Published by
Canelo, 4 April 2024. ISBN: 978-1-80436714-8 (HB)
I first encountered Alis Hawkins in
her native west Wales – not literally, of course, but in fiction through her
Teifi Valley Coroner series. It’s a landscape which probably hasn’t changed
much since the 19 th century when those books are set – unlike
Oxford, the background for her new series featuring college don Basil Rice and
the militantly aspiring academic Non Vaughan, who supplements her small income
by writing for the local paper.
The
Skeleton Army is the second in that series, and it takes place at a time when
women were very much second-class citizens in the academic world, and the
Salvation Army was beginning its onslaught against the depths ordinary citizens
descend to because of poverty. But in late 19 th century Oxford the
Salvationists aren’t exactly popular, and they find fierce opposition in the
form of the Skeleton Army of the title, who delight in disrupting and heckling
their meetings and parades and often resort to outright violence.
Basil
and Non become involved when Ernie Ayott, a new recruit to the Salvationists,
meets a suspicious end. There is strong evidence that Ernie was murdered by the
Skeletons, and when the editor of Non’s newspaper refuses to allow her to say
so in print, the doughty pair set out to prove it beyond all doubt. Then more
people die, and their investigation becomes more complex and dangerous.
The
result is a knotty mystery set against a hectic and colourful period of
Oxford’s history. Basil has his own issues; convention and the law force him to
hide his sexual orientation, and his former lover won’t leave him alone. Non is
torn between her ambition to be a writer of note and her desire to support the
cause of women in academia. Both are engaging characters, the kind who could
walk off the page into everyday life, as are numerous others including Non’s
ebullient would-be suitor Tarley Askew, Captain Lizzie Lyall of the
Salvationists, and Ernie’s feisty daughter Lucy – and that’s just the good
guys.
A
sharp contrast is drawn between the meagre existence eked out in the slums, and
Non’s cosy lodgings and Basil’s comfortable college life. There’s a richly
drawn sense of place throughout the novel, from the gloomy one-room houses and
grubby pubs of St Thomas’s along the crowded and often dirty streets to the
elegant quarters of the Master of Balliol College.
It’s
a whole different world from the open spaces and fresh air of west Wales, but
every bit as engrossing. I look forward to meeting Non and Basil again soon and
letting myself be drawn into their next enterprise ------ Reviewer: Lynne Patrick
Alis Hawkins is Welsh
by birth, a graduate of Oxford University, and author of the Teifi Valley
Coroner series, set in her native west Wales. She is a founder member of Welsh
writers' collective Crime Cymru and chair of Wales's only crime fiction
festival, Gwyl Crime Cymru. She lives in the Forest of Dean, and regularly
visits both west Wales and Oxford.
https://alishawkins.co.uk
Lynne Patrick has
been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with
short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel.
She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud
to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in
Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.
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