‘You were desperate for a day or two to catch your breath or even just looking to recharge your batteries after a major inquiry and someone decided to poison their husband or stab a passer-by because they didn’t like their trainers. People were so bloody inconsiderate, sometimes.’
– The Last Dance
[ About The Last Dance ]
Meet Detective Miller: unique, unconventional, and criminally underestimated…
He’s a detective, a dancer, he has no respect for authority - and he’s the best hope Blackpool has for keeping criminals off the streets. Meet Detective Declan Miller.
A double murder in a seaside hotel sees a grieving Miller return to work to solve what appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Just why were two completely unconnected men taken out?
Despite a somewhat dubious relationship with both reality and his new partner, can the eccentric, offbeat Miller find answers where his colleagues have found only an impossible puzzle?
[ My Review ]
The Last Dance by Mark Billingham publishes May 25th with Sphere Books. It is the first new series from Mark Billingham in 20 years introducing us to Detective Declan Miller, a man who has been through the ringer in recent times.
Miller is returning to work early from compassionate leave. Sitting around his home alone with the shadows and his pet rats, Fred and Ginger, for company is frustrating and lacks any stimulation. Aware that coming into the office unexpectedly will draw a few remarks and uncomfortable silences, Miller breaks the ice with his unconventional humour. After a meeting with his boss, he is soon back in the swing of things following an emergency call from a nearby hotel. A double homicide, with two dead bodies discovered in two adjacent bedrooms in a hotel by the cleaner, is now top of the agenda. With his new partner, DS Sara Xiu, the duo immediately look to the obvious criminal connection and a possible case of mistaken identity.
As the trail leads the team down multiple dead-ends, Xiu begins to realise that working with Miller will be quite the experience. Miller is not one to play by the rules and his unorthodox methods leave his superiors challenged. But Miller gets results, albeit using some alternative methods that skim the edges of the law. Miller is a non-conformist but it is his oddities and rule-bending that opens up investigations for him.
Miller uses sarcasm and wit as a tool of his trade but underneath this humorous front is a man grieving and looking for justice. In parallel with his current case, he starts to unravel a few bits about his wife’s untimely death, leaving the series very much open for book 2.
Having been at an event last year with Mark Billingham in conversation with John Connolly at The Spike Island Literary Festival, it’s very evident that Mark Billingham’s personality, and his past as a stand-up comedian, filter straight through to his writing. As I was immersed in The Last Dance I was reminded of my all time favourite Irish cop Bunny McGarry, the creation of another ex-comedian, Caimh McDonnell. Bunny McGarry and Declan Miller, now that would be a partnership that I would love to see!!
Detective Miller is a flawed individual with a heart of gold that isn’t always on show. His mannerisms and uncooperative tendencies drive his superiors mad but their frustrations are often fruitless as Miller gets results.
The Last Dance is ultimately a crime fiction novel but it offers so much more to the reader as pure escapism and delightful entertainment. Emotions are raw and exposed while a brutal crime is being investigated, with a clever storyline and the very endearing, smart and witty Detective Declan Miller at the helm. I’m 100% on board with this series and that ending has most definitely left me wanting more!
[ Bio ]
Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for Crime Novel of the Year, and has also won a Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British writer. Each of the novels featuring Detective Inspector Tom Thorne has been a Sunday Times bestseller.
Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Thorne, and a series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death was broadcast on BBC1.
Mark lives in north London with his wife and two children.
Twitter ~ @MarkBillingham
I like that it had more than just the crime, I don’t read much crime fiction, but this makes it appealing to me.
It’s a very engaging and witty read Rosie. Nothing too dark in this at all!