Murderabilia

Craig Robertson

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

The first commuter train of the morning slowly rumbles away from platform seven of Queen St station. And then, as the train emerges from a tunnel, the screaming starts. Hanging from the bridge ahead of them is a body. Placed neatly on the ground below him are the victim's clothes. Why?

Detective Inspector Narey is assigned the case and then just as quickly taken off it again. Winter, now a journalist, must pursue the case for her. The line of questioning centres around the victim's clothes - why leave them in full view? And what did the killer not leave, and where might it appear again?

Everyone has a hobby. Some people collect death. To find this evil, Narey must go on to the dark web, and into immense danger...

Review by Ben Macnair (010124) Rating (7/10)

Review by Ben Macnair
Book Source: Not Known
Rating 7/10
It starts with a body splayed over a train line, for the passengers to see on a cold April morning. That he is the son of a local politician means that it is a hugely delicate case. Detective Inspector Rachel Narey and her partner, photographer and journalist Tony Winter, with a baby on the way, are about to find out things about human nature that even in their long and storied careers, they are yet to even imagine.

During the invesigation, they find out about the Dark Web, and the lucrative world of the macabre souvenir hunters buying relics and items associated with crime and criminals. Narey is on bed-rest, and although (as is the case with crime novels) she is still on the case, investigating from home, whilst Winter does much of the leg work.

The novel is often a bleak read, with the inner lives of people addicted to buying Murderabilia on the dark web reveals itself. When clothes from the murder victim appear on line, Narey and Winter find themselves playing a game of cat and mouse, only to find out that the suspect was an acquaintance of the victim, and not his killer.

The book is well written, with the central relationship being explored in detail, with Narey and Winter being particularly well drawn, although some of the secondary characters have paper thin characterisation, with Police Colleagues being given short shrift by the forth-right Narey.

The ending, when it comes, and the unveiling of the murderer feels rushed, and with the amount of forensic detail and research that had gone into the novel, this felt a shame, however, that is a minor complaint when compared to the novel's strength in good characterisation, plot and an uneasy sense of tension thoughout the story.
Ben Macnair (1st January 2024)