Death In Blitz City by David Young

 

Death in Blitz City by David Young.

Published 7th July by Zaffre.

From the cover of the book:

1942. Hull, East Yorkshire - It is the most heavily-bombed city outside of London - but for the sake of national morale the Hull Blitz is kept top secret. Only the politicians in Whitehall and Hull's citizens themselves know of the true chaos.

Newly-posted Inspector Ambrose Swift cannot believe the devastation he finds. But for Swift and his two deputies - part-time bare-knuckle boxer Jim 'Little' Weighton and Dales farmer's daughter Kathleen Carver - it's murder, not the war, that's at the forefront of their minds.

When a series of sadistic killings is wrongly blamed on locally-stationed black American GIs, Swift, a one-armed former WW1 cavalryman who tours the rubble-strewn city on a white horse, soon discovers these are no ordinary murders. 

The fetid stench of racism, corruption and perversion go to the very top. And for Swift, Weighton and Carver, finding the real killers means putting their own lives at risk - because powerful forces in the US and Britain cannot let the war effort be undermined. Not even by the truth.

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Hull 1942. DCI Ambrose Swift, a fish out of water after being posted from London to Hull, is called to the scene of a bombed out street where the body of a young woman has been found. She is clearly the victim of something other than the heavy bombardment the city has been receiving during the Blitz, as her body has been terribly mutilated. 

When more bodies start to turn up, each bearing the marks of a sadistic killer, Swift and his small team of Sergeant Jim 'Little' Weighton and WPC Kathleen Carver uncover a series of clues pointing to vicious racism targetting the Black American soldiers stationed locally, and to worrying corruption among the authorities. It's hard to bring the guilty parties to justice when there are those that would see an innocent man take the blame rather than risk damaging the war effort, but they are determined to get to the truth, no matter what... even if it means putting themselves in danger. 

Death in Blitz City is a highly enjoyable murder mystery set in the city of Hull, during the Blitz. It makes such a refreshing change to see a city other than London as the backdrop for a British war-time adventure, and as Hull was in fact the most heavily bombed city outside London it fits the bill perfectly.

Amid the rubble, Young introduces you to a gaggle of entertaining characters, especially the little team working tirelessly to crack the case in WWI veteran DCI Ambrose Swift, with his prosthetic arm, and troubled history; his larger than life, part-time bare-knuckle fighter sidekick Sergeant Weighton; and the bright young spark WPC Kathleen Carver who is drafted in to help. I will admit to finding Swift a bit of a tricky character to warm to, and his attitudes (however admirable) are a trifle modern given that the book is set in 1942, but I immediately took to Weighton and loved the enthusiastic Carver - and the three of them certainly develop a lovely rapport throughout the story.

The murder mystery element of the book is really rather gritty, with horribly mutilated corpses and the menacing message of 'enemies within', which blends nicely with the underlying fear that characterises a city already living with the horror of German bombing raids. Young holds nothing back about the reality of living in a city during wartime, or the measures that quite ordinary people take in order to survive, and he incorporates some intriguing and far-reaching themes through cleverly conceived plot-lines around the American GI Joes stationed locally, the corruption of local bigwigs, and the perceived necessity to preserve the appearance of good relations between Britain and America. I really liked how this gives you a lot to be getting on with on many fronts - with a complex police procedural that anchors you to the battered shell of Hull; a more melodramatic side with adventurous shenanigans in the local coutryside; and a surprising thread that links the American soldiers over here with the lives they lived at home.

This has the feel of a brand-new war-time police series that could develop into something with real legs, especially if Swift learns to be a bit less stuffy and Weighton and Carver are given more of the limelight. Lots of potential for more absorbing adventures to come!  

Death in Blitz City is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Zaffre for sending me a paperback copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Compulsive Readers Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

About the author:

East Yorkshire-born David Young began his East German-set crime series on a creative writing MA at London's City University when Stasi Child - his debut - won the course prize. The novel went on to win the 2016 CWA Historical Dagger, and both it and the 2017 follow-up, Stasi Wolf, were longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His novels have been sold in eleven territories round the world. Before becoming a full-time author, David was a senior journalist with the BBC's international radio and TV newsrooms for more than 25 years. He writes in his Twickenham garden shed and in a caravan on the Isle of Wight.