Far fetched but an enjoyable enough read....
You may know A.K.Turner better as the author who writes under the pen name of Anya Lipska with her ‘Kiszka and Kershaw’ thriller series.
“Body Language” is her first crime novel under her real name and features Camden mortuary assistant Cassie Raven.
When a body comes into Cassie’s mortuary that she recognises as her old friend and former teacher Mrs E, she is convinced that the ruling of death as an accident doesn’t feel right. Does she trust her instinct and investigate the death herself? With her deep rooted distrust of the police, she is determined to serve justice for her old mentor on her own but is she putting herself in danger? Will DS Phyllida Flyte who suspects Cassie as being involved in another incident at the morgue, start to come around to her way of thinking?
Although this story does require some suspension of disbelief - with Cassie being able to hear thoughts from the dead - this was quite an enjoyable read. I didn’t like Cassie at first, she came across as a rather unusual character with quite a unique personality but I do have to admit, she did grow on me as the story developed. DS Flyte on the other hand was an extremely strange and unique police detective which I’m not convinced was actually realistic in today’s policing.
The plot was certainly entertaining enough, though there were a few ‘eye rolling’ and ‘raised eyebrow’ moments which I’m not sure were needed in the narrative. I find it hard to believe that ‘fishcakes’ as an exclamation used by a Detective Sergeant, would be a viable and authentic use of language but I assume the author was trying to create a character, who was not the norm and had her own distinctive ways.
The pace picked up towards the end and ventured into a decent crime thriller and although “Body Language” was a tad far fetched it was entertaining enough in its own right.
An abundance of graphic mortuary descriptions and anatomical detail just proves the extensive research carried out by the author. If you’re squeamish or recently bereaved this may not be for you but I found the process of post mortems and the delicate handling of dead bodies, an overall informative read.
3 stars
“Body Language” is her first crime novel under her real name and features Camden mortuary assistant Cassie Raven.
When a body comes into Cassie’s mortuary that she recognises as her old friend and former teacher Mrs E, she is convinced that the ruling of death as an accident doesn’t feel right. Does she trust her instinct and investigate the death herself? With her deep rooted distrust of the police, she is determined to serve justice for her old mentor on her own but is she putting herself in danger? Will DS Phyllida Flyte who suspects Cassie as being involved in another incident at the morgue, start to come around to her way of thinking?
Although this story does require some suspension of disbelief - with Cassie being able to hear thoughts from the dead - this was quite an enjoyable read. I didn’t like Cassie at first, she came across as a rather unusual character with quite a unique personality but I do have to admit, she did grow on me as the story developed. DS Flyte on the other hand was an extremely strange and unique police detective which I’m not convinced was actually realistic in today’s policing.
The plot was certainly entertaining enough, though there were a few ‘eye rolling’ and ‘raised eyebrow’ moments which I’m not sure were needed in the narrative. I find it hard to believe that ‘fishcakes’ as an exclamation used by a Detective Sergeant, would be a viable and authentic use of language but I assume the author was trying to create a character, who was not the norm and had her own distinctive ways.
The pace picked up towards the end and ventured into a decent crime thriller and although “Body Language” was a tad far fetched it was entertaining enough in its own right.
An abundance of graphic mortuary descriptions and anatomical detail just proves the extensive research carried out by the author. If you’re squeamish or recently bereaved this may not be for you but I found the process of post mortems and the delicate handling of dead bodies, an overall informative read.
3 stars