I have always enjoyed Ben Elton’s books, so I’m not sure quite why it took me so long to get around to reading this one. But I’m glad I finally did. Scotland Yard Detetice Inspector Ed Newson investigates the brutal murder of an equally brutal man who was killed in a most unusual manner. With the aid of his Detective Sergeant Natasha, who Ed is secretly in love with, he starts to connect the dots between this murder and others that have happened – and which continue to happen. Essentially someone is going round murdering bullies and is using the same methods that the bullies themselves used on their victims.

This novel was written in 2004, and the now defunct website Friends Reunited features as a prominent part of the story. Ed himself joins the site as a way of connecting with his old classmates which leads to him meeting a number of them again – some reunions being very welcome (the school beauty Christine) and others not so much.

I did work out who the killer was before the reveal, but I jumped about between a few of the characters beforehand, so although it was guessable, I wouldn’t say it was so obvious that it would mar enjoyment of the story.

It’s not out and out comedy, and there is a serious issue within the story about how bullying in youth can lead to severe problems later in life – but you can always rely on Ben Elton to make you smile and some of the dialogue exchanges between Ed and Natasha were very funny.

Just a warning to anyone who doesn’t like gore or sex – some of the murders are particularly unpleasant, and there is one fairly lengthy sex scene which is eye-poppingly excruciating, revolting and hilarious all at once.

Overall, if you have read and enjoyed Ben Elton before, I would imagine you would definitely enjoy this book. If you haven’t read anything by him before, why not give it a try? ( )

Music as a plot device and a clue was weirdly echoed by a Midsommer Murders episode we watched on telly the same week I read this. Entertainment shouldn't be so spooky. ( )

This is the best Ben Elton book I have read so far.
Bit of a silly story but I did quite like the main character Edward Newson
He works as a Detective and is besotted by his Sargent Natasha.
They are on the trail of a serial killer who is out for revenge against bullies who have attacked people at school. The serial killer looks through entries on Friends Reunited to find potential victims. Good funny enjoyable book. ( )

I enjoyed this book - I think. I found it rather sad (another reviewer said "depressing" which I can understand but to me it was just sad in some places). As who dunit - well it was guessable and fairly obviously guessable. Also as a who dunit - it seemed to take the police a vast amount of time to connect some very obvious the dots (and a body count worth about 3 Midsummer Murder episodes!) to work out what was going on. When the reader knew full well what was going on well in advance of the police. This made the who dunit pretty laboured in parts. I enjoyed the two main characters but thought that there was a fair amount of repetition in dialog and I could understand Wilkie getting annoyed - as Ed's line with her started to annoy me as well! On the whole it was a good book, well written - it could have done without some of the gore and without some of the sad sex - but on the whole a good book. ( )

Detective Inspector Edward Newson has been friendzoned by his rather attractive sergeant, Natasha Wilkie, and has to settle for covert glimpses of her shapely legs and hope she doesn't notice. Natasha's taste in men seem to run to the typical bad boy type and being a 5'4" ginger and all-round nice guy, Ed feels his chances are pretty close to zero for elevating that status. While investigating their newest case, a pretty grisly murder of a brute of a man, Ed is feeling a bit lonely so decides to look into his past and see how his old schoolmates are doing in the hope of reconnecting with the class queen, Christine Copperfield, whom he spent one glorious week with back in the class of '88. He manages to reconnect with a couple of people via the Friends Reunited website and creates a profile there for himself. Not long after he does there are a few more that join up too and one of those is Christine and it seems she want to organise a class reunion. Dare Ed get his hopes up for something more?

Meanwhile, back on the investigation, it seems like a few more cases have turned up that might relate to the one Ed & Natasha are working on but there's not too many clues as to the identity of the killer. Can they solve the mystery before another victim turns up dead? How will his burgeoning social life and interest in the past affect Ed's investigating technique?

Not really a laugh out loud comedy offering from Mr. Elton this time around, as this one is more of a social commentary, though there are genuine moments of mirth especially in the exchanges between Ed and Natasha. The mystery element isn't that hard to figure out but there are a couple of twists to throw the reader off the scent. Those of delicate sensibilities should give this one a miss as the murders are not for the faint-hearted and there is one particularly sordid and gratuitous sex scene described quite vividly. Personally though, I did enjoy this book and I do like the author more as a writer than I ever did as a comedian. ( )