{"id":15601,"date":"2021-07-23T19:41:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T23:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15601"},"modified":"2021-07-23T19:41:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T23:41:45","slug":"a-poison-tree-by-j-e-mayhew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=15601","title":{"rendered":"‘A Poison Tree,’ by J. E. Mayhew"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The template<\/strong> of the English police procedural novel seems to be fairly well established. There\u2019s an experienced senior officer \u2013 perhaps a bit crusty \u2013 and a diverse team of younger detectives with more or less to learn. In my experience, one can usually expect good team rapport and friendly teasing. That pattern gets varied a little in A Poison Tree<\/a><\/em>, first in a series about DCI Will Blake, who commands a squad in England\u2019s Wirral district (outside Liverpool).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blake (don\u2019t mention the poet William Blake to him) has recently returned to work after upheaval in his family and the loss of his wife. (Right now one of his major concerns is his mother\u2019s cat, which he has inherited and which seems to hate him.) His investigative team has not yet gelled; there\u2019s tension between them and they\u2019re not entirely confident about their boss yet. One particular problem is the obligatory homosexual on the team \u2013 much is made of the subtle hazing he receives \u2013 but on the other hand, there\u2019s a suggestion he\u2019s a bit of a prat for being so touchy about the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a beautiful teenaged girl is found murdered in a park, the major clue seems to be that someone took away the shoes she was wearing, vintage shoes she found at a charity shop. Then it turns out the shoes have a history \u2013 they belonged to a young girl who was similarly murdered decades ago \u2013 the shoes first disappeared at that time. Clues lead back to the story of a local celebrity, a rich girl who operated as a sort of Nancy Drew, \u201chelping\u201d the police to solve crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot of A Poison Tree <\/em>is complex and convoluted. I must admit I lost track of the characters, contemporary and historical, who figured in the story. The final solution was tragic, almost in the Greek sense, and possibly a little over the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finished the book, but I\u2019m not sure I can recommend it wholeheartedly. It was kind of hard to follow. I did like Blake, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The template of the English police procedural novel seems to be fairly well established. There\u2019s an experienced senior officer \u2013 perhaps a bit crusty \u2013 and a diverse team of younger detectives with more or less to learn. In my experience, one can usually expect good team rapport and friendly teasing. That pattern gets varied … Continue reading ‘A Poison Tree,’ by J. E. Mayhew<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[3786,3784,3785],"class_list":["post-15601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-a-poison-tree","tag-j-e-mayhew","tag-will-blake"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15602,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15601\/revisions\/15602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}