From the Dead by Mark Billingham is the 9th book in his police procedural series that features DI Tom Thorne. The book opens with a woman, Donna Langford, being released from prison after having spent 10 years there for the murder of her gangster husband. She is distraught because her eighteen year old daughter has disappeared and by a series of photographs sent to her of that show her dead husband alive and well.

Thorne is assigned to look into what happened both 10 years ago and to find out who died, burnt to death in a car in Langford’s place. Hunting for Alan Langford’s current location finds Thorne having to travel to Spain. This is a tough case as whenever he interviews a witness they turn up murdered shortly after. The bodies mount and at one point even Thorne comes under fire but instead of killing him, they kill the woman he was working with on the case.

While From the Dead isn’t a particularly puzzling mystery, the author does highlight police and prison corruption and gives us more insight into the character of Tom Thorne. I have enjoyed all the books in this entertaining and intelligent series and look forward to continuing on. ( )

What an enjoyable ripping yarn! Mind you, one does become tired of women being killed in all sorts of ways in thrillers, but at least Billingham throws in a few guys here and there. I like balance in murders.

I read a lot of mysteries a couple of years ago, back when I was thinking of hosting a mystery conference. I read everything from cozies to the Scandinavian dark tales, and it's all made me a bit fussy. I've become the sort of mystery writer who starts a book and tosses it aside if it doesn't grip me.

This gripped me. From the very first page, I was invested, turning pages far into the night. Billingham's flawed hero Tom Thorne is not your typical all work all drink sort, but instead a hard-working, perhaps a bit obsessed met detective. His interpersonal relationships are realistic, and I had to admit I was wishing for a beer with him by the end, though it might have involved a lot of heavy sighing on his part...(it's been a tough few months for him, poor fellah).

His female sidekick is also fully drawn, as is his girlfriend.all of the characters are wonderfully three-dimensional, not an easy task given the fast pace of this thriller. Even the victims are made real, and I was pulled into caring for all of them.

I'll be hunting out more of Billingham's books. ( )

“love could cause as much damage and death as hate ever did.”

A decade earlier Alan Langford's, a smooth-talking and ruthless criminal, charred remains were discovered in his burnt out car in Epping Forest. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to ten years in prison. Shortly before her release Donna receives an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband apparently alive and well living the good life in some sunny clime. Moreover, her 18-year-old daughter has vanished, and now Donna thinks her husband has abducted her.

Donna goes to a young and naive private detective in the hope that she can uncover the truth but when the investigator gets nowhere she goes to DI Tom Thorne, who worked on the original 'murder' case, for assistance.

Thorne’s first job is to determine just whose charred body was found in Langford’s burned-out car if it wasn't Langford himself. But when the man convicted of Langford's 'murder',a prisoner, is himself murdered Thorne realises that there are some dangerous people, possibly being orchestrated by Langford himself, trying to stop him from uncovering the facts. More deaths ensue before Thorne heads off to Spain to confront Langford.

Firstly I should point out that despite this being the 9th book in the series this is the first that I've read, secondly murder/mystery isn't a genre that I usually read all of which means that I have little to compare it with. That said and done I found this book clichéd, safe and predictable which left as many questions as answers. Thorne, who is in his 40s, has been living with Louise, another detective, but they’re drifting apart. The truth is that he cares more about his work than their relationship. Another cop whose mourning his dead wife. Are there no happily married coppers out there? Do all British criminals eventually head off to Costa del Crime when they want some better weather? But the main questions left unanswered were; quite why did Alan Langford feel the need to fake his own death in the first place and since Donna had already served ten years in prison for his supposed murder and thus unlikely to suffer any further punishment even if he is alive, why was she so keen to find him?

Overall I found it a reasonable diversion but not one that will either make me want to actively seek out more of the author's works or leap whole-heartedly in to this genre any-time in the near future. ( )

DI Tom Thorpe has been investigating murders around his native north London for a long time, and it is starting to get him down. He is a dogged detective, and generally an adherent to the approach adopted by Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch in Michael Connelly’s excellent series set in Los Angeles: either everyone counts, or no one counts.

When this story opens, Thorne is giving evidence in the case of Adam Chambers, who has been charged with abducting and murdering a young woman who had been a member of his self defence class. Thorne performs well in the witness box, and he and his colleagues are fairly confident of a guilty verdict. It is far from cut and dried, however, not least because the alleged victim’s body had never been discovered. This does not preclude the possibility of a guilty verdict, but it does make it a little bit harder, and the case has to be watertight.

He soon finds himself drawn into a markedly different case. Ten years earlier, Donna Langford had been convicted of conspiracy to murder, having paid an associate to murder her abusive husband, Alan, a key participant in local organised crime. A charred body had certainly been found in her husband’s burnt-out Jaguar, and as she capitulated at the first challenge from the police, she had been convicted, along with the hired hand who actually committed the killing, and the case seemed closed. However, shortly before her release, she starts receiving anonymous messages including photographs suggesting her husband is still alive. Her first thought is to hire Anna Carpenter, an aspiring private detective, who in turn contacts Thorne, as one of the officers involved in the original investigation. Initially sceptical, Thorne becomes convinced that Langford may indeed still be alive, a view that seems to be confirmed when various people associated with his past are killed.

I recognise that my synopsis may seem somewhat turgid, although the book is far from that. Billingham has always known how to engage his readers, and draw them in right from the start. Several of his books are set in locations near where I live, and I am always struck by how well Billingham describes them, often capturing aspects that I hadn’t noticed before, but which when I come to inspect them, are absolutely spot on. ( )

Really enjoyed this book ( )