"The Shivering Turn" introduces ex-policewoman turned private investigator, Jennie Redhead, and is set in the historic British city of Oxford. From the northern county of Lancashire, she studied at Oxford herself and got her degree in English Literature. And guess what? She IS a redhead! She views the fact that her hair matches her name to be a curse she is forced to endure.

Of her family Jennie says: "We allowed our worries and fears, our angers and resentment, to quietly fester away beneath a veneer of amiability". Her emotion-starved home life has made her distant in her relationships. Of her father she said that he lived a life "in which joy was sacrificed on the altar of respectability".

Jennie left the Thames Valley police when she discovered one of her superiors to be corrupt. She still has a few contacts within the police, one of whom is DS George Hobson, her friend and former lover.

Not yet thirty years old, Jennie is struggling to make ends meet when she is hired to find Linda, the seventeen-year-old daughter of Mary Corbet, who just happens to be married to Tom Corbet, an inspector with Thames Valley Police.

Jennie reluctantly begins investigating and discovers that Linda was somehow involved with one of the University's myriad student societies named "The Shivering Turn Society". The society was named for a poem by metaphysical poet Robert Cudlip.

"And dare you face your urges and desires,
Embracing both the good and bad you own,
Or will you, like a cold and errant coward
Abandon all and make a shivering turn?"

Jennie enlists the aid of Charles Swift, St. Luke's College's bursar, an old friend from the time she was a student there herself. Travelling about the historic city on her trusty bicycle, Jennie also visits the Bodleian Library to do some research on the poet.

While interviewing members of the Society, Jennie discovers them to be arrogant, privileged, wankers. Their leader, Crispin, excels at making others feel inferior, and he delights on showing everyone how clever he is.

I loved how the author inserted a brief line or two to connect Jennie Redhead to Monika Paniatowski, one of his other successful series protagonists.

Written with finesse and a 'tongue-in-cheek' humor, "The Shivering Turn" was a very enjoyable mystery with more than one ironic plot twist. The setting was an integral part of the story line, and the characterization was well wrought. This is a series I plan to follow!

4.5 stars rounded up for NetGalley

Sally Spencer gives us a dark view of Oxford students in The Shivering Turn. A girl goes missing and a student society may be responsible. Whodunit. Dark story of human nature.

1974 Oxford and Mary Corbet hires Jennifer Redhead a private investigator to find her missing seventeen year old daughter. Redhead is not totally convinced that the girl has not just runaway but on finding a clue in her bedroom she seeks further information from a friend at the University.
I really enjoyed the story as it unfolded, a well-written tale with characters I look forward to seeing more of as the series develops.

This looks like the start of an exciting new series. Jennie Redhead who is aptly named and teased as she has a shock of red hair is an ex-policewoman. It is set in 1974 in Oxford. The plot is fast and furious and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characterisation is particularly good ( real, credible, likeable people) and the banter/repartee between them. Thank you for letting me read it. I shall post this on Amazon and Facebook now.

I was a bit doubtful when I started this book. I had some problem getting into the book (sometimes going from one book to another quickly can be a bit hard), however, slowly as the story progressed I really started to enjoy the book. As a big fan of British crime TV series did the sound of a book series set in Oxford really appeal to me and I really loved that the book is set in the 70s.

Jennie Redhead is a PI, she is also red-haired which makes her name quite fitting. She recently left the police force after some problem that will be revealed in the story and now she is trying to find her footing as a PI. When the women of a missing girl approach her is she a bit hesitant to accept the case, but there are things with the case that doesn't sound like the girl just up and left. And could the17th century poem she finds in the bedroom have something to do with her disappearance.

The Shivering Turn is the first in the Jennie Redhead series and as a detective novel did this book feel refreshing. As I mentioned before is the book set in Oxford in the 70s and that was a nice change from all the present time crime novels I tend to read. The music, the events of the time and the lack of technological progress that we have today made this book feel quite nice to read. I also came to like Jennie Redhead quite a lot. She is a gutsy woman. The case took turns that I did not expect, and there is a moment when I together with Jennie realized the truth about something. A sad, sad truth.

The Shivering Turn was very refreshing to read and I will definitely read more books in this series!

Sally Spencer's new series featuring private investigator Jennie Redhead is off to an auspicious start. The Shivering a Turn is a compelling mystery set against the rapidly changing culture of 1970s Oxford. I like Spencer's other novels, but I think The Shivering Turn is her best thus far. It does an excellent job of capturing the flavor of the time.

Jennie's investigation into the disappearance of a young woman leads her into the murky world of Oxford's privileged classes. Before her disappearance, Linda was spending time with members of an exclusive Oxford student club - The Shivering Turn. Money and connections make the young men practically unassailable, but Jennie is convinced they were involved and is determined to prove it.

Jennie is far from perfect, but she is principled and determined - part of the reason she is no longer part of the CID and is instead working as a PI. It is easy to admire her grit and integrity and equally easy to despise the protections enjoyed by the privileged classes and their casual disregard for those they see as lesser.

The Shivering Turn has appeal for both traditional mystery lovers and those who like mysteries set against the unique backdrop of Oxford. (Such as the Inspector Morse mysteries). I look forward to Sally Spencer's next novel.

5/5

I received a copy of The Shivering Turn from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom