or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
4 used & new from £10.98
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
A Popular Murder
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

A Popular Murder (Paperback)

by Simon Hall (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Price: £15.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 weeks.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

3 new from £15.49 1 used from £10.98

Frequently Bought Together

A Popular Murder + The Death Pictures (TV Detective) + Evil Valley (TV Detective)
Price For All Three: £26.92

Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others. Show details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Death Pictures (TV Detective)

The Death Pictures (TV Detective)

by Simon Hall
4.7 out of 5 stars (20)  £5.47
Evil Valley (TV Detective)

Evil Valley (TV Detective)

by Simon Hall
3.6 out of 5 stars (42)  £5.96
Mad Men - Complete Season 2 [DVD] [2008]

Mad Men - Complete Season 2 [DVD] [2008]

DVD ~ Jon Hamm
4.7 out of 5 stars (24)  £17.88
The Brass Verdict

The Brass Verdict

by Michael Connelly
4.4 out of 5 stars (41)  £10.67
Dead Man's Footsteps

Dead Man's Footsteps

by Peter James
4.6 out of 5 stars (54)  £3.84
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 424 pages
  • Publisher: AuthorHouse (30 Dec 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1425904521
  • ISBN-13: 978-1425904524
  • Product Dimensions: 20 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 490,105 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Synopsis

A TV reporter turns detective in a new thriller, a book which is a reflection of the career of the BBC Crime Correspondent who wrote it. 'A Popular Murder' is Simon Hall's first novel. Its catalyst was Simon's move from environment reporting, which he'd been doing for five years, into crime. It's a fate that also befalls the book's hero, Dan Groves, a punishment from his editor for paying two prostitutes for an interview and bringing a stinging complaint from a local MP. Dan starts plotting revenge, but such sweet thoughts will have to wait. A man is found blasted to death with a shotgun in a lay by. Already uneasy in his new job, Dan gets a late night scramble call to the scene and finds he knows the victim. It's a local businessman with a changing personality. One day in the headlines as Bray the Bastard for his ruthlessness, the next the Angel of St Jude's after saving a hospice, then the Jekyll and Hyde businessman when he spurns a plea to help a charity that provides holidays for disabled children. A media pack gathers, and all the other journalists know the intricacies of police work much better than Dan. He feels like the new kid in class.His discomfort grows, but he has an idea.

Dan asks to shadow the man in charge of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen. It's election time and the Home Office are desperate for good news on law and order, so the police reluctantly agree. Dan gets a rough ride. The detectives are jeering and hostile and goad him into a series of rows. But he's stubborn, toughs it out and forces them to change their minds when a child is abducted by a predatory paedophile. Dan calls the newsroom and arranges an instant outside broadcast with Chief Inspector Breen. The TV appeal sees the man caught and the young boy saved. "We owe you one for that," says Adam, now letting Dan use his Christian name. "Kids usually end up dead - or worse." Adam starts to see the potential for using the power of television to solve the teasing central riddle of the murder case. Why did whoever killed Bray pass up a chance to do it when the weather was fine, but rearrange their fatal meeting for days later when there was heavy rain?In the course of the book, Dan discovers what happened in Edward Bray's life to make him the Jekyll and Hyde character of the newspaper headlines, presents an outside broadcast from a Cornish village up to his waist in a flood, uses his TV fame to help the police solve the murder and, with the help of his friend, Dirty El, the shameless news photographer, finally gets revenge on the MP who laid him low.

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Evil Valley (TV Detective)
34% buy
Evil Valley (TV Detective) 3.6 out of 5 stars (42)
£5.96
The Death Pictures (TV Detective)
34% buy
The Death Pictures (TV Detective) 4.7 out of 5 stars (20)
£5.47
A Popular Murder
32% buy the item featured on this page:
A Popular Murder 5.0 out of 5 stars (4)
£15.49
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Popular Author, 7 Feb 2006
By A Customer
A Popular Murder is a first novel from Simon Hall, but its well-developed plot and characters already feel like the start of a popular new detective series focussing on the world of tv and crime in a not-so-sleepy Devon and Cornwall. Dan Groves, the main character, is a tv reporter whose underhand exploits get him moved from his cosy brief on environment to the murky – and, as it quickly turns out, murderous - world of crime, reporting. The action follows the murder investigation of a leading Plymouth businessman. Full of false-leads and misdirection, Hall sets his main character up as something of a code-cracker (Groves shares Morse’s love of crosswords). Against the murderous foreground action, the author takes time to develop his characters, notably the professional relationship between Groves and rising police star Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen, and the not-so-professional friendship between Groves and the scurrilous Dirty El, a local newspaper photographer who will stop at nothing to get his picture. As well as an original plot and characters, the novel gives real insight into the world of tv news (imagine Drop-the-Dead-Donkey meets a moodier, adolescent Morse).
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Popular Murder, 26 Jun 2008
By Mrs. Justine De Claire "Justine" (West Sussex, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I loved this book it was brilliant.
I don't often get time to read books.
I start books and then finish them months later.

This book I started and finished days later, staying up till the early hours as it is a really good read and a brilliant story. It keeps you guess all the way through.

I have brought the following book The Death Pictures and can't wait to read it.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars 'A Popular Murder' by a popular author ?, 9 Feb 2006
By Tony (South West) - See all my reviews
Simon Hall is a well known and well respected BBC TV correspondent in the South West and this is his first foray into writing and I have enjoyed it greatly. The review and synopsis above give plenty of detail to the plot and structure but I would like to add my personal opinion of how I enjoyed reading this novel.

I find it important that you 'care' about the characters in a piece of fiction and Simon Hall manages to create that feeling with the characters of Dan Groves and Adam Breen very well indeed. I almost feel like I know Dan, the TV reporter. Being a resident in the South West, Simon Hall is well known on our screens and it is obvious that his own career (as detailed on the back cover) is mirrored to some degree in the character of Dan Groves and this particularly increases the sense of reality. The other important characters such as the now deceased Edward Bray, his father Arthur Bray, Suzanne Stewart, Penelope Ramsden, Gordon Clarke and even Rutherford etc are described and portrayed just enough to also provide the reader with enough about them to believe in them ... and that's what I liked about 'A Popular Murder' .... I believed the plot and story could be real and I believed the characters could be real.

Hall's obvious knowledge of, crime reporting, the Media and the Plymouth and Devon geographical area are clearly of great benefit and his descriptive is pitched just about right. The pace of the book keeps you wanting to turn the pages and the last quarter really gets moving so that you don't want to put it down.

Honestly, I had started an Ian Rankin when this one arrived in the post … I read the first chapter of ‘A Popular Murder’ and then didn’t go back to the Rankin … I guess that’s a compliment ?

An excellent crime novel, especially as it's the first for this author. Well done Simon ! If you keep this up, and I hope you do, you may not need that 'day job' much longer.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon , Nottinghamshire
I am the sort of person who reads mainly on holiday. Nothing to indepth or challenging just enjoy a good read. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. S. Patterson

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject










i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.