Two Books by Denzil Meyrick

I had never heard of the Scottish crime fiction novelist Denzil Meyrick until I read of his death online last February. Murder/crime fiction is a genre of novels of which I'm particularly interested in so I downloaded his entire ebook collection - his DCI Jim Daley series contains 12 books.

In March, I read the first two books in that series - Whisky From Small Glasses and The Last Witness. I put Meyrick on my list of writers to read, but things being the way they are, I didn't manage to continue the DCI Jim Daley series until January of this year. Two more books - Dark Suits and Sad Songs and The Rat Stone Serenade.

Having read four in the series, I think I can form a better opinion of the books. The stories are interesting enough and I like the characters, for the most part, but I've mixed feelings on the stories taking place in Scotland. I enjoy reading of the country and Meyrick's description of the scenery and customs of the people. I'm not, however a big fan of Meyrick's putting such a strong Scottish accent into the months of so many of his characters. It makes it a bit difficult for me to follow along at times.

Meyrick wrote the scenes as if he were writing a television program rather than a novel. The scenes jump back and forth at a quick pace......too quick for my tastes. And although the stories are interesting, they do tend to drag on in spots.

As I said, I enjoy his novels over all, although I wouldn't rank him as high as some of my other favorites (Donna Leon comes to mind).