A Killing in November: The Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month (DI Wilkins Mysteries)

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Add to this the idea that Ryan, a CID Inspector, would turn up to investigate a death in an Oxford college wearing tracksuit bottoms and a baseball cap on backward, tell the Provost to “calm the [copulatory obscenity] down” and so on and it sounds utterly preposterous.

This town and gown divide is echoed in the two lead detectives, the 30 year old DI Ray Wilkins, a well dressed Balliol College man, from a wealthy Nigerian background, a high flyer, and the more troubled 27 year old DI Ryan Wilkins, who despises the world of privilege, growing up in a Oxford trailer park, a single dad with an adorable young son, Ryan. These two could not be more different and this is what makes “A Killing in November” such a great read. As a young Detective Inspector, he’s lost none of his disgust with privileged elites – or his objectionable manners. Both with some heavy emotional baggage that try to manage in their own way - predictably, Ryan with outbursts of anger and Ray with long hours at work.

A fast paced, enjoyable thriller that challenges our assumptions about class, race, goodness, corruption and depravity. Ray is closer to Morse, with his Balliol education and his classical music, while Ryan is more like the working class Lewis, albeit that he has none of Lewis's patience or measured approach to life and work.

T]his is a very individual piece of work, with a satisfying plot involving Syrian refugees, snobbish dons and nimble interaction between the ill-assorted protagonists. As is well known, Oxford also contains areas of real deprivation, the estates of Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill and Barton, for instance. They’re highly exaggerated characters and I’d have preferred more subtlety in their dialogue and behaviour. This is a terrific crime nov el, with a startlingly original protagonist we're going to see a lot more of. I would certainly look forward to reading more about Ryan and the Great Raymundo… I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.Perhaps a second outing of the duo, with Ryan kicked out of the police force, is a more plausible endeavor. This moody, atmospheric novel is full of surprises, with subplots about sexual harassment and the impact of the Syrian civil war. Simon Mason sets his crime novel amidst the dreaming spires of Oxford, depicting the contrasting picture of the city, the sharp divides in social class with those that inhabit the entitled, privileged, wealthy academic circles at the fictional Barnabas College, and the more socially deprived parts with riots taking place amidst the notorious council estates of Blackbird Leys.

It is not entirely filled in how Ryan became a DI with his amazingly bad attitude and refusal to adapt his clothing or manner or anything else, though he's a kind of crime solving savant.However, on reflection, maybe I had slipped into judging the character negatively just like everyone else he encountered in the book. Because of this complexity, and the fun I had reading about the interactions between Ryan and Ray, I am giving A KILLING IN NOVEMBER four stars.

The plot kept me interested (it involves not only murder, but also the theft of a rare, valuable book) and I laughed out loud a number of times. A Killing in November introduces an unlikely duo from different sides of the tracks in Oxford in a deftly plotted murder story full of dangerous turns, troubled pasts and unconventional detective work. Inevitably, with its Oxford setting and its murder in the office of a College provost, comparisons will be made to Morse. A lot of the humour comes from their contrasting class and backgrounds - white 'trailer trash' versus black Oxford-educated - but it works and the dialogue is wholly convincing (would make great TV screenplay). He is the author of the Quigleys series for young readers: The Quigleys (Highly Commended in the UK's Branford Boase Award), The Quigleys at Large, The Quigleys Not for Sale, and The Quigleys in a Spin.In contrast, Ray Wilkins is the son of African immigrants, university educated with a wife and is a suave dresser. I also agree that Ryan the elder is slightly over the top - it really is hard to see why he was allowed to stay in the police for five minutes, never mind becoming a DI - on the other hand it makes for an entertaining read.