Book review: The Shadow Step by Mark Billington

The Shadow Step by Mark Billington is the third in the series featuring detective Declan (Dec) Miller and (for me) this was a return to the amazing banter and snarky droll repartee which I loved about the first in the series, The Last Dance.

Here Dec and DS Sara Xiu are called when a body is found in a pond in a park. Happily for them, someone comes forward to explain he’d argued with the man, who’d then tripped over his dog and fell into the pond. Down-on-his-luck ex soldier Barry Cheshire tells them he had no idea the man didn’t pull himself out and went to the police as soon as he heard about the body. In worse news for Cheshire however, the dead man was a drug dealer, working for the Cutlers… well-known to Dec, who (wrongly) believe their territory is under attack and decide to take revenge.

About this book

The Shadow One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ("in the shadow")

A perfectly executed shadow step demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with one another. It does not normally end with someone stone-dead in a lake.

DS Declan Miller is a magnet for strange cases, but an innocent man confessing to the crime? That’s a first. Things rapidly escalate when the murder that isn’t really a murder attracts the unwanted attention of a drug Queenpin, a deranged ex-squaddie, and a lovesick gangland enforcer. And when a real murder follows – and a student is kidnapped – all evidence points back to the same innocent man.

Throw in a wobbly dog, a pair of ceramic leopards, and the distracting smell from a biscuit factory, and Miller’s only option to save a young man’s life is to waltz all the way into the shadows.

My thoughts

We don’t spend much time with Dec’s dancing pals here and I missed them a little. As usual though, the ballroom dancing backdrop offers a nice dichotomy to the police-work. Not to mention continuing to provide Billington with many MANY dance-themed word-plays.

We’ve come across the Cutler family in previous books in the series with the patriarch recently jailed for the murder of Dec’s wife (also a police officer). Here we spend time with wife Jacqui who’s taken control of the family business and has her offsider pay Barry a ‘visit’… which results in another body.

Dec and Sarah are on the case, which gets more complicated when Jacqui’s son Justin is kidnapped and held for ransom. It’s up to Dec and Sarah of course, figure out if the events under investigation are linked, and if so, how. There’s the proverbial race against time, complicated here by a number of other interested parties

This is an enjoyable read and another great addition to the series. I’m wondering if Billington has a journey in mind for Dec and for Sarah (not to mention Finn… Dec’s drug-addicted step-daughter), or they’re here for the long run. Again, I can’t help but think that this would translate onto the big or little screen well  particularly given the droll and odd, but very likeable, lead characters.

The Shadow Step by Mark Billington was published by Grove Atlantic.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.