Vicky Newham has already had great success with Turn a Blind Eye with the TV rights to Playground Entertainment who produced The Missing. This is the first in a two book deal with HQ featuring a new detective, DI Maya Rahman. Having read this debut novel, I’m not at all surprised.
DI Maya Rahman has returned from Bangladesh following the death of her brother and so it is testament to her work ethic and her love of the community that she serves, Tower Hamlets in East London, that when she gets a call about the murder of the headmistress at her former school, Mile End High School, she is straight onto the case. The first thing you need to know is this is a detective who is smart as well as hard-working and loyal.
One of the most appealing things about this book is the setting, the cultural diversity of the area allows the author to give these characters the type of back stories which aren’t often on offer in contemporary crime fiction. Best of all though whilst never minimising the difference in culture the author steers clear of stereotypes and instead each character, whatever their background, is a real person, as complex as humans tend to be. As Vicky Newham lived and taught in a school in the area for many years, this isn’t surprising, but it is refreshing.
Back to the story – the murder happened in the school and there is something always appealing about this setting although the focus is more on the teaching and support staff than the pupils the murder happening on a training day. Once the scenes of crime investigators arrive a cryptic note is found alongside the body of the headmistress, Linda Gibson. It contains a Buddhist precept, “I shall abstain from taking the ungiven”
From this Maya works with her team to discover as much as they can about the dead woman, the school and the Buddhist precept. Maya works closest with DS Maguire who despite the Irish name is an Australian who is missing his aborigine wife and two children who are still in Australia, waiting for the right time to join him in Tower Hamlets, and the two are getting to know each other in this book. There is a nice lack of police politics within the book with the political angle squarely on the local area, chiefly the education department, which to my mind is as it should be and makes for a far more interesting read. The tension is raised by threats from the local education department that if the killer isn’t found, and quickly, that the school will be shut down and that could spell disaster for the unsupervised children, and by default the local community and the police.
It will be no surprise that there is another death and matters from the past that need resolving before DI Rhaman and DS Maguire are able to get their man or woman!
This was an engaging crime fiction read, a great start to a new series which it has a real contemporary feel. I might have needed a bit of persuading that the motive was sound but overall this was a solid police procedural which demonstrated that the writer understands both plotting and timing which makes such a difference to the readability. I definitely want to revisit both the characters and the area again and will be watching eagerly for the next in the series.
I’d like to say a big thank you to Vicky Newham for sending me a copy of Turn a Blind Eye. This review is my unbiased thanks to her for introducing me to the strong and interesting protagonist of this new series.
First Published UK: 5 April 2018
Publisher: HQ
No of Pages: 384
Genre: Crime Fiction – Series
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Ooh I love school related crime/thriller books. I wonder what that says about me as a teacher?! Fab review.
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This sounds good! I’m looking forward to the adaptation 🙂
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It does sound like a fine beginning to a good series, Cleo. I like the academic context, the main character, and the premise. And I do like a multicultural setting. This one’s ticking a lot of my boxes!
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You make this one sound very good. I, too, like the multi-cultural angle and also the education info. I’ll probably have to wait around for this for a bit. However, it’s not like I’m lacking books. Ha!
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The setting and the school aspect did give this one a very fresh perspective – I hope you enjoy it when it lands!
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This title really appeals to me. Thanks for sharing your review.
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Sounds like another good one! Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for this review (sans spoilers) and setting up my interest in this author as well.
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I normally restrict myself to your 5-stars only, but this one sounds good and very much my kind of thing. I too prefer the political angle to be about the setting of the crime rather than the police, I’m glad the murder victim was a teacher rather than a pupil, and you intrigued me with smart, hard-working and loyal. Dare I ask… tense??
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It’s a mixture that goes alongside the multiple viewpoints… I liked the level of local politics in this one that was influenced by the multicultural setting.
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I like the different strands coming together in this story to make it an interesting cohesive whole.
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I like that while it takes place at a school, the focus is more on the adults than the students. Sounds like a good one.
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