Star Fall

Another great Bill Slider book by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Everyone has secrets and Bill and his team has to find them in order to solve a well liked tv star's murder. Keeps you guessing all through the book.

Who would kill the host of "Antiques Roadshow," or in this case the British equivalent? That's the murder Bill Slider has to solve in this volume. It's a puzzler that should appeal to many readers.

Those readers lucky enough to discover the Harrod-Eagles series with this volume are in for wonderful wordplay in the form of puns and mixed metaphors. For fans of the series this volume is doubly satisfying because the reader gets updates on the personal lives of all the characters AND it's a challenging mystery.

I have been intending to read a title by this author for some time, even years. The Bill Slider series began with ORCHESTRATED DEATH published in 1991, and STAR FALL is #17 so I have plenty to catch up on.

The style of this police procedural set in London is very similar to Ruth Rendell's Wexford series. From what I can see in STAR FALL Bill Slider is the central sleuth but he begins the series as a Detective Inspector and hasn't really progressed much up the ladder in nearly 25 years. The blurb for the first in the series describes him as "middle-aged and menopausal", so I am not sure that he has actually aged 25 years in that time.

There is plenty of "human background" on both Slider and the rest of his team in STAR FALL and the main plot of this cozy is carefully planned out. I found the plot of interest because I enjoy the various television shows that deal with antiques and the story seemed very plausible.

Certainly if you like cozies you might consider giving this series, or just this title, a try.

First Sentence: Slider went back to the bedroom to say goodbye to Joanna.
The murder of television antiques expert Rowland Egerton brings out Bill Slider and his team. Egerton’s business partner and friend are found over the body, but is he the killer? A Faberge box and Impressionist painting are missing. Was it an interrupted burglary? From the very beginning, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (CHE) takes us into the world of her characters. She is a wonderfully literate author whose words paint pictures and engages our senses; “What Slider noticed more of all was the look of lightless patience in her face, s though she had long ago accepted that the brightly colored, more pleasant things in life were not meant for her.”
The characters of Slider and Atherton, his friend and bagman, are quickly established, along with the other members of Slider’s team. It is particularly enjoyable and realistic, to have an ensemble cast; a team that works together, including their boss Porson, who excels at malapropos. It’s a team that truly investigates. They follow the clues and the evidence, rather than start with a conclusion and work backward.
The balance of Slider the cop, and Slider the man and husband is perfect. It is so refreshing to have a protagonist with a normal home life. It’s not always perfect; but it is normal.

“Star Fall” is a very good police procedural with excellent characters, a good red herring and a very satisfying ending.

STAR FALL (Pol Proc-Bill Slider-England-Contemp) – VG+
Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia – 17th in series Severn Books, 2014

As soon as you begin reading this novel it is obvious there have been previous books. Regardless of that, this novel can definitely be read as a stand-alone book. Sometimes an author doesn’t do a very good job of giving new readers enough information to make them comfortable with character run-over from previous books but that definitely was not the case for me with this story. In fact, one of the first things I became comfortable with was how well established the relationships are with all the policemen working in the Shepherd’s Bush station. Detective Inspector Bill Slider interacts with his superior officer and the members of his investigation team as if they are a well-oiled working team, taking advantage of the strength and being aware of the weakness of each member. Now they have been handed a murder investigation which involves the death of a popular television personality. The Beebs will not be pleased to have any negative publicity tarnishing its image with this real life drama. The team needs to solve this murder soon, if not sooner. As Superintendent Porson so succinctly puts it, “The early bird gathers no moss. Get on with it.”

Not only was this a good reading experience for me from the standpoint of the development of the mystery and everything involved in solving it, it was also quite interesting to discover this team of investigators and to get to know them as individual people. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I have already put “Hard Going” on my Kindle and am considering ordering the print omnibus of the first three novels in the series. I like the low key humor in the novel and the way Porson mangles the sayings he’s always throwing around in his conversations. The chapter titles are interesting, but something that can be easily ignored if you think they are too cutesy. I find myself having to go back after I finish reading the chapter to look up what the title was in order to figure out what it means. Often I am not interested enough to bother. So, humor to be taken as far as you personally want to take it or left alone if it doesn’t interest you. At least the humor isn’t allowed to interfere with the actual police investigation work. In my opinion, that’s a good decision by the author.

I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

In Star Fall (#17) by CYNTHIA HARROD-EAGLES, the post-Christmas lull is over, and the wind is hurtling with malicious glee, bending naked trees. The CID room is quiet - too quiet - until a homicide is called in. Rowland Egerton, an antiques expert from a popular daytime TV show, has been stabbed to death in his London home. A Fabergé trinket box and an Impressionist painting are missing from Egerton’s impressive personal collection. Egerton’s partner, John Lavender, found the body, but the granite-faced man’s only emotional reaction is a nosebleed. DI Bill Slider ponders the irony of Egerton’s blood being let out of him without consent, but Lavender’s blood is fleeing his body of its own accord, as if to restore some disrupted cosmic balance. Was the murder a robbery gone wrong or an act of passion? Sometimes police procedurals can be a bit, well, procedural for me, but Star Fall had just the right amount of humour, repartee and lively characters to make me want to go back and read earlier books in the series. Harrod-Eagles has a knack for surprising the reader with vivid and scathingly witty descriptions. Slider is a complex character, depicted both in the role of cop and worried husband, dealing with his wife’s recent miscarriage. A great read.

Well written book with enough suspense to keep you reading past bedtime.

Bill Slider and his team have been enjoying a lull in their work, but their newest homicide case is going to be tricky. The victim, Rowland Egerton, is a daytime TV celebrity known for his expertise on antiques. The press and Slider’s superiors want this case solved immediately, so Slider and team are being pressured to close what is proving to be a difficult and complex case.

I have read many of the books in this outstanding series. “Star Fall” is not the best in the series, but is still an excellent British procedural. I like the main characters, especially the easy comradery between Slider and DS Atherton. I enjoy seeing Slider on the job with the members of his department, as well as seeing him at home with his family. This outing doesn’t have as much of Slider’s home life, and I think that’s was missing for me and made is less enjoyable that some of the other books in the series.

The investigation itself is interesting. In Slider’s latest case, the victim’s life is more complicated that it looks like at the beginning, which makes the case more intriguing. The reader is taken every step of the way as the detectives try to get to the bottom of the murder of a popular celebrity from a television show resembling “Antiques Roadshow”. It was interesting to see the inner workings of the fictional show, as well as seeing how different the victim was in his personal life, as opposed to his public persona.

Even this isn’t my favorite installment, readers who follow this series or who enjoy the books of author Deborah Crombie will find “Star Fall” worth reading.

I received this book from NetGalley, through the courtesy of Severn House Publishing. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.