Death Sentence (Damien Boyd)

[Ian Adams]

?Death Sentence? By Damien Boyd (2016)


The Wessex Cave Club play host to a murder in Swildon?s Hole in this fictional crime mystery. Well, I assume it?s a fiction. The sixth book in the ?Detective Inspector Nick Dixon? novels, we are led through the skulduggeries and murderous actions of a Canadian caver who has taken up residence (as a fugitive) in the Wessex Cave Hut. Perhaps not the best place to hide having drowned a female lawyer in sump 1 of Swildon?s Hole.

I came upon this simple treat having read the first book in the series of eight. For these novels, the author takes the time and trouble to properly research his crime plateau. In this, he accurately portrays the Wessex Cave Club (well, their tangible assets rather than the members) and takes us caving up to (and into) the first sump.

The plot itself is a little disappointing and stands out from other best sellers as not having the same depth. The reader cannot solve the crime until late in the story as crucial information is withheld. In other modern crime novels by esteemed authors, there are clues (usually from the outset) in plain sight. Not so in ?Death Sentence?. My other criticism would be that the plot and characters are very wooden. I would suggest that it is akin to comparing a television episode of ?Juliet Bravo? to the Hollywood production of ?Sanctum?.

The things is, I do like Juliet Bravo.



Ian

 

[Jenny P]

BCL definitely doesn't have this one!

 

[JohnMCooper]

I bought a copy of this after reading the review in Descent 253 (December 2016 / January 2017). Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. There is a copy in the Wessex CC Library.

 

[David Rose]

Swildons sump 1 is a stupid place to leave the body of a murdered person. It would be discovered very quickly, and there's a good chance other cavers would have spotted the killer and his victim on the way down the cave. The end of Kingsdale Master Cave on a quiet weekday would be much better, if you're looking for an easy trip on which to slay someone.

 

[Graigwen]

Swildons sump 1 is a stupid place to leave the body of a murdered person. It would be discovered very quickly, and there's a good chance other cavers would have spotted the killer and his victim on the way down the cave. The end of Kingsdale Master Cave on a quiet weekday would be much better, if you're looking for an easy trip on which to slay someone.

Old mines would offer much more scope for body hiding than natuaral caves.

Gwaith Body in Cwm Bychan has already been used for this purpose.

.

 

[Duncan Price]

.... The end of Kingsdale Master Cave on a quiet weekday would be much better, if you're looking for an easy trip on which to slay someone.

Old mines would offer much more scope for body hiding than natural caves.

Gwaith Body in Cwm Bychan has already been used for this purpose.

Am I the only reader concerned that two forum members have given the idea so much thought?

 

[cavemanmike]

Am I the only reader concerned that two forum members have given the idea so much thought

Worrying about the mind set of cavers and mine explorers

 

[ILT]

Whilst not murdered there was a body discovered in Frodsham Cave (mined as well as natural) a few years ago. Though found about six weeks after the last known sighting of the deceased the actual cause of death couldn't be ascertained due to the decomposition of the body. Always seems so easy in films.

 

[Graigwen]

Am I the only reader concerned that two forum members have given the idea so much thought?

A single (!) sentence from a well known lover of the natural landscape:

"The western slope goes down uneventfully between Broad Crag and Great End to the Corridor Route and the glory of the fell is its excessively steep and rough fall directly from the cairn eastwards into the wilderness of upper Eskdale: a chaotic and desolate scene set at a precipitous gradient, a frozen avalanche of crags and stones, much of it unexplored and uncharted, wild in the extreme, and offering a safe refuge for escaped convicts or an ideal depository for murdered corpses."

A. W. Wainwright. "Scafell Pike 9" in "The Souther Fells", Book Four of his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

.

 

[yrammy]

Dump the body in Critchlows - not many people mad enough to go in there so it would not be found for years LOL.

 

[Katie]

Until a very determined Patterdale terrier goes in after a fox and Cave rescue get the pleasure of over 5 hours digging in mostly fox poo to get it out again!

 

[Ian Ball]

Not the Dark that Kills You by Dare Talvitie, is a great read.

 

[Martin Laverty]

re: Not the Dark that Kills You -

Dirty deeds amongst a team of quarrelsome cavers in a newly opened cave in Wales - whatever next?

Could there be a sequel involving official skulduggery and concrete?

 

[Roger W]

You mean there might be somebody under all that reinforced concrete?

 

[Martin Laverty]

Shush! I think I'll have to dead bat an awkward question like that, Roger...