Frost at Christmas by R.D. Wingfield
Book 1 in the Frost series
Review by Elleanore Vance
Welcome back my Lovely Readers! I want to open this review by saying that this book depicts illegal police action, mention of child pornography, a member of the clergy who abuses children in his congregation, animal cruelty, and the repeated shaming of a sex worker. This book may not be for you
Eight year old Tracy Uphill was last seen walking home from Sunday school alone. When she fails to arrive home, Mrs. Uphill goes in search of her daughter. This is the first time Tracy has attempted the walk home on her own, Mrs Uphill always, Always ALWAYS walks her home. You see, Mrs. Uphill just so happens to be the neighborhood prostitute. That is the neighborhood secret that isn't really a secret. Everyone seems to know how Mrs. Uphill pays her bills, and her regular Sunday morning client just happened to run later than usual on this particular Sunday.
The call reporting Tracy as a missing person mobilizes the Denton Police. And it just so happens to be DC Clive Barnard's first day on the job. Superintendent Mullett has decided Clive will work directly under DCI Allen, Mullett's own personal Golden Boy. Fashionable, chic, politic, never makes a mistake and always does his paperwork, DCI Allen is a credit the force and Mullett. He's also an insufferable Kiss-ass. I'm sure you understand why he's Mullett's favorite, and assigned to the Search For Tracy.
Fate, however, has other plans. Early on in the investigation DCI Allen gets struck down by his traitor appendix (... hernia... something... this is a thing with Allen) and the whole damned apple cart falls into the lap of Mullett's least favorite detective: DI Jack Frost. (In the book, that is Literally his name BBC changed it for the show). Frost is a widower, disorganized, no fashion sense, very little tact, and always late with his paperowrk if he bothers with it at all. Mullett's laundry list of faults is never ending, but Frost got a George Cross for meritorious duty: He was shot in the face on the job.
I absolutely love BBC TV. So many of my personal favorite shows are BBC productions: Poirot, Outnumbered, Sherlock, Foyle's War, Pie in the Sky... and A Touch of Frost, Starring Sir David Jason as the rumpled detective. This first book was fully adapted for the very first episode of the show called Care and Protection. Other fans will recognize this story.
Rich, complex and diverse, Wingfield gives us the illusion of a real breathing police station. I have problems with "cop" stories given so much that has been documented recently, and I think that is because so many depict the police as infallible.
DI Frost is far from ideal. He fudges the rules a lot, and morally is very grey, but he wants to find Little Tracy Uphill and bring her home. He is willing to step on as many toes as is neccessary to do so. Hoping she can survive the freezing cold, Tracy must be scared, and Frost just wants to find her.
He doesn't care that her mother is a tart. And he doesn't do anything about the vicar, because that won't help him find the missing girl, it will only slow him down with paperwork and processing.
Frost isn't a hero, he's human.
⭐⭐⭐⭐4/5
Review by Elleanore Vance
Welcome back my Lovely Readers! I want to open this review by saying that this book depicts illegal police action, mention of child pornography, a member of the clergy who abuses children in his congregation, animal cruelty, and the repeated shaming of a sex worker. This book may not be for you
Eight year old Tracy Uphill was last seen walking home from Sunday school alone. When she fails to arrive home, Mrs. Uphill goes in search of her daughter. This is the first time Tracy has attempted the walk home on her own, Mrs Uphill always, Always ALWAYS walks her home. You see, Mrs. Uphill just so happens to be the neighborhood prostitute. That is the neighborhood secret that isn't really a secret. Everyone seems to know how Mrs. Uphill pays her bills, and her regular Sunday morning client just happened to run later than usual on this particular Sunday.
The call reporting Tracy as a missing person mobilizes the Denton Police. And it just so happens to be DC Clive Barnard's first day on the job. Superintendent Mullett has decided Clive will work directly under DCI Allen, Mullett's own personal Golden Boy. Fashionable, chic, politic, never makes a mistake and always does his paperwork, DCI Allen is a credit the force and Mullett. He's also an insufferable Kiss-ass. I'm sure you understand why he's Mullett's favorite, and assigned to the Search For Tracy.
Fate, however, has other plans. Early on in the investigation DCI Allen gets struck down by his traitor appendix (... hernia... something... this is a thing with Allen) and the whole damned apple cart falls into the lap of Mullett's least favorite detective: DI Jack Frost. (In the book, that is Literally his name BBC changed it for the show). Frost is a widower, disorganized, no fashion sense, very little tact, and always late with his paperowrk if he bothers with it at all. Mullett's laundry list of faults is never ending, but Frost got a George Cross for meritorious duty: He was shot in the face on the job.
I absolutely love BBC TV. So many of my personal favorite shows are BBC productions: Poirot, Outnumbered, Sherlock, Foyle's War, Pie in the Sky... and A Touch of Frost, Starring Sir David Jason as the rumpled detective. This first book was fully adapted for the very first episode of the show called Care and Protection. Other fans will recognize this story.
Rich, complex and diverse, Wingfield gives us the illusion of a real breathing police station. I have problems with "cop" stories given so much that has been documented recently, and I think that is because so many depict the police as infallible.
DI Frost is far from ideal. He fudges the rules a lot, and morally is very grey, but he wants to find Little Tracy Uphill and bring her home. He is willing to step on as many toes as is neccessary to do so. Hoping she can survive the freezing cold, Tracy must be scared, and Frost just wants to find her.
He doesn't care that her mother is a tart. And he doesn't do anything about the vicar, because that won't help him find the missing girl, it will only slow him down with paperwork and processing.
Frost isn't a hero, he's human.
⭐⭐⭐⭐4/5
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