Book Spotlight and Excerpt: The Custard Corpses By M J Porter

A delicious 1940s mystery.

Birmingham, England, 1943.

While the whine of the air raid sirens might no longer be rousing him from bed every night, a two-decade-old unsolved murder case will ensure that Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is about to suffer more sleepless nights.

Young Robert McFarlane’s body was found outside the local church hall on 30th September 1923. But, his cause of death was drowning, and he’d been missing for three days before his body was found. No one was ever arrested for the crime. No answers could ever be given to the grieving family. The unsolved case has haunted Mason ever since.

But, the chance discovery of another victim, with worrying parallels, sets Mason, and his constable, O’Rourke, on a journey that will take them back over twenty-five years, the chance to finally solve the case, while all around them the uncertainty of war continues, impossible to ignore.

EXCERPT

Sam walked through the revolving door; his eyes focused on the building he was entering. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this. Not at all. The rumble of a passing train, almost overhead, made him flinch, the sound far too much like that of the aircraft of the enemy. He tried not to wince as the more comforting smell of the burning coal followed behind.

“Good day,” the man behind the high desk spoke immediately on seeing them, startling upright at the sight of two police officers, even if they wore less intimidating hats than the usual curved ones. His accent was smooth, although Sam detected the hint of a London drawl beneath it.

The man was no more than twenty-five, blond hair covering his forehead, although Sam detected a scar running deep beneath the hairline. Evidently another injured soldier, sailor or airman.

“Good day. My name’s Chief Inspector Mason. I was hoping to speak to someone about old copies of your magazine, the very first editions, from 1938.”

“Ah, you’ll need to speak to Harry Underhill about that. If you wait here, I’ll go and see if he’s available. Where are you from?” And his scared face wrinkled with consternation.

“Erdington, close to Birmingham,” Sam clarified when the man didn’t recognise the name.

“Right. Just hold on a moment.” And he walked from behind his desk and towards a staircase, to the far side of the room.

He and O’Rourke stood in silence. They’d exhausted their conversation during the train journey, choosing a carriage where they were alone and could talk about the case, even as they’d slipped by the ruin of Coventry. Sam hadn’t been able to stop himself from staring at the devastated city.

Of course, he’d read about the destructive attacks on the fine city, the fire that had destroyed the ancient cathedral, but it had been quite another thing to see it. Everywhere he’d looked, there’d been broken buildings, and that had just been riding through Coventry on the train. He’d spared a thought to all those who’d died, especially the nine constables from the local police.

Sam had thought the attacks on Erdington had been terrifying enough, but there was little of Coventry that remained standing, even now, over a year since the worse attack.

 Buy Links:

 Amazon UK   Amazon US   Amazon CA    Amazon AU   Universal Link

¸.•*´¨)✯ ¸.•*¨) ✮ ( ¸.•´✶

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M J Porter writes historical fiction set before 1066. Usually.

This is M J's first foray into the historical mystery genre and the, relatively recent, twentieth century.

M J writes A LOT, you've been warned.

 CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

Website   Blog   Twitter   Linked-In   Pinterest   Instagram   BookBub   Goodreads   Tumblr

Amazon Author Page