How to categorise this book? I’m going with a dark comedy thriller. The story takes place in sleazy London in the dying days of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership and is set around the gay clubs and bars. Featuring two seemingly ordinary men who turn out to be serial killers (Clifton Gentle and a copycat) and the bumptious DCI Dave Hicks. Hicks is probably the most unlikely and unlikeable detective you are likely to come across – egotistical, loves his Mums cooking and a master of unwitting spoonerisms.
Briefly, When body parts keep turning up Hicks is allocated the job of finding the killer. What he doesn’t realise is that he is looking for two men, the original killer and a copycat. He attempts to solve the case by using hilarious press conferences whilst invoking the spirits of the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.
It is told in the first person by Hicks and the two killers and whilst explicit about the gay scene does not dwell on the actual killings and disposal of the body parts. This is a delightful and often funny book which had me sniggering a lot and laughing out loud at times, despite the very dark and gory scenes. Definitely worth a read – Lynda Checkley