Stig Abell’s debut mystery, Death Under a Little Sky, is atmospheric and slow-paced. It was a perfect descriptive summer read, but I don’t think I’ll pick up the second book.
Jake Jackson’s marriage is falling apart, and he’s had enough of his career as a police detective in London. He’s only thirty-eight, but ready to move on when his Uncle Arthur dies and leaves him his house and enough money to live on. The house in Little Sky is isolated, with enough property and a lake for Jake to enjoy the quietness. Best of all, there’s an enormous library with enough detective stories to keep Jake occupied for the rest of his life.
Jake learns even a hermit yearns for a little contact, and he befriends Dr. Peter, an eccentric man with an enormous knowledge of nature. He falls for the local vet, Livia, a single mom with responsibilities. Jake no longer has any, but he cuts wood, starts a garden, and with the help of a local handyman, builds a sauna and a shower. Most of his time is spent wandering the countryside, swimming in the lake, and learning to live almost as a hermit. But, when he finds a bag of bones during a village celebration, he becomes obsessed with the search for a young woman’s killer. He faces opposition from community members, but Dr. Peter, Olivia, and the local police inspector are also interested in the discovery.
I found myself caught up in Jake’s life, although it could be violent and ugly at times as he digs too deep to please the neighbors. But, it was Abell’s writing, his phrasing, that created the atmosphere that captured me. There were descriptions such as, “Outside, it is mild and dark. No longer that false light of summer, he finds, to be somehow stored in the land and bounced around at night, making everything pale, washed with a meek kind of brightness.” Or, there’s Jake’s description of his own life. “That’s what he used to be, he thought, a tracer of history, a filler of story, a joiner of dots.” Those kind of sentences slowed me down while they kept me reading for the discovery, the descriptions.
Death Under a Little Sky was a slow-paced mystery. Jake had to dig into the past for his cold case, one few wanted to see solved. It was atmospheric and beautifully written, but one mystery that develops slowly was enough for me for a while.
Thanks to Lindy for mentioning this book on a Thursday.
Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell. Harper, 2023. 351p.
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
Given your review, I think I might like this one in spite of its slowness. Although I’m having trouble getting into Tana French’s The Hunter because of its slowness (for me), and it has gotten a huge amount of praise–perhaps I’d better see if I can make it through that one first!
I think you’d like it, Kim, once you get time to read it.
The cover really attracts me and the story does too!
I hope you get a chance to pick it up, Carol.
I felt much the same about this book as you did Lesa.
This is what I’d written about it:
“A first novel from a former Times Literary Supplement editor.
Jake is 38 years old, a detective from the big city, in a failing marriage. He’s ready for a change in his life. Just at this pivotal point in his life he is informed that his uncle has bequeathed his isolated home in the vast countryside, and all his money, to him. Jakes quits his job, ups stakes and pins all his hopes for a quiet peaceful life, away from all the stresses, on his new home.
It turns out this new home is pretty much off-the-grid living – no phone, no internet, not even a washing machine. A fair bit of the book is devoted to seeing how Jake makes this place his own, bit by bit.
But this is first and foremost a mystery novel and not too far in, human bones are discovered at a community fair, and Jake is pulled back into the world of detection. It isn’t easy since the locals clam up and are not willing to even talk about the person whose bones were discovered, and many of them are downright hostile and threatening – both to Jake and to Livia, his fledgling romantic interest.
This is a slow-burn mystery, and the writing is atmospheric, descriptive, and moody. I enjoyed the style of writing but thought sometimes it got in the way of the storytelling a little bit. Still, the book has plenty of tension-filled scenes and the hint of menace had me looking over my shoulder while reading. The two main characters could have been a bit more engaging but I suspect that will work itself out in the second entry in the series.”
Lindy, I looked up your review after I finished mine. You’re right. We felt the same way about it. I liked it. I liked Jake and Livia, but I think I’m done with them.