"The Norfolk Herald's started calling whoever's been taking them The Wherryman."
"For God's sake, " Tanner groaned, rolling his eyes. "I suppose they've been saying he'some sort of ghostly apparition who spends the nights wandering the Broads, luring children from their beds with some sort of magic flute."
"This one supposedly sails around in an old wooden boat, with what they describe as having a torn blood-red sail".
DI Tanner is back! Just a week earlier I reviewed Horsey Mere by David Blake. The Wherryman is the latest standalone book in British Detective Tanner Murder Mystery Series. Following the tragic chain of events and the devastating personal loss (read book no.5), Tanner leaves the police and goes travelling.
Two years later, he is back on the Broads. "Having spent the last twenty-one months at sea, drifting aimlessly from port to port, never willing to stay anywhere for more than a few weeks, a large part of him felt as if he was at home".
Having moored his boat on the Broads, Tanner finds the body of the murdered man in the boat next to his own. Not only that, but the victim's 5-year-old daughter is missing.
As he later finds out, there are other misisng children, all taken off boats, and all late in the evening. Nobody seems to notice much, apart from an old boat with a blood-red sail passing by, and then quietly disappearing from view. The local rag calls the mysterious abductor The Wherryman.
Tanner is running out of money, and hopes to be able to come to some sort of arrangement with his old boss Forrester, maybe to work on a short-term contract. His plans are to pay for his car and put something aside for him to disappear back out.
The Broads Tanner left two years previously has changed - it is now the home of the head of the so-called Camden Crime Syndicate, Frank Clayton, who moved here from London. This orgaised crime boss was once considered one of the most dangerous men in London. Apparently he moved to Norfolk "for no other reason than to enjoy a quiet life running a holiday boat hire business".
We observe Tanner confronting his memories, while trying to solve the murders and find the missing children. "He knew this would happen; that his return would summon the unwanted memories he'd worked so hard to suppress, like long-dead spirits, clawing their way out from the depth of hell. Worse were the all-consuming feelings of loss, guilt and regret, that seemed to pile their way behind... But what choice did he have? To remain in exile from a place he loved, for fear of confronting the grief he'd done his best to forget?"
Blake explores the destructive power of grief (not just Tanner's but the other characters as well). Some find redemption, some live with the shadows.
Set within the vibrant waterways of the Norfolk Broads, The Wherryman is full of corkscrew twists and chilling developments. The shocking ending will take your breath away.
Purchase link at Amazon:
Author Bio
Consistently ranked within the top 30 most read authors on Amazon.co.uk, David Blake is a full-time author living in North London. To date he has written eighteen books along with a collection of short stories. He’s currently working on his nineteenth, The Wherryman, which is the next in his series of crime fiction thrillers after Broadland, St. Benet's, Moorings, Three Rivers and Horsey Mere. When not writing, David likes to spend his time mucking about in boats, often in the Norfolk Broads, where his crime fiction books are based.
Social Media Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidBlakeAuthor
Twitter: @DavidDBlake
This post is part of the blog tour.
Many thanks to David Blake and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
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