Plot
A small mining community on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
becomes the centre of a mystery when a coal miner ‘accidentally’ dies underground…
After a standard shift down the Oakwood Hills coal mine, someone notices that Joe Murphy has not checked out. Nobody knows where Joe is, and the bullying mine manager assumes he has gone home to his beautiful wife without giving notice.
When Mary Murphy answers the door to a mine training officer, calling to see if Joe has returned home, panic sets in. There is no explanation for his absence, and her world turns upside-down in a matter of seconds.
His Majesty’s District Inspector Ken Wrigley sets out to investigate the situation and it is not long before the police are involved. When Joe’s body is found, it is clear that this is more than an accident.
As the investigation deepens, dangerous secrets rise to the surface…
- Who is Lily Daykin, and why was she so upset when she heard of Joe’s death?
- How is the murder connected to her apparent suicide and the premature birth of her child?
- And eighteen years later, will the truth about the killer who devastated the community finally be revealed?
Review – contains spoilers
Geoff Green, the author, uses his own knowledge of the mining industry to weave a tale of murder and mystery. The book includes descriptions of the mine, its machinery and its use and misuse.
(Spoiler alert)
I liked the way the deaths, for there are more than one, were dismissed before vital pieces of evidence showed them to be murders.
What I wasn’t so happy about was the final reveal. This comes eighteen years later and is not the result of an in depth investigation by a detective who can’t let the matter rest. Instead it is a deathbed confession of what actually took place and was missed.
In Coal Blood is available from https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/as-seen-on-the-solve-the-murder-blog and Amazon, although I bought it at the DH Lawrence museum in Eastwood.
