Crime

A worthy effort recreating RD Wingfield's characters, set in 1982, when Jack Frost is still a detective sergeant. Frost's team investigates a suspicious death of a teenage girl and then Superintendent Mullett discovers what appears to be a ritualistic murder of a male teenager on his golf course. The usual battle of wills ensues between Frost and Mullett, which of course Frost won. Entertaining reminders of 1980s and absence of mobile phones. ( )

After being sorely disappointed by "First Frost", I tried this book hoping that the author had better captured the spirit of Wingfield's work. Unfortunately, I found this one, the second in the series, no better than the first. I doubt that I'll be reading any more of this series: methinks time would be more enjoyably spent just re-reading (or, more accurately, re-devouring) the original Wingfield books. ( )

Fatal Frost by James Henry is the second prequel to the original Frost series by R.D. Wingfield. James Henry has done a very good job as these prequels have totally caught the atmosphere, grittiness and humour of the original books. In this one, it’s the May long weekend of 1982 and DS Frost is trying to take advantage of the quiet to catch up on his paperwork but even though he has come in on his day off, he is the one who must go when a dead body is called in. This is just the beginning of a week of deaths, robberies, and life being made more complicated by his boss, Superintendent Mullett. To further stir the pot, Frost’s wife, Mary seems to have gone home to her mother and his bit-on-the-side isn’t too happy with him either.

This is a very readable and entertaining police procedural, that paints a vivid picture of the younger Frost. Both the action and the humour are non-stop as Frost solves the mysteries in his usual chaotic and unorganized way. He may be an absolute bust when it comes to paperwork or following the rules, but he has a nose for solving crime. Frost is a strangely appealing character considering he drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney and runs around on his wife. Most of the characters in these books of come off as caricatures which leaves me wondering if the author is actually giving us a satire of the police procedural or the real deal. Either way these books tickle my funny bone and I will be continuing on with the series. ( )

This features characters created by RD Wingfield who only wrote six novels featuring Inspector Frost. In this book set in the early 1980s Frost is still a sergeant. The various plots are preposterous and at the end I was still not sure how the young girl died at the start of the book. An average read. ( )