Over My Dead Body continues the series that the author hopes will see William Warwick rise to be Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. William graduated from London University in 1982. He’d wanted to be a detective ever since he solved the mystery of the missing Mars bars at the age of eight.
After 16 weeks at Hendon Police College and two years on the beat, he sat and passed the detective examination. His early mentor, Constable Fred Yates with 28 years of service under his belt, introduced William to the ABC of policing: accept nothing, believe no-one, and challenge everything.
William (now a detective chief inspector) has agreed to lead a cold case unit to deal with unsolved murders. Before doing so, he’s taking a few days to rest and recuperate: travelling to New York with his wife on the cruise liner, Alden. There’s a death on board and William suspects murder. He solves the case before the liner reaches New York.
Five cases are re-examined by the newly formed investigation unit: a male who police are convinced murdered his wife after taking out a million-pound insurance policy on her life; a loan shark whose clients ‘disappear’ if they cannot repay; a bouncer at a club who killed a club member ‘accidentally’ but the police suspect premeditation; and two rival gang leaders both suspected of multiple killings.
The beginning of Over My Dead Body is intriguing; the ending is exciting. In-between, the pace slows as there are too many meetings to discuss case developments.
It’s not a literary masterpiece. It’s an old-fashioned yarn involving goodies and baddies written in an easy-to-read style.
Reviewed by Clive Hodges
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Published in 114 countries and more than 47 languages, with more than 750,000 5* reviews, Jeffrey Archer is firmly established as one of the world’s bestselling authors, with international sales passing 275 million copies.
He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (nineteen times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries).
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