Name: The Black Country
ISBN: 9780399159336

Alex Grecian

When members of a prominent coal-mining family go missing, Scotland Yard's Murder Squad teammates Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith investigate dark secrets and realize that the family's village is slowly sinking into underground mines.

The Black Country

Alex Grecian's The Black Country sees the Scotland Yard Murder Squad return in a gruesome historical thriller. When members of a prominent family disappear from a coal-mining village - and a human eyeball is discovered in a bird's nest - the local constable sends for help from Scotland Yard's new Murder Squad. Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith respond, but they have no idea what they're about to get into. The villagers have intense, intertwined histories. Everybody bears a secret. Superstitions abound. And the village itself is slowly sinking into the mines beneath it. Not even the arrival of forensics pioneer Dr. Bernard Kingsley seems to help. In fact, the more the three of them investigate, the more they realize they may never be allowed to leave. . . . From The Yard author Alex Grecian comes The Black Country- a horrifying journey into the darkest backwoods of Victorian Britain. The Black Country is guaranteed to appeal to fans of recent Ripper TV dramas (BBC's Ripper Street, ITV's Whitechapel) as well as Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films. Praise for Alex Grecian: 'Will keep you riveted from page one' Jeffrey Deaver 'Outstanding. If Charles Dickens isn't somewhere clapping his hands for this, Wilkie Collins surely is.' The New York Times Book Review Alex Grecian has worked for an ad agency on accounts for Harley-Davidson, Cub Foods, and The Great American Smokeout, before returning to writing fiction full time and raising his son. Alex is the author of the long-running and critically acclaimed comic book series Proof, and he lives in Topeka, Kansas, with his wife and son. The Yard is his first novel.

Scotland Yard Murder Squad

Colleen

4 Stars

*A creepy mystery that balances elements of classic detective fiction with original ideas*


I ended up reading two Historical Mystery series around the same time: Scotland’s Murder Squad and Barker & Llewelyn. Although I enjoyed both, having read at least the first two of each, I found the former more original while the latter was too much of a Sherlock knock-off. 

It had been a while since I read The Yard, so I did have to dust off some cobwebs of who certain characters were. But I quickly got into the flow of the story and easily plowed through it.

The story isn’t overly gory, but it may be worth looking into the content warnings for this as it deals with some tough subjects. I can’t say more than that without spoilers.

The storyline was more straightforward than the first book. Which wasn’t a bad thing, because the first one was a bit… elaborate. The sequel still had the “interlude” flashback scenes, but since I knew what to expect, they were not so confusing as in the first book. The more streamlined story made the plot flow quicker. 

The setting was also different from the first book. Instead of busy London, this installment took place in a small, rural town in the British Midlands where Day and Hammersmith had to deal with an entirely different situation. 

Overall, I felt that The Black Country improved upon its predecessor while still maintaining the elements that made the first book stand out. I look forward to continuing on with the series.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

I just finished reading this for the 2nd time.  I wanted to dive back into this series after getting confused and thinking he was a different author, lol.  I am not disappointed to have read this, because it has been nine years since the first time, and I did not remember much of it.  It is still an excellent read, and now I have familiarized myself with the characters again and am eager to read the rest of the series.   