When his riding companion is felled by a sniper's bullet whilst riding out one morning, Gideon Blake - artist, horse whisperer and reluctant amateur sleuth - finds himself drawn into a murder investigation after a cryptic list of numbers and initials found in the dead man's effects suggests a blackmail plot.

Set in rural Dorset, TIME TO PAY reads like a James Herriot redraft of an Agatha Christie mystery. Lyndon Stacey provides a beautifully detailed backdrop to a lovingly created world of stables, drag hunts and all things horsey, while also crafting a twisting plot that encompasses a host of characters both noble and squalid.

Despite the murder, blackmail and occasional violence, however, this is an old-fashioned tale that generally steers clear of the more gruesome tropes of modern crime novels. Gideon - tall and urbane, mild-mannered and multi-talented - may be too perfect a main protagonist for some readers, his lack of inner conflict making him rather bland even as he delves ever deeper into the murky world of rural crime, but he is a throwback to a traditional kind of reflexive British hero, the kind who does what needs to be done first and only wallows in self-analysis afterwards - if then.

There are two major caveats, however: the first is that villain of the piece is too easily identified, mainly because of his boorish behaviour, while the second is that Stacey is guilty of overwriting to a degree that can become irritating to the careful reader - following a conjunction with a comma is acceptable one or twice in a novel, if the circumstances demand it, but three times in the space of one page is unforgivable. Otherwise, this is a nicely paced, gentle thriller that will provide fans of the more cosy variety of crime fiction with an enjoyable read.

Declan Burke, Ireland
July 2007