Last Boat to Camden Town

by Paul Charles

Overview

Paul Charles brings north London alive as he describes the routines and eccentricities of Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy. Kennedy's intimate knowledge of his patch of London, Camden Town, is needed when a body is discovered at the bottom of Regent's Canal. Doctor Edmund Godfrey Berry is a young, successful doctor with a thriving career and a beautiful wife and child. Suicide seems unlikely but he seems to have no enemies. The only blotch on his otherwise sparkling career is the mysterious death of one of his former patients, a schoolteacher named Susanne Collins. Could these two things possibly be linked? Beneath the surface of comfortable respectability, lies a shocking secret that pulls all of the pieces together.

Obsessed with the quality of his beloved cups of tea, Kennedy is an orderly, civilized man who believes that crimes are best solved in well-organized, carefully though-out ways. His life, however, is turned around when he becomes involved with a sexy, vivacious journalist, ann rea. Maybe absolute order isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466848078
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/02/2013
Series:	Inspector Christy Kennedy Mysteries , #1
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	510 KB

About the Author

Paul Charles agent, promoter, author, and fan of The Beatles, was born in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland.

Paul Charles agent, promoter, author, and fan of The Beatles, was born in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland. His books include Last Boat to Camden Town and I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass.

Editorial Reviews

In this modest but pleasing prequel to Charles's mystery debut, I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass, Irish-born Det. Inspector Christy Kennedy of Camden CID investigates the death of an upstanding young doctor found drowned in London's Regent's Canal. At first Kennedy can't rule out suicide, but he soon feels that "foul play was involved." Dr. Edmund Berry's demise appears linked in some way to the sudden death of a young teacher, Susanna Collins, who had come into his hospital complaining of leg pains. Could Dr. Berry have been guilty of negligence in her case? Providing guidance is ann rea (always lowercase), a reporter for the local Camden Town newspaper, to whom the bashful Kennedy is attracted. The slow evolution of their idyllic romance takes up a lot of Kennedy's time, as does making and drinking tea and listening to Beatles songs. Since suspects are few, in the end it is the ingenious method that the killer uses to do in the victim that provides the most interest. With no graphic violence or sex, this cozy police procedural will also appeal to fans of traditional whodunits. (Nov. 17) FYI: Charles is also a music agent and promoter, whose clients include Jackson Browne and Tom Waits. Other titles in the series are available from D0-Not Press. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Inspector Christy Kennedy, of the Camden CID, continues his run as the kindest, gentlest copper in Do-Not's Bloodlines series. Everything about his second case (I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass, 1997) murmurs tradition. Dr. Edmund Berry, late resident at St. Pancras All Saints Hospital, was happy, healthy, faithful to his adoring wife, and blessedly unencumbered by enemies. His drowning in North London's Cumberland Basin would look like a decorous suicide if he had a reason to kill himself, and if his alcohol level weren't elevated to the 30th floor. The only blemish on his blameless life'the misdiagnosis that left schoolteacher Susanne Collins dead when she checked into St. Pancras with what seemed a routine ailment'looks like a motive for suicide. But it could equally well have driven Susanne's pigeon-loving brother Norman or her chronically stoned aspiring boyfriend William Jackson to murder. Following the clues doggedly'his favorite detective device seems to be the admission that he missed an important clue the first time around'Christy makes a case against a suspect so obvious that the main suspense of this low-key procedural concerns whether Christy will ever consummate his affair with a journalist he'd like to have as more than a friend. Though no threat to his idol Inspector Morse, Christy is an appealingly unpretentious hero fit to while away a quiet couple of hours.

Kirkus Reviews