Wed 2 Apr 2014
Reviewed by LJ Roberts: CYNTHIA HARROD-EAGLES – Hard Going.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
CYNTHIA HARROD-EAGLES – Hard Going. Severn House, hardcover, February 2014. Police procedural: DI Bill Slider, 16th in series.
First Sentence: Slider’s wheels were in dock.
Although D.I. Bill Slider isn’t particularly looking forward to a week off from work, he hadn’t planned on a murder saving him from time in shopping malls. A well-known local philanthropist is dead. The evidence indicates he knew his killer. Coming up with suspects isn’t a problem. Discovering a motive and evidence proves to be much harder.
From the very beginning, you are pulled in by the author’s voice and delightful, very dry, humor: “but Kate [Slider’s daughter] merely rolled her eyes. It was her response to everything. She must have eye-muscles like a boxer’s biceps, Slider thought.â€
It’s refreshing to have a DI who is not an angst-ridden. He’s divorced with two older kids, but remarried with a wife, baby, another on the way and a live-in dad. This provides us just enough exposure to, and the normal problems of, his home life. We see Slider’s kinship to Atherton, his second, and to his team.
It is through Porson, Slider’s boss and something of a figure of fun that we see the author’s true mastery of language. One has to be truly dexterous to create the amazing malaprops she does and her incredible imagery.
Hard Going at the heart of it all, is a true police procedural, proving you don’t need a lot of violence or profanity to still have a mystery with an edge and an excellent plot twist. Slider and his team follow the clues and shift through the evidence. I, for one, will continue to follow this very good series.
Rating: Very Good.
April 2nd, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Sounds interesting though I have cooled considerably on most procedurals over the years.
Still, it is a remarkable book since it seems to be scheduled to come out in February 2104…
Talk about sending out early review copies.
April 2nd, 2014 at 7:47 pm
Oops. It’s been a long day, I guess. Thanks for catching that!
April 2nd, 2014 at 7:51 pm
I’m with you when it comes to police procedurals, David. I used to read a ton of them, now it takes something special about one to catch my eye.
This one does, a little. LJ’s reference to “mastery of language” might do the trick, if this were ever to come out in softcover.
PS. 16th in a series is also rather remarkable, I think. Not many series go anywhere nearly as long.
April 3rd, 2014 at 6:52 am
When the books stopped being easily available here in my library I got a couple in British paperbacks. The last few I’ve picked up relateively cheaply in ex-library editions. I’ve read the first 11 and have four more on the shelf. Good series, and despite the murders it is not as dark and heavy as many of the other procedural series being published these days.