The Last Dance: A Detective Miller case - the first new Billingham series in 20 years

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Obviously, if you knew her, you’re well aware of the fact that she’s dead and you might well have been at the funeral, so I could probably have skipped that bit . . . but I suppose what I really want to say is . . . I’m dealing with it and if I am, then you lot should.’” Despite a somewhat dubious relationship with both reality and his new partner, can the eccentric, offbeat Miller find answers where his colleagues have found only an impossible puzzle? The engrossing fourth novel by British TV writer Billingham to feature London police detective Tom Thorne (after 2004's Lazybones AT times I liked Miller but most of the time he was irritating. I didn't warm up to other characters as well. Why was his partner Xiu even there? To be honest I didn’t much warm to this new character of Marks. I love the Tom Thorne books so much that it will take a lot for another character to live up to him. A big part of it was the silly jokey nature of Miller. It is one of the reasons I gave up on Stuart MacBride as do people really talk and behave like that 24/7.

This is the first in a new series featuring Declan Miller and his colleague Sara Xiu. Xiu has character quirks aplenty, but I particularly loved the way she never got Declan's (constant) jokes. To be fair, I think some of them went over my head. The blurb is correct in that this features ballroom dancing and Declan talking to his dead wife Alex, but the dancing bits are spaced out and the talking to a 'ghost' is in the context of a recent bereavement. This was basically a funny, well-paced police procedural about two contract killings, with the overarching mystery of what happened to Alex left to be continued into the rest of the series. Billingham is a world-class writer and Thom Thorne is a wonderful creation. Rush to read these books.”— Karin Slaughter As what is clearly the first book in a series, I will be more than happy to return to find out how Miller and Xiu are getting on. With each of his books, Mark Billingham gets better and better. These are stories and characters you don’t want to leave.”— Michael ConnellyHumor is essential in thrillers and crime books but face it this was no thriller or crime fiction, at best it was a cozy mystery. The book was not funny, the humor seemed forced throughout the story. The need for Miller to make “jokes” make me thought he had ADHD but the right term is Witzelsucht. Google it, it has a picture of Miller right next to it. See, this disease unfortunately is contagious. The jokes were unfortunately for this reader, not funny but horribly irritating.

A growing number of suicides start looking like murder in Billingham’s absorbing 11th novel featuring Det. Insp. Tom Thorne (after 2012’s The Demands). With the apparent joint suicide of an elderly Continue reading » Mark Billingham has come up with a particularly interesting, off-beat, not what you might expect kind of character in The Last Dance, the first of what appears to be a new series. This is a police procedural murder mystery that is greatly enhanced by the flip nature of the protagonist DS Declan Miller. The plot was flimsy, characters were flat. Miller is investigating organized crime but does not have a weapon to defend himself, not even a knife or a bullet proof vest. Knowing that his wife was assassinated or that Miller makes really bad jokes all the time, they should provided him with a vest for those reasons alone! At the outset of Billingham’s slow-burning 13th Tom Thorne novel (after 2014’s The Bones Beneath), the detective inspector’s girlfriend, Det. Sgt. Helen Weeks, persuades him to abandon their Continue reading »

After 20 years and 18 Tom Thorne novels, Mark Billingham is going for a complete change of pace with this new series. Whereas Tom was a quite conventional character (although he had some weird friends), right from the first chapter we can see this new protagonist, Detective Sergeant and ballroom dancer Declan Miller is a total oddball. In Billingham's thrilling eighth crime novel featuring London police detective Tom Thorne (after Death Message), Thorne welcomes the distraction of a new case after his girlfriend, Det. Insp. Louise Continue reading » I kept thinking of the quote by Fran Lebowitz while I read this book, “A book is not supposed to be a mirror. It’s supposed to be a door.” With that in mind, the fact that this author wanted to write a “humorous” book is not enough. I cannot believe the amount of stars this book has received. It is truly perplexing.