Rather To Be Pitied by Jan Newton

Acknowledgement

To Kevin Robinson, retired West Yorkshire Police Inspector, once again huge thanks for his support in ensuring that my facts were factual, and for painstaking proof reading with a forensic eye.  As usual, any mistakes in any aspect of the novel are, of course, my own.

Synopsis

Newly promoted DS Julie Kite has been in sleepy mid-Wales for mere months when she’s faced with her second murder case. A man’s body has been found by school kids trekking the Monk’s Trod. The trail takes her back north to her parents in Manchester and to a housing estate in Blackpool. It’s not a simple case – a young mother has disappeared, but so has her son and her next door neighbour’s wife. And the husband of the landlady of the B&B where the girl was staying. When an ex-serviceman farmhand with PTSD attempts to take his own life the case gets more complex still.

This is Jan Newton’s second novel in the DS Kite series, the first being Remember No More.

Some Reviews

Great 2nd novel in the DS Kite series

Jan has written a great follow up to her first crime novel Remember No More; set in the country around Builth Wells; DS Julie Kite is a detective still finding her feet in mid Wales; it may be quieter than Manchester where she moved from but the criminals she meets are just as devious and cruel. Captures the atmosphere of mid-Wales, the rural farming community and country pursuits; I can see Julie learning to ride in the next novel?
Highly recommended

Great follow up

This is the best fiction book i have read all year. Having read some of the author’s short stories in the past, I wondered if her evident skills would translate to a full length novel – they did! her first novel “Remember no more” was excellent – this is even better. Great story, believable characters, evocative descriptions. Will definitely be visiting mid Wales in the near future. I hope this is a series because I am looking forward to the next one already.

Immaculately plotted

In this second DS Kite Mystery, the author does not disappoint. Rather To Be Pitied (a title whose genesis is explained after the book has been read, in a cleverly placed reference) is a smart, edgy follow-up novel from a writer showing a new level of assurance.

After only a few months in her new post in the wilds of mid-Wales, Lancashire lass DS Julie Kite has another body on her hands. Discovered on the Monks’ Trod – a well-known hiking trail – the body immediately sets in motion a plot so complex it’s like a quilt, with the pieces pinned loosely in place. Stitching them together so they fit, tests Julie & the team to their limits. People are missing: a young mother, her son, her next door neighbour’s wife. And the landlady of the B&B where the young mother had been a guest hasn’t seen her husband in a while either.

A diverse & well drawn cast of characters, plus a myriad convoluted factors, test the author too. There is a depth of research in play as well – the author convinces with an authority which suggests no detail has been missed. Her ability to conjure the landscape of this part of Wales was apparent in her first novel. In this new story, we know exactly where we are. If you know mid-Wales, you recognise it; if you don’t you soon sense it. The ‘sense of place’ cliché was never more apposite than in this book. This is an exceptionally well thought out story, immaculately plotted & told with a deft, astute & sometimes humorous pen.
Not enough stars. Highly recommended.

 

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