Troubadour Highlights Spring 2020
Editor’s Pick
The Final Straw, Jenny Francis
There’s nothing I like better than a series. Getting to know a character, their flaws and strengths, how they work and how they grow and develop makes a fascinating backdrop to the gritty scenes played out in the Charlie Moon series. We’ve followed the Detective Inspector through gruesome murders and complex crimes, and we join him again here as he attempts to solve a murder from the past. A prisoner is hanging in his cell; something that leads Moon to a murder that happened in the 1970s involving a student stabbed to death and her body dumped. How does this lead to suspected corruption and dark secrets? I have to admit, I was intrigued. If there’s one thing that Jenny Francis does extremely well, it’s putting you right in the middle of the action, mingling with the protagonists, be they good guys or bad. Having that sense of reality in fiction, so that you smell the strong coffee or sense the simmering frustration, is a gift.
I also really enjoyed the tension that plays through the story, and how nimbly Francis weaves all the threads together to create a climax that has a surprise sting in the tail... I wasn’t expecting the twist! I also loved seeing Moon and his journalist friend working together, as all too often, journalists and the police are portrayed as enemies. If there is anything that elevates a piece of fiction beyond its genre, it’s when it has an underlying message hidden in the high-stakes story – and I mean hidden so that it doesn’t take away from what some readers may perceive as just straight crime. This has been a running theme throughout the Charlie Moon series and, if readers are canny, they will see this happen again in this layered story of murder, mystery and mounting suspicions that only DI Charlie Moon can solve.
All in all, I thoroughly recommend this thrilling new book by Jenny Francis, one that complements her previous books. If you like a seemingly tangled web of clues that leads to a place you may not want to go, or multifaceted characters with snappy dialogue and a consistent pace, this book will be for you!