Review ~ The Killing of Polly Carter by Robert Thorogood

MIRA
3 December 2015

Well, I feel like I have come rather late to the Caribbean murder mystery party as I have to hold my hands up and say that I haven't watched even a smidgen of the BBC1 hit series, Death in Paradise.

The Killing of Polly Carter, for those familiar with the TV series and who may have read book one in this series, A Meditation on Murder, will be entirely familiar with the crime team, who in the books, are led by the hapless Richard Poole, who has been sent to solve crime on the island, disliking sun, sea, sand, insects and a variety of other stuff commonly found in this idyllic part of the world.

So, with no preconceptions of the style of Death in Paradise, I started to read and very quickly became immersed in a story which was as delightfully quirky as any Agatha Christie novel. At the very start of the story, ...and I'm giving away no spoiler here, the eponymous Polly Carter is discovered dead, in what appears to be a classic suicide, but as Richard Poole and his team are about to discover, there is more to the killing of Polly Carter than first appears.

What then follows is a classic whodunit; with more than enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. So many times I thought that I had discovered who was responsible for Polly’s death, only for the investigation to veer off in another more convoluted direction. For those with prior knowledge of both the place and its people will, I am sure, recognise the subtle nuances which this author describes so well.  The dynamics between the crime team are wonderfully entertaining and the added complication of the arrival of Richard’s mother to the island allows a glimpse into Richard’s background and perhaps sheds some light on the reason for his delightful quirkiness.

I really enjoyed this story and will certainly back track to read A Meditation on Murder, whilst eagerly waiting for the next series of Death in Paradise to be shown on the BBC in 2016.

Death In Paradise

Best read with a tall glass of rum punch and some tasty seafood...

About the author

Robert is the creator of the BBC1 hit show Death in Paradise.

Follow Robert on Twitter @robthor

Amazon UK

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*Blog Tour* - The Killing of Polly Carter by Robert Thorogood

**Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of this exciting Blog Tour**

The Killing of Polly Carter

Amazon UK

The Killing of Polly Carter is published by MIRA in hardback on the 3rd December 

Please welcome the author

Robert Thorogood

Robert is the creator of the BBC1 hit show, Death in Paradise.

Hi Robert, it's really great to have you as our guest author today...

When did your love affair with crime novels begin?

Hello everyone, thanks very much for stopping by. I’m delighted to be writing a guest blog for Jo and Jaffa today—and, in fact, I realise I can include a little Christmasy message for Jaffa at the end of this blog as well.

But first I thought I’d tell you about when I first fell in love with murder mystery novels, as I remember the occasion very well. It was when I was 9 or 10 years old and I read my first Agatha Christie book, Peril at End House. 

What blew my mind was the fact that there was at least one person in the story (the murderer!) who wasn’t telling the truth. And even better than this, I realised that the author wasn’t being honest either. She was actively trying to trick and misdirect me. I couldn’t believe it. Grown-ups didn’t lie… did they? Well, in the world of murder mysteries they did, and I loved it.

I’ve been reading murder mystery novels ever since. And when I was trying to get my TV writing career off the ground, there was only one show I wanted to work on, and that was Midsomer Murders. I adored it. Just adored, adored, adored it. 

I loved how the world of Agatha Christie had been transplanted without apology to modern-day Oxfordshire with John Nettles solving ‘Golden Age’ mysteries once a week. 

So I badgered the production company who make the show to see if I could get a job writing an episode of Midsomer. They said it wouldn’t be possible, which was an understandable response. I hadn’t written any broadcast TV at this point, and Midsomer is one of the top shows on TV, they can pick and choose their writers. 

However, it was only because I was failing to get a job on Midsomer that I continued to come up with my own ideas for murder mystery TV shows, including Death in Paradise. And when Death in Paradise got greenlit by the BBC and I had to write the first few episodes, I found myself going back to the ideas I’d developed for Midsomer and using them for my own show instead. 

It’s funny how life turns out, isn’t it? 

But there’s no doubting. My career writing murder mystery TV and novels now only exists because—many years ago—I picked up that first Agatha Christie book and thought, ‘Oo, I wonder if I’ll like this…?’ 

And now, as promised at the beginning of the blog, here’s a special Christmas photo of our lovely (but very grumpy*) cat, Daniel, wishing Jaffa and everyone else on the blog a very Merry Christmas!

Huge thanks to Robert ...and Daniel ....for being our guests today. 

And to Julia At MIDAS Public Relations for her kind invitation to be part of this exciting blog tour.

Do visit the other stops on the Blog Tour

28th November - 3rd December

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