Tony R Cox is an ex-provincial UK journalist. The Simon Jardine series is based on his memories of the early 70s - the time of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll - when reporters relied on word of mouth and there was no internet, no mobile phones, not even a fax machine.
The plutonium rods that breathed jobs and life into the seaside village of Burrowhead have gone, leaving dereliction, depression and death: a brutal murder in a solitary, underused kids’ playground.
When The Dead Come Calling is a horror story with the occult and crime fiction looming menacingly over an undercurrent of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and a constant battle against a louring climate. In its midst, trying to stay above the threat of mayhem, is Detective Inspector Georgie Strachan, a black policewoman who has chosen to stay as many other inhabitants moved away. Burrowhead still has a police station … just.
The book explores the depressing negativities of a rundown, dying village; a place that would be high on the list of seaside villages to be avoided. But it’s home to her and her redundant engineer husband Fergus. Detective Constable Trish Mackie also lives there and is as much a part of the village as the other inhabitants, all of whom are suspects after the murder of a young psychotherapist. The waters are muddied further by the dead man’s partner/boyfriend being the single, uniformed police constable in the village.
One murder is enough, but when there’s another, and a disembodied eye from the first body is found by Fergus Strachan as he pursues his hobby of archaeology, it’s time to bring in new resources, a detective sergeant from a neighbouring town.
The ‘star’ of this intriguing psychological mystery crime thriller is undoubtedly the weather. Every looming dark cloud, the brightness of the rays of sun behind them, each shaft or drip of rain is described in detail. Burrowhead is definitely not a potential holiday resort: it never stops raining, getting ready to rain, or briefly drying off after yet more rain.
The village is a microcosm of what happens when a small settlement grows rapidly, bringing in new people, new cultures, races and cultures, and then dies quickly, leaving unemployment and depression, and the ignorance and anger of frustrated youth.
When The Dead Come Calling delves into the background and circumstances of a tense, unnerving mystery where personal relationships come under pressure and the ground moves, sometimes literally, for those seeking a solution.
