I always loved reading the books by the late R D Wingfield of the exploits of Detective Inspector Frost and when I heard that his estate had decided to employ James Henry to write prequels to the stories I was impressed. The first that I have read of the three that have been so far issued is this one, MORNING FROST.

It starts in the usual frenetic way. Detective Sergeant Frost's wife Mary has passed away and the funeral is being held. Superintendent Mullett feels his duty is to attend even though he does not like Frost and didn't know his wife. He starts drinking at the reception afterwards and gets rather inebriated. Also in attendance are most of the police colleagues of Frost, as he was well liked. The local Mayor and many important figures including some very senior policemen are also in attendance.

Whilst the events of the funeral are occurring, a young Police Detective Constable named Sue Clark, who is on standby at home, after coming off a night shift, is phoned by the duty sergeant and asked to attend to a farmer, who has found a human body-part in one of his fields! She is a bit put out about this but as almost all the rest of the police station are attending Frost's wife's funeral feels she cannot object.

Additionally, Harry Baskin, a local gangster who runs the Coconut Grove nightclub, is advised by a member of his staff that a stripper has come to see him, which was news to him, but he agreed to speak to her and was very shocked when she suddenly revealed and aimed a gun and just shot him.

These are just some of the cases that Frost has to investigate once he is back on duty. He gets involved in his usual, very laid back way and of course rubs up Superintendent Mullett (who is nursing a terrible hangover) the wrong way and events take their usual course.

This is the third book by James Henry about Jack Frost before he was promoted to Inspector and he writes in a very similar style to the original author. I was most impressed and enjoyed it very much as the humour of the original stories is what made the late R D Wingfield such an important writer of police procedurals. Recommended.

Terry Halligan, England
November 2013