The Coroner

Description

When lawyer Jenny Cooper is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she's hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny's curiosity is aroused. Why was Marshall behaving so strangely before he died? What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart? In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusade for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity.

M. R. Hall is a screenwriter and producer and former criminal barrister, a profession he left due to a constitutional inability to prosecute. The Coroner is his first novel. Educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Worcester College, Oxford, he lives in the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire with his wife, journalist Patricia Carswell, and two sons. Aside from writing, his main passion is the preservation and planting of woodland. In his spare moments, he is mostly to be found amongst trees.

It's a tribute to the author's skill that I read this book supposing it to be autobiographical . . . He really gets under the skin of his heroine . . . Good and imaginative writing (and some political implications) to make an outstandingly interesting first novel * The Literary Review * A compelling debut * Sainsburys Magazine * This big, well-executed debut novel by screenwriter and producer Matthew Hall has meaty characters and a chewy plot in the Lynda La Plante style * Guardian * A brilliant, original and gripping crime novel - I can't wait for Matthew Hall's next one! -- Sophie Hannah Unputdownable debut introducing a fantastic, feisty and convincingly flawed heroine * Woman & Home * Congratulations to new crime fiction author Matthew Hall . . . A refreshing take on a historic office . . . Convincing and compelling * Daily Mail * A fast paced debut thriller * The Times * There's much to like here, including the unusual viewpoint, the strong narrative, and the solidly researched background * Spectator * A gripping debut novel * Daily Express * Hall's heroine is believable enough to care about, and it's good to see a novel niche being carved in the crowded realm of whodunits. Perhaps it'll do for coroners' courts what CSI did for forensic science * Observer *