The Black Country
Scotland Yard Murder Squad Book 2
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4.1 • 15 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Alex Grecian's The Black Country sees the Scotland Yard Murder Squad return in a gruesome historical thriller.
When members of a prominent family disappear from a coal-mining village - and a human eyeball is discovered in a bird's nest - the local constable sends for help from Scotland Yard's new Murder Squad.
Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith respond, but they have no idea what they're about to get into. The villagers have intense, intertwined histories. Everybody bears a secret. Superstitions abound. And the village itself is slowly sinking into the mines beneath it.
Not even the arrival of forensics pioneer Dr. Bernard Kingsley seems to help. In fact, the more the three of them investigate, the more they realize they may never be allowed to leave. . . .
From The Yard author Alex Grecian comes The Black Country- a horrifying journey into the darkest backwoods of Victorian Britain. The Black Country is guaranteed to appeal to fans of recent Ripper TV dramas (BBC's Ripper Street, ITV's Whitechapel) as well as Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films.
Praise for Alex Grecian:
'Will keep you riveted from page one' Jeffrey Deaver
'Outstanding. If Charles Dickens isn't somewhere clapping his hands for this, Wilkie Collins surely is.' The New York Times Book Review
Alex Grecian has worked for an ad agency on accounts for Harley-Davidson, Cub Foods, and The Great American Smokeout, before returning to writing fiction full time and raising his son. Alex is the author of the long-running and critically acclaimed comic book series Proof, and he lives in Topeka, Kansas, with his wife and son. The Yard is his first novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1890, Grecian's startling and spooky sequel to The Yard (2012) charts the efforts of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad to locate a missing married couple and their toddler in Britain's industrial Midlands. In the village of Blackhampton, Insp. Walter Day and his team discover more than one mystery: a girl finds an eyeball under a tree, scores of townspeople are stricken with an unexplained plague, and a hideous figure is lurking in the woods with a gun. Battling local terror and superstition, the squad must also contend with the town's physical collapse into the mines beneath it. Grecian's bold melding of horror with historical elements more than compensates for the dramatic overkill at the end. The novel's varied relationships balance pathos with humor and point up lessons on human responsibility on what we owe to those with whom we're connected. The nascent bond between Day and Sgt. Nevil Hammersmith is especially appealing, hinting at many rich developments to come.
Customer Reviews
Good read
Good read, as enjoyable as The Yard. You must read The Yard first though! I really like how Alex Grecian creates characters and builds on the them throughout both his books. Can't wait for the next one.
Loose Ends
This book does not deserve its title. There was no feel of The Blackcountry, no sense of closeness or humour in the inhabitants of Blackhampton. Too many loose ends and the main characters have the depth and substance of an Aldi cornflake box.
I read to the end, as a good Blackcountry wench I was hopeful I would get some value for my coppers, I was sadly short changed.