Book review - Whisky From Small Glasses, by Denzil Meyrick

This detective thriller from a recently emerged new author is both cleverly thought out and deftly executed. Am unidentified dead woman is found washed up on the shore of a small community. As the investigation into her identity and death develops, we see in tandem with it the drawing out of the tormented relationship between the detective and his wife; a classically dysfunctional marriage, where a strong mutual love is damaged and obscured by layer upon layer of misunderstanding and miscommunication.

The work is gritty and realistic, with the pungency of the language used by the investigating police contributing to a grainy depiction of police life that I found most believable. Along the way, texture and interest are added by cameo portraits of local characters, all drawn with loving attention to detail.

I did think there could have been a little less insistence on textual depiction of the Scots accent. Most people know what a heavy Scots accent sounds like; I felt a hint here and there would have been sufficient to evoke its rich sounds, rather than a Dickensian adherence to phonetic spellings that in its extent was a little irritating, at least to this reader.

All round a most promising debut and I look forward with pleasure to further DCI Daley cases.