Book info

• Title A Killing Frost
• Author R. D. Wingfield
• Year 2008
• Genre Mystery

On a rainy night in Denton, Detective Inspector Jack Frost is called to the site of a macabre discovery in the woods - that of a human foot. Meanwhile a multiple rapist is on the loose, the local supermarket reports poisoned stock and a man claims to have cut his wife up into little pieces, yet can't recall where he hid them. But it is when two young girls are reported missing in quick succession that the Denton crime wave reaches terrifying heights. As the exhausted Frost staggers from case to case, pressured from all sides and haunted by memories of his wife, something nasty arrives at the station in the form of Detective Chief Inspector Skinner. The scheming, slippery Skinner clearly has his eye on the Superintendent's office, but his first job is to manipulate the transfer of the unorthodox D.I. Jack Frost to another division. Will Frost find the missing girls before his new nemesis forces him away from Denton once and for all?

Thoughts

The final book in the original Inspector Frost series is just as captivating as the previous novels, but keeps on going down the path of getting darker and more horrifying. I’d saved this one for ages, after reading the previous five books in the series - perhaps I didn’t want to say goodbye to the character just yet. I know there is another book or two written by a different author, which I will probably cast an eye to, but it’s not going to be the same.

This outing for Frost very much feels like he’s heading towards the end of the road. I don’t know if this was intended to be the final book, but here we have a Frost who is constantly reminiscing about the old days, wondering where his (love) life went wrong, and facing the threat of having to leave Denton for good.

Packed full of interlinking crimes, and following the characters we love, plus a couple of new ones, the book treads the same great path as the five before it - but carries with it a new edge of desperation. Things seem even more out of Frost’s control, and he has even more sleepless nights. I am still surprised at how the man manages to survive - always getting woken up after an hour or two of sleep, being distracted from his breakfast before he’s started it, and at one point even being constantly called away from using the loo!

It’s the challenges that make the story so wonderful. The fear of being found out, the idea that the moments of genius are far outweighed by the time spent flapping about without a clue. Frost is unmoveable but likeable, a cheeky trickster but you’re totally on his side. He’s the kind of character that could easily be written as the bad guy, but there is no chance of that in these fabulous stories. I’ll miss this Frost, and perhaps one day will reread the stories - books like this, with clues scattered throughout, are always a little bit more eye-opening on the second look!

Rating: 4 / 5