brooke is a good policeman with a good family life, but he also has an interesting past. I liked the way the Irish were included in this part of the war, and I learned some things about life in England in 1940 that I wasn’t aware of.
The crimes were well done and kept me interested and guessing.

[Lexie Conyngham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely, meditative atmosphere again, though we start with a child swept away in the river on an icy night. These are intriguing books, filled with memories of the first war, technicalities of living in Cambridge, the duties of police when war is coming, and nocturnal hospital scenes, and I find them bewitching.