On the HahaFiction shelf
What Happened in London
DI Adams · Book 1 · 2023
Detective Sergeant Adams is working a case unlike her usual ones. Six children have vanished around London's river, and she is determined that a seventh won't go missing. A review places the disappearances at a riverside Christmas market, with police close by, and says Adams begins linking them to homeless people who have also gone missing. She isn't a DI yet, and this is the story of why she later headed north.
From the author’s blurb
“Baton. Light. Chocolate. Duck.”Read the full description at Kim M. Watt, author description
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What makes it funny?
Reviewer Mike Finn says the book mixes grit with humor, and he points to the opening, where a bin seems to eye Adams with intent. The blurb sets up her equipment as a baton, a light, chocolate and, last of all, a duck.
The comedy at work
The jokes sit inside a grim case. Adams reasons like a police officer who has dealt with human monsters and now has to ask how different these can be, and the blurb's clipped kit list gives that a deadpan edge. The reviewer finds it darker, faster and harder-edged than the author's cozy Beaufort Scales books while keeping the humor.
Try this if…
Readers of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London will know the hidden magical London, though the reviewer finds a different tone here. It suits anyone who wants a British police fantasy with some humor but no tea and cake.
Good to know
The listing calls it darker than the Beaufort Scales books, with some non-graphic violence, some blasphemy and no strong language. The story is about missing children. The author describes it as a prequel set before the first Beaufort book, readable on its own and free of Beaufort spoilers, and she recommends reading it before the other DI Adams books.
Keep reading
More in DI Adams
The series continues with one more book on our shelf.
Book 4A Right Shambles in York
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A few distinguishing details
- A kit list of a baton, a light, chocolate and a duck
- A bin that seems to look at Adams with intent
- A prequel about why Adams left London
More funny private eye & detective
Sources & further reading
- Bookvault paperback listing
Book information
- Book Notification author page, DI Adams publication order
Book information
- Author shop page, What Happened in London
Author commentary
- Author reading-order page
Author commentary
- Mike Finn's Fiction review of What Happened in London
Review
- Alliance of Independent Authors bookstore listing
Book information
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