Buzzard House by Graham H Miller

 

358 Pages

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• The Blurb...

Institutional child abuse and missing children comes too close to home for Jonah Greene.

When a man goes under a train, it initially looks like a routine case for coroner’s officer Jonah Greene. However the more he investigates, the more he is drawn into a web of intrigue centred around Buzzard House, a now closed outdoor activity centre. Dealing with bike gangs, official conspiracies and police corruption is routine. But soon the case takes a darker turn when Jonah’s own family is splintered by the secrets he reveals.

• Our Review...

Another quietly competent police procedural from Graham H Miller. Buzzard House is the second in the Jonah Greene series. (The List was Jonah's original outing. You can find our review for The List Here) Jonah having been promoted out of the way in The List to the career backwater of the Cardiff Coroner's Office. However, the political semi-isolation suits him and allows him to fully focus on the cases on his desk.

Jonah receives a phone call in the middle of the night from CID and is asked to take over a case that should be the remit of the Transport Police. Initially Jonah sees it as doing a favour for a former colleague that may earn him some brownie points. But is the request as innocent as it seems? or is it a means to keep any potential investigation under the control. of the senior men in dark corners.

Jonah chases down leads that point towards possible historic sexual abuse of children. It centres on  an outdoor pursuits centre for children in care  based in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons just north of Merthyr. I enjoyed the author's description of the area and people as it is roughly where I am from.  Its seems a desolate and inward looking place. From his description I would hazard a guess that the author is a townie as he seems a little wary of both the geography and nature of the locals and paints it as not quite scary but distinctly uncomfortable. Jonah certainly prefers Cardiff to the Heads of Valleys.

Jonah's home life certainly doesn't seem to have improved much since book 1. He and his wife still with empty nest syndrome. She seems to spend a lot of time out with her biker friends and Jonah often finds himself waking in the early hours, on the sofa with an empty bottle. It doesn't get any better in this outing, in fact things take a turn for the worse.  He seems always a little rumpled, weary and worn, and getting older by the day, but his pursuit of the case is his one goal that keeps him going. It is a trope that the author does well. I have spoken in the past of how Jonah reminds me of Inspector Rebus, but I think he also has a touch of an older Eddie Shoestring (showing my age there) 

The case itself is difficult to write about. The Jimmy Savile case is forever in the shadows. The antagonists are powerful, influential perverts in a double sense, in that they also pervert the course of justice from the background. Historic sex abuse is notoriously difficult to prove and as it occurred decades ago there seems no point digging up things that both victims and perps don't want to come to light. It has a very faint kafka-esque whiff of endless bureaucracy and mammoth institutions where the guilty ones secrete themselves in the cracks in between. It's all hidden in mists of time, no records, no checks, no accountability, no consequences. Identifying and proving crimes and criminals is immensely difficult and often there is no end resolution. It can be very abstract. No dynamic shoot outs with young, wild  bank robbers with a definite end, more cerebral chess with dementia nursing home inmates. A worthy episode in what I hope will be a returning series.

This series would so lend itself to TV series by a local broadcaster.

Looking forward the Canton Columbo's next outing already.

• Selected Quotes...

"He was getting fed up of the Brecon Beacons and villages where you would be an incomer for the first twenty years."

"Sometimes I wonder what the point is though. From what you've said, even if I do untangle all of this, then it'll never see the light of day because of some obscure political reason." 

"Sometimes all you can do is keep your head down and keep plugging away. Don't look to the horizon, don't try to work out where it's all leading. Just do today's job well and hope the future will sort itself out."

"Think back to that time, especially how the police were viewed, especially around here. The miners' strike, followed by Lynette White. If she saw even one policeman's name on those lists of people involved in the abuse, then she would have every reason to believe that her complaint would go nowhere. In the Valleys, we were the bad guys. Still are to the old guard."

• If You Like This, Then You May Like This...
  

The Nesting Place by Jacqueline Harret. Click Here  for our review

Talking To The Dead by Harry Bingham

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin

• About The Author...

Graham H Miller has been writing since his teenage years when he had a scenario printed in a role playing magazine. Since then he’s written articles, guest posts, unpublished novels and a book on Pagan subjects.

Born in Surrey, he lived in Kent for over 20 years before settling in South Wales. His brain is always at work, with more ideas than time. He is a house-husband proudly perpetuating the stereotype by writing books while his three boys are at school.

He has two blogs that are erratically updated – one about life as father to three special boys and the other covering his thoughts on writing and the publishing process. He is fascinated by everything including prehistory, classic cars, anything Viking and learning Welsh. He is older than he thinks he is! He can be contacted through his website, Facebook or Twitter. (from Crime Cymru)