The Last Dance: A Detective Miller case - the first new Billingham series in 20 years

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He is assigned to a new murder case while he is still recovering from the death of his wife (unsolved). Characterization and a deceptively complex, labyrinthine plot make Billingham’s mystery a contender for my mystery of the year (were it not for Kestrel’s brilliant Five Decembers). Alex appears to him now and then and has conversations with him, but as with the good ‘ghost’ stories I’ve read recently, nothing she says actually tells him anything he doesn’t already know.

The opening of the first of this new series by Mark Billingham gives a taste of the style of this book - serious and sardonic - and the setting for the double murders which take place at the Sands Hotel.There is a fine assortment of supporting characters: Miller’s new partner, DS Sara Xiu, his homeless friend Finn and several old friends from the dancing world. It is surmised the intended target was Adrian Cutler, part of the local crime family, and the man next door, IT consultant Barry Shepherd was perhaps a case of mistaken identity. The police department isn’t prepared to look beyond the obvious suspect; for safety’s sake, the three women ought to keep quiet, but they decide to mount their own investigation. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. In fact, it’s his first day back on the job when he’s handed these investigations and assigned a new partner, the enigmatic Sara Xiu.

Big Island, LA connects the dots between a heist gone wrong at a police shooting range and corporate greed and political corruption, leaving a former combat marine and an agoraphobic crime reporter to sort out the mystery.It must be quite scary, writing a brand new series when you have a much loved series character waiting in the wings, judging, biding their time. Xiu doesn’t know whether to take Miller seriously or not, and Miller, for his part, whether Xiu can be trusted.