April 6
It is no surprise that a television scriptwriter whose impressive credits include Midsomer Murders, Lovejoy and Heartbeat should choose for the setting of his first novel, an environment he calls "Village England".
Village England is almost exactly how John Major described it during his premiership, a "country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer". But only almost, as anyone who reads crime fiction, watches television or, indeed, lives in Village England, knows that it also harbours an army of eccentrics and murderers.
So it is in Winchendon, the idyllic Buckinghamshire setting of Haggard Hawk, the debut novel of Marcus Barr, an actor turned scriptwriter also known as Douglas Watkinson.
Winchendon is the picture-postcard village where retired copper Nathan Hawk has hung up his holster for the final time. Hawk, a widower with four children scattered carelessly across the world, lives a quietish life which appears to consist largely of drinking, e-mailing his kids and correcting the English of his young Japanese house guest, Hideki.
That is until on his return from a dinner party last night in the company of Laura, a fellow guest, he comes across local pub landlord (and ex-con) Jim Ryder shot dead in the middle of a dark, country lane while his wife Julie is critically injured nearby.
While Laura, the fellow guest, tends to the wounded, Hawk begins his own investigation into the crime, running a parallel inquiry to the official one being conducted by Charnley, a wonderfully irascible, old-school incompetent copper, and his young, personable and gifted sidekick Faraday.
In the process the reader is introduced to the full range of village characters, from the pushy girlfriend of the dozy pub chef to the dope-smoking window-cleaning Cambridge grad whose bedroom activities with his Italian-Essex girlfriend are being video-taped his next door neighbour. It's almost like every episode of Midsomer Murders has been rolled into 276 pages.
But that's often the way with debut novel, particularly those that kick off a series, as this one is supposed to.
And I hope it does become a series. Hawk is a terrific character, convincing in the old-copper-who-can't-let-it-go role. He drinks a bit too much, yes, and he has anger management problems (dealt with with the help of a folding map...) but he's good company, even . His developing romance with Laura is also well-handled as is his relationship with his global family.
But at the heart of this story is a good old-fashioned whodunnit, and one that Barr moves through his pages with charm and ease, snappy dialogue (as one might expect from a television writer) and a taut plot that stays live and keeps the reader guessing right until the final pages.
A great start for Marcus Barr and his not-so-haggard Hawk. More please.