Wicked humour underlies this journalistic murder mystery in 1960s Brighton. stop Press Murder is an easy read that showcases the era brilliantly and has some great characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I read this book without realizing it was the second in the series but I didn't have any difficulty following this story without reading the first. I really liked the MC in this one, it felt like a really unique spin having a crime reporter leading the mystery! Usually in crime novels, the MC is either a detective or some random person who happens upon the body or is a friend of the dead so they get all mixed up in this case. In this book, Colin is following the murder almost purely for his job. As a crime reporter, he wants to retain the upper-hand which means he needs to get the scoop before anyone else, and to get the best story Colin decides to just solve the case himself! Plus, the pace was perfect because it felt like it modeled a reporter chasing a story. It moves a little quick at times but this is as Colin gets closer to the suspect so it felt really natural.

Colin is pretty sarcastic and constantly trading quips with his boss and reporter rivals and it was nice to have this humour, beyond laughs, to lighten up the darker aspects that obviously are part of the territory with the crime novels. It reminded me some of Blue Bloods (one of my fave shows!) with the clever remarks passed back and forth.

This book takes place in the 1960s, which I didn't know before starting it. I went in assuming it was present-day so it was like a little mystery for me to pick up on the clues, like smoking inside and using typewriters, to figure out what decade it actually was. Even though I think it's pretty popular for authors to set their mysteries in the past, there were a number of things that I had never heard of before, like the clippers who work at the newspaper. It was really interesting learning more about the processes of running both newspapers and police cases.

There were some things I liked, one of which was that a few of the clues that helped Colin solve the mystery were very coincidental. Luckily, it was only a few so the book didn't feel overrun by this luck but it was enough to be noticed.

The part I had more a problem with was the treatment of the characters who were involved in nude films. There were repeated insinuations that the characters choosing to be involved in this work, and even possibly taking pride in that work, was degrading. Colin and several other characters are even openly disgusted by this behaviour and seem completely unable to understand it. These characters are choosing to do whatever work they like and this doesn't have any bearing on their character. It was really disappointing to see these opinions shared by so many characters, which seems to be more a show of the author's opinion.