Review: A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood

A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood, January 2015, MIRA, ISBN: 1848453566

Death in Paradise is a successful BBC series in which a British police detective inspector has been sent to run the small police department on the Caribbean island of St Marie. Each week there is another baffling murder case to solve and each episode concludes with all the suspects gathered together in true Poirot-style fashion.

I'm a huge fan of this cosy series which will return to the television with a third iteration of the British Inspector, however A MEDITATION ON MURDER returns to the original DI, Richard Poole. Richard is as strait-laced as they come and wears a suit and tie in the oppressive heat and does not enjoy island life at all and especially sharing his beach-side cabin with a lizard, called Harry.

Richard and his team of Camille, Fidel and Dwayne are summoned to The Retreat as the co-owner, the self-styled Spiritual Guru Aslan, has been found dead in the Meditation Space, a Japanese building with thick paper walls. Five of Aslan's students were locked in the building with him and one, Julia, immediately confesses to Aslan's murder.

Richard is unconvinced that Julia is the guilty party and so the team continue to investigate Aslan and the five guests. Information is slowly uncovered about Aslan and some surprising connections to his guests mean that everyone had a motive to kill him.

As with the tv series, there is lots of recapping – going over “what do we know so far” but we do get to know a little more about Richard and he has a couple of escapades which wouldn't make it to the tv screen in the time limit of a one hour show.

I enjoyed this outing and will read the other two books currently available (with a fourth due in May December 2018). I should say that the author, Robert Thorogood, is the creator of the show, so who better to write these unseen episodes. If you enjoy traditional mysteries and haven't seen the show or if you are a fan of the show then give this one a try.

Karen Meek, August 2017.

Death in Paradise - the book deal

One of my comfort tv series, is the BBC's Death in Paradise which has starred Ben Miller as DI Richard Poole in its first two series. The new series which began this week, sees a major change - and one I haven't brought myself to watch yet...(sniff).

However, a publishing deal just announced, means fans of Richard Poole will be able to spend a bit more time with him. From Book2Book:

MIRA, Harlequin (UK) Ltd's commercial fiction imprint, today announces that it has won the rights to three crime novels by 'Death in Paradise' creator Robert Thorogood.

The three novels will take inspiration from the hit BBC show but will be original stories and will feature Richard Poole as the lead protagonist amongst other show favourites.

'Death in Paradise' is a clever, witty murder-mystery drama set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint-Marie. The first two series followed the investigations of uptight Met police officer Richard Poole, played by Ben Miller, who first arrived to investigate the murder of his colleague and ended up staying on the idyllic – if slightly dangerous – island. The third series kicked off with a bang on Tuesday 14th January when Poole left the series and new detective DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) arrived to replace him.

Thorogood says, "I've been a passionate reader of murder mysteries my whole life, and in many respects 'Death in Paradise' has always been my homage to the queen of the genre, Agatha Christie. As the TV show evolves I am thrilled that MIRA are letting me bring Richard and Camille back together again. I can't wait to see them once more outwitting the very many murderers that live on Saint-Marie."

Harlequin will publish the first novel in hardback in January 2015, with the paperback edition following in June 2015.