Murder on Oxford Lane

De: Tony Bassett

Narrado por: Colin Mace

The peace of a Midlands village is upset when local businessman Harry Bowers doesn’t return from choir practice.

More concerned than the man’s own wife, it would seem, investigating officer Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy becomes convinced he has been done away with.

But there is no trace of the man, just a litany of evidence of an ailing marriage and a nose-diving business venture.

In charge of her first serious case, DS Roy will struggle to win the respect of her colleagues—in particular her Brummie boss, DCI Gavin Roscoe. All that whilst fighting off the intentions of an increasingly desperate suitor.

Who had it in for the budding chorister? And is Roy tough enough to break down the defences and prejudices of Middle England?

©2022 Tony Bassett (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd

Engrossing story

The team solving the murder is one I look forward to getting to know better, and the narrator made them come alive. Starting the second book now.

Murder on Oxford Lane

I honestly enjoyed this book. The Characters were clearly developed and had such realistic attributes therefore easy to believe
Highly recommend this listen/read.

Very impressive characters

So glad I found this book! Really enjoyed the plot and all of the various characters and their development. The narration was perfect.!

Good storyline

This was free… and worth the time. Good storyline and reading. I’m downloading the next one.

A Model of Superb Writing Skill applied to a popular genre

Immersed in rich Welsh culture. A real discovery of a fresh new author in the genre populated by authors who write a new novel about detective teams solving crimes in remote geographical areas of the British isles, like the Fens. This work by Rhys Dylan is psychologically sharper, written with narrative details that enrich the drama rather than distract from the complexity of plot. Already purchased a 2nd novel by the author!

A charming first novel (?)

Good beginning and will listen to the next one, as I am needing a break from a gripping / epic book before moving onto the next Ken Follett. This is cute and light - not overly suspenseful, and with some major oversights (why did the cops not pick up on the fact that the victim told his mom his wife was having an affair? Why did they never interview the people the reverend mentioned were there when the next victim mentioned she’d seen something? Etc). The police procedural was slow and clunky but maybe because it’s village cops, and not, say the Dublin squad or the Yard? The worst part was that they considered themselves so smart! Still, this has potential to get better, and the village life is very nicely described. Promising!

Enjoyed

Wraps up very nicely! The story is solid, the characters are relatable and the performance is well done.

Enjoyed it!

Very well written, interesting plot with twists and turns, interesting and likable characters, and I also really enjoyed the narrator! Thoroughly enjoyed his style of narration, with his pleasant voice.

Depends on future stories

Solid story and the audiobook narration was quite good. This seemed like a good start to a series. It was good enough that I would listen to additional books in the series, but am not sure the story is distinctive as a standalone. I got to know some characters and am now wondering what’s to come. It’s not a cozy but cozy fans could enjoy it; it’s not totally a procedural but some fans of those would enjoy it.

The only part of the story about which I have mixed feelings is the stalking of one of the characters, Sunita. (I listened to the story so am not sure that’s the correct spelling.) I believe including this in the storyline helped the author establish that Sunita is a tough woman who can fight off an attacker (sets things up for future stories) but at the same time is quite compassionate. Fair enough.

The stalking scenario, in which the stalker is someone she had briefly dated, is entirely plausible. What bothered me was Sunita’s tendency to want to dismiss the stalking (showing up unannounced, breaking into the home, etc), when the character was clearly disturbed. Her reaction of being slow to “get” how nuts and dangerous he was also was plausible—except that she’s supposed to be this really smart police officer.

More than anything, though, she had a roommate, and the roommate seemed more concerned than Sunita. What if he hurt or even killed the roommate because she came across him, or perhaps the people he’d hired mistook her roommate for Sunita?

As things unfolded, it turned out that the stalker is married. At one point Sunita proposed going and talking to the wife. Again, it’s plausible that some people might want to do this (lots of people have bad judgement) but not a supposedly smart insightful police officer. This made it harder for me to buy into her character.

Near the end, Sunita wants to raise money for the wife once he’s jailed. It’s nice that she recognizes that the wife is a victim as well—but what about the roommate? She could have been killed, and at the very least she was distraught over this wacko coming to their home, breaking in, etc. Nowhere in the story does Sunita apologize for not taking the roommate’s concerns sufficiently seriously.

Perfect

Perfect mix of cut and dried police work, sympathetic investigators and family and friend relationships. No gore or scary psychos.