DENNIS BROE enjoys the political edge of a series that unmasks British imperialism, resonates with the present and has been buried by Disney
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Best of 2019: Crime fiction
BEST PLOTTER: MW Craven
STEVE JOHNSON speaks to DJ and singer/songwriter Mark Radcliffe
JAMES WALSH takes advantage of an evening of comedy snippets to pick out which clowns will make it in Edinburgh
MAYER WAKEFIELD is swept up by the tale of the south London venue where music forged alliances across race, class and identity
MAYER WAKEFIELD applauds Rosamund Pike’s punchy and tragic portrayal of a multi-tasking mother and high court judge
FIONA O CONNOR recommends an unflinching depiction of child sexual abuse and its aftershocks, set in a working-class Liverpool family
POLICE start panicking when murder victim Elizabeth walks up to a cop in Cumbria and declares herself alive in Black Summer by MW Craven (Constable, £7.99). The man convicted of her killing, an egomaniacal celebrity chef, has already spent six years inside.
DS Washington Poe of the Serious Crimes Analysis Section is horrified, and not just because he might have been involved in a miscarriage of justice. His greater worry is his absolute certainty that chef Keaton is a ruthless, intelligent killer.
The DNA test doesn’t leave any room for doubt that Elizabeth is who she claims to be. But, whatever the lab says, Poe knows that Keaton is up to something. An impossible crime has taken place and, unless Poe and his colleagues can prove it within a few days, the evidence will be gone forever.
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A corrupted chemist, a Hampstead homosexual and finely observed class-conflict at The Bohemia
Beet likes warmth, who doesn’t, so attention to detail is required if you’re to succeed, writes MAT COWARD
