Book info

• Title First Frost
• Author James Henry
• Year 2011
• Genres Mystery, Detective

Denton, 1981. Britain is in recession, the IRA is becoming increasingly active and the country's on alert for an outbreak of rabies. Detective Sergeant Jack Frost is working under his mentor and inspiration DI Bert Williams, and coping badly with his increasingly strained marriage. But DI Williams is nowhere to be seen. So when a 12-year-old girl goes missing from a department store changing room, DS Frost is put in charge of the investigation...

Thoughts

I read and loved the original Inspector Frost series - it’s got a few issues in terms of outdated terminology and views but as a mystery/crime series, it’s great. So I was intrigued by these later books, written after the death of RD Wingfield but approved by the family. They’re actually prequels so we go back to when Frost was a Sergeant, unhappily married, and before he got the George Cross.

I’m amazed at how closely the style of the writing reflects the original author’s. The way that Frost goes about his business, the conversations he has, and the many threads of story that weave in and out of each other, it was all exactly as I expected. There are some brutal crimes, some more simple than others, and plenty of arguments, flirting and of course, insomnia. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next one.

Rating: 5 / 5