Harry Bowers is convinced his wife is having an affair. After a confrontation with the man in question, Harry disappears. DS Sunita Roy and DCI Gavin Roscoe begin to investigate but is Harry missing or murdered?
Murder on Oxford Lane is the first in a new series and introduces us to two new lead detectives.
I found myself instantly drawn into the plot. We begin with the incident where Harry confronts his wife’s lover and I felt that the writing style made the characters and location come to life. The detectives are then introduced when they are informed that Harry has gone missing. A note seems to suggest he went voluntarily and his business dealings offer an alternative to a personal motive for leaving. I liked the mix of twists in the case alongside getting to know the detectives and their personal circumstances.
Sunita has personal issues as well as an ex boyfriend stalks her. She doesn’t want to alert her boss as she feels her position within the team is precarious due to her race and gender. She is obviously reluctant to appear weak within the team and is anxious not to let her personal life interfere with her commitment to the case. Gavin is also really easy to like. He has a settled home life which is a bit unusual for a detective!
Murder on Oxford Lane is a very enjoyable murder mystery and a great start to a new series.
Murder On Oxford Lane
The peace of a Midlands village is upset when local businessman Harry Bowers doesn’t return from choir practice. More concerned than the man’s own wife, it would seem, investigating officer Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy becomes convinced he has met a sinister end.
There is no trace of the man – just a litany of evidence of an ailing marriage and a nose-diving business venture.
In charge of her first serious case, DS Roy will struggle to win the respect of her colleagues – in particular, her Brummie boss, DCI Gavin Roscoe. All that whilst fighting off the attentions of an increasingly desperate suitor.
Who had it in for the chorister? And is Roy tough enough to break down the defences and prejudices of Middle England? MURDER ON OXFORD LANE is the first book in a series of crime fiction titles by Tony Bassett.
Tony Bassett, a former Fleet Street journalist, has written a gripping series of crime novels set in the Midlands. The second book in this Midlands crime series, The Crossbow Stalker, will be released shortly. Tony decided to set this string of novels in Warwickshire and Worcestershire after spending many happy years working as a newspaper reporter in Worcester.
He first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he and a friend produced a magazine called the Globe at their junior school in Sevenoaks, Kent.
At Hull University, Tony was named student journalist of the year in 1971 in a competition run by Time-Life magazine and went onto become a national newspaper journalist, mainly working for the Sunday People in both its newsroom and investigations department.
His very first book to be published, the crime novel Smile Of The Stowaway, was released in December 2018. It concerns a Kent couple who harbour a stowaway and then battle to clear his name when he is charged with murder.
Then, in March 2020, the spy novel The Lazarus Charter, was released. It involves foreign agents operating in the UK. The book has kindly been endorsed by Marina Litvinenko, widow of the murdered Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, and by Stan and Caroline Sturgess, parents of the innocent mother-of-three poisoned with novichok in Salisbury in 2018.
Tony, who has written at least four other novels which are as yet unpublished, has five grown-up children. He is a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. He lives in South-East London with his partner Lin.
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