Simon Hall - The TV Detective

Review by Brian Lowen
A very good read that draws you into the story and holds you interested.

Dan Groves is a reporter working for the Wessex TV programme Wessex Tonight.
He is single, living alone with just his large dog – Rutherford, and has been subject to fits of depression in the past, but his experiences in this story keep The Swamp (as he calls it) at bay.

It is obvious that the author has used his experience as the home affairs correspondent for the BBC Spotlight news programme in the telling of this story. I did wonder if his boss in this story – the strange editor beast Lizzie Riley was based on anyone known to him personally!

So, with a bit of deft manipulation by Lizzie, Dan Groves’ position is changed from being the Environment correspondent to the vacant post of Crime reporter – much against his wishes. He is seconded to the local Police force in Plymouth as a trainee detective in a strange move agreed by senior management so that he can get to know the workings of the detectives. He is put with Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen – a situation which neither party is too keen about. However, a working relationship does develop between them when a prominent businessman is murdered and Adam is put on the case. Dan is still expected to provide news items for his editor but has to work with the cooperation of Adam. His presence in the Police Station does enable him get several exclusive items for the news programme as the investigation into the murder continues.

The tension is built up well as the investigation continues and there are some good descriptive scenes – it always seems to be raining and you really feel as if you are there in the picture.

There is a love interest in the form of Kerry who Dan meets through an internet dating club, but he is wary of too much commitment.

Also, a real life story comes into the book featuring the desecration of the bronze plaques on the Seaman’s memorial on Plymouth Hoe. It is the publicity given by Dan’s coverage of the event that leads to the recovery of the plaques and the prosecution of the offenders.

The story comes to a satisfactory conclusion with a couple of nice little twists to the tale.

A book I really enjoyed although I did wonder about the reality of the situation of Dan, a journalist, actually being involved with a police investigation, but it did provide some good interaction between the characters.
I can recommend this book as a good read and I shall look out for the other books that have been published in this series featuring our two heroes.