Murder in the Countryside

Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell is the first in a series of detective novels set in a small, rural village called Little Sky. Jake Jackson was a high-flying detective in London and has inherited a property from an uncle just as his marriage ends. He decides to make a new life for himself by renovating his house and growing vegetables in his very large garden. His peaceful existence is threatened when a village treasure hunt results in the discovery of the bones of a woman killed ten years previously.

This is a cosy crime novel set in a small village, with its own traditions, which dislikes newcomers and visitors. Jake is living very much “off the grid” and communicates with others via letter rather than telephone or email – in fact, I had to check on a couple of occasions that the story was set in the present day because it fits more easily into the 1950s. I didn’t find any of this very realistic but you need to accept it in order to appreciate the story.

Jake becomes embroiled in village life and eventually in the police investigation. As part of his adjustment to village life he also becomes involved romantically with the local vet. Jake, the vet and his friend the police officer are well portrayed but I did find that the minor characters seemed to veer into stereotypes. There is a lot of good description of the countryside and the property which Jake has inherited, and this made a good setting for the story.

This is an easy to read crime novel which is very much at the cosy end of the spectrum, although when the crime is uncovered some elements of it are rather nasty. I did think that the author, maybe unintentionally, used a lot of stereotypes and tropes from Golden Age detective fiction but it is possible that I am hyper-aware of these because I read a lot of crime novels. The mystery in this book is well enough solved but I did feel that the author was really writing about Jake and his adjustment to his new life, perhaps because he intends to write more books about the village. Despite what I have said I certainly didn’t dislike this book and would read another by the same author.