Written partly as an homage to detective fiction, this stellar debut is a must read!

Former London police detective Jake Jackson’s marriage has been snuffed out due to apathy and repeated failure to conceive. He and his wife are still friends, but the love and the spark have died. When Jake learns that he has an inheritance from his uncle Arthur, he leaves his wife and his job behind to narrow his horizons in the countryside. A fresh start – just exactly what he needs.

Once ensconced in his new rural home, he is a changed man. No television, internet, or even phone service would be enough of a deterrent for many people, but not Jake. He embraced this solitude and reverts make to nature. He swims in his own lake, runs on his own acreage, and reads from his new and extensive library of crime fiction that his uncle bequeathed to him. Idyllic right?

“Sometimes the sound of his own voice surprises him, scraped from his throat, out of use like an old piece of machinery pulled from storage.”

Jake discovers a need for more than this when he meets Livia, the attractive local vet. She invites him to participate in a local treasure hunt for a historic ‘bag of bones’ and he rises to the challenge. Only what he finds is not the pretend bones put in the bag by the hunt’s organizer, but real, very human bones. Discovering the mystery behind his find leads him and those he has come to care for down a very dangerous path indeed… He unwittingly, has stumbled upon a crime a decade old – and cold case crimes are what he excels at.

This crime novel will be especially attractive to bibliophiles. “There is something about shelves upon shelves of books to gladden Jake’s heart; they suggest an infinite amount of diversion, the endless scope of information, the sense that he will never be entirely alone, his life never completely lacklustre.”

What a truly delightful and well written read. And realizing that this novel is the beginning of a new crime series is the icing on the cake. I am very eager to read the next installment in the Jake Jackson series. This is an auspicious debut that mystery fans must add to their TBR pile!

This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Harper Fiction/HarperCollins UK via NetGalley. 

ISBN:  9780008517038 – ASIN:  B0B75Z48KQ – 400 pages

Published April 13, 2023

Stephen “Stig” Abell is an English journalist, newspaper editor and radio presenter. Previously the Director of the Press Complaints Commission and Managing Editor of the Sun newspaper, he is a regular broadcaster on the BBC and Sky News and had his own show on LBC until recently. He has written and reviewed for many national publications and is now a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. Abell was born in Nottingham and educated at Loughborough Grammar School before graduating with a double first in English from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Stig Abell lives in London with his wife, three children and two independent-minded cats called Boo and Ninja (his children named them, obviously).

“Death Under a Little Sky” is his debut crime novel.

Connect with Stig Abell via Twitter, and/or Instagram.

Watch the YouTube video where Stig Abell discusses his novel Death Under a Little Sky.