It is easy to recognise the screenwriting chops (Broadchurch, Torchwood) of author Chris Chibnall. This gripping debut is a crime writing masterclass of misdirection and theatre, with the ensemble of characters in the picturesque Dorset village of Fleetcombe, straight out of a Saturday evening crime show.
The first chapter of Death at the White Hart opens with the gruesome discovery of the near-naked body of a man tied to a chair in the middle of a road, unsettlingly staged with a stag’s antlers on his head. Be prepared. The pace has been set and it rarely lets up.
Ambitious Detective Nicola Bridge has recently returned to the seaside village of her childhood, hoping to make a fresh start. Clever, resourceful and determined, she understands how closely the villagers hold their secrets. Together with her disarmingly attractive younger partner, DC Harry Ward, they peel back the layers of village life and when the victim is revealed as Jim Tiernan, the larger-than-life landlord of one of the village’s two pubs, it becomes clear that nearly everyone in Fleetcombe has something to hide.
Chibnall’s storytelling is seamless, blending police procedural with rich character work and a creeping sense of unease. The small-town setting is beautifully drawn, brimming with secrets and tensions that keep you guessing, and the plot is full of twists that will have you second-guessing your theories right until the very end.
Fans of Broadchurch will devour this. It’s tense, clever, and completely addictive.
Unsurprisingly, Death at the White Hart has already been optioned for television, so get your hands on it for a cracking read it before it hits the screen.
Reviewed by Maryanne Vagg
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher Antony Chibnall is an English television writer and producer, best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning ITV mystery-crime drama ‘Broadchurch’ and as the third showrunner of the 2005 revival of the BBC sci-fi series ‘Doctor Who’.
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