Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Death’s Disciple by James Whitworth

Last April Lume Books in London made the electronic version of the first books in 100 of their most successful series free for a weekend. I shamelessly took advantage of their generosity and have been sampling fine English mysteries, many not published in the U.S., ever since.

 

James Whitworth is a nationally syndicated English cartoonist and book illustrator living in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. His news cartoons are published daily and weekly all over the UK, as well as shown in galleries. He’s also a journalist, writing articles for magazines and newspapers and speaking on BBC radio routinely. He teaches journalism at the University of Sheffield and other regional universities. Somehow in the midst of all this, he’s managed to produce five contemporary detective novels and a sixth is scheduled for publication in late 2021.

 

The lead character in Whitworth’s stories is Detective Inspector Frank Miller of the Whitby, North Yorkshire, police force. Whitby is a northeastern town on the coast of England. Death’s Disciple (Lume, 2013) is the first in the series. When the matriarch of an old Whitby family is found strangled, a paperback copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker is nearby. Stoker began writing the book while he was on vacation in Whitby, and the town has always prized its connection to the classic. Why the killer associated this elderly lady with the vampire count is just one of the questions presented by the case.

 

Miller has another problem with the investigation. The woman he expects to marry found the body and is among the suspects. He pressures the detective sergeant assisting him not to report the personal association to the Chief Constable, to avoid being taken off the case. His assistant agrees reluctantly but views Miller dubiously, wondering if he should disclose the link anyway and what other rules he will be asked to break.

 

With the UK equivalent of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English, I suppose it is inevitable that Whitworth’s mysteries have a literary theme. (The second one in the series deals with a book festival.) References to the story by Stoker are woven into the action throughout. Deviously plotted, the story tosses one red herring after another to draw the reader’s attention to a conclusion that is shown to be impossible in the next chapter. Miller wraps it up with the almost obligatory drawing room scene where all the suspects are gathered. Well-written, atmospheric, bombshell ending. I have added the rest of this series to my TBR list.

 

  

·         ASIN: B00COKLESQ

·         Publisher: Lume Books (May 6, 2013)

·         Publication date: May 6, 2013

·         Language: English

·         File size: 1408 KB

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2021

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.