Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Last Orders by Bill Todd. It's a murder mystery solved Danny Lancaster style.
Bill is a journalist and travel writer who has visited more than 40 countries from the white wastes of Arctic Finland to the ancient deserts of Namibia. He loves a good wilderness. He received the Ed Lacy travel award in 2007.
Bill has written six crime thrillers featuring soldier-turned-investigator Danny Lancaster and was startled and delighted to be voted one of the 100 best crime authors in the WH Smith readers’ poll in 2015. He’s also written three short factual military histories. He lives to write although keyboard time has been cut lately with the arrival of grandson Theo.
Follow @williamjtodd and @DannyLancaster3 on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Instagram, on Amazon, DannyLancasterInvestigates on Facebook, Visit billtodd.co.uk
About the book
Big Eddie Archer is throwing a celebrity party for the reopening of The Bellerophon public house. When singer Paul Toopen, star of TV reality show Dreamboat, goes missing there is only one man the pub’s guv’nor can call on. But Danny Lancaster is off his game after overdoing Eddie’s free hospitality at last night’s dress rehearsal. Fans besiege the pub and the media are everywhere. This could be a public relations disaster but Eddie reckons if Danny can crack the case before closing time it will make the new Bellerophon famous. Danny’s head is pounding but Eddie’s star guests might just be trapped in a pub with a killer. And the clock is ticking down to last orders. #TheBigBellBash
This is a novella length story, but Todd manages to deliver an entertaining read worthy of a novel. I kinda liked this one a lot more than the full-length ones though, perhaps because the focus is on less rather than on more. It's just Danny and his devil-may-care attitude and a few side characters, which is all the story needs.
The story is really quite simple. A minor celebrity goes missing at an event, during the event actually, and Danny is called in to solve the mystery of the disappearing guest. The author takes that scenario and turns it into so much more.
There was this moment during the story - the most poignant one in my opinion. It's a comical one, and I admit to laughing out loud at that moment. Then bang the author flips the switch and takes the reader straight into a flashback. The reader is right there with Danny as he relives the trauma and the horror of the situation he finds himself in once again.
The juxtaposition of the comedic moment and traumatic flashback is a stroke of genius. It actually gives the reader similar visceral reactions as they are reading. Laughter melds into uncertainty, then shock and finally the realisation of what is happening. Kudos to Todd for that particular part of the story.
It's a murder mystery solved Danny Lancaster style, as only he can solve them. It's snarky, funny and a jolly good read.
Buy Last Orders:Trapped in a pub with a killer (Danny Lancaster) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published in paperback and ebook formats by DLE-Fiction on 1st August 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
Read my reviews of Rock Hard and Rough Diamond by Bill Todd.
Buy Rough Diamond, Death Squad, The Wreck of the Margherita (free download), Gargoyle Pixie Dog, Godlefe's Cuckoo all by Bill Todd.
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