Rather to Be Pitied - The Second Ds Kite Novel — The Second Ds Kite Novel

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Dim ond ers ychydig fisoedd y bu'r Ditectif Ringyll Julie Kite yn gweithio yng nghanolbarth Cymru cyn iddi wynebu ei hail achos o lofruddiaeth. Canfuwyd corff dyn gan ddisgyblion ysgol. Bydd ymchwil Julie yn ei harwain yn ôl i gartref ei rhieni ym Manceinion ac i ystâd dai yn Blackpool. Nid yw hwn yn achos syml - aiff nifer o bobl ar goll ac aiff yr achos yn fwyfwy cymhleth.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

Newly promoted DS Julie Kite has been in sleepy mid-Wales for mere months when she's faced with her second murder case. A man's body has been found by school kids trekking the Monk's Trod. The trail takes her back north to her parents in Manchester and to a housing estate in Blackpool. It's not a simple case - several people have gone missing and the case gets even more complex.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

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Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography

Jan grew up in Manchester and Derbyshire, spending her formative years on the back of a pony, exploring the hills and moorland around her home. She lived and worked in London and Buckinghamshire for 19 years until moving to Wales in 2005, where she learnt to speak fluent Welsh. Jan has won several writing competitions, including the Allen Raine Short Story competition, the WI Lady Denman Cup, and the Oriel Davies Gallery competition for nature-writing. She has been published in New Welsh Review .

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

Anyone who read and enjoyed Jan Newton’s gripping debut novel, Remember No More , will be delighted to see DS Kite back with a few more tangled mysteries to solve. And they won’t be disappointed. The first body is found on page one and, although Rather to be Pitied otherwise sets off at a steadier pace than its predecessor, it soon finds sixth gear. Rather like Kay Greenhalgh, the fabulous forensic pathologist, in her Alfa Romeo, who navigates both the winding roads of mid-Wales and the tiniest of physical clues with impressive speed and accuracy. The whole team is back, centring around the recently appointed detective sergeant, Julie Kite, and her husband, Adam, who, we learned last time, have moved from Manchester to reboot their marriage after Adam’s dalliance with a fellow schoolteacher. While Julie is dealing with more bodies found in unlikely settings, Adam is upping his health-and-fitness game by quietly turning them both vegan. This is not to Julie’s liking, but at least the marriage seems to be on more solid ground. Until Adam confesses that he thinks he is being stalked. But all of this is by-the-by domestic trivia compared with the mounting confusion around the murder investigation. The first surprise is that the body, initially thought to be that of a young man, turns out to be ‘an extremely emaciated female of perhaps eighteen to twenty-five years.’ There is evidence of multiple fractures, both recent and historical, and she appears to have been killed by two heavy blows to the head. She has also had a child, and been a serious heroin addict. The only clue to her identity is a small signet ring bearing the initials ‘CRH’. It isn’t much to go on. In addition to the body – and later, bodies – the detective team is faced with a bewildering number of missing people who might or might not be connected with the crime. Mrs Pritchard’s boringly respectable husband, James, has resigned from his job, emptied out their bank accounts, and disappeared without so much as a by-your-leave as they approach a quiet retirement. And, two hundred miles away, the much younger but no less steadfast conveyancing solicitor, John Slaithwaite, has found himself similarly abandoned by his gorgeous wife, Lizzie. Could there be a connection? And who are the mysterious incomers, who’ve bought a two-thousand-acre farm in the middle of nowhere? They appear to be farming alpacas, with the assistance of a small group of silent men who are rarely seen off the farm, and only ever in the company of one of their ‘employers’. In a world where everybody usually knows everybody else’s business, there are strange goings-on that rattle people’s sense of security. Once again, Jan Newton delivers an engaging narrative, with such a strong sense of place that you could happily take the book out there and follow the DS Kite trail. But be warned – the Elan Valley might never seem as safe and tranquil again.