It's September 1950. Inspector Alun Ryga of Scotland Yard is sent down to the Island of Portland in Dorset to investigate the death of a man wearing a pin striped suit found on the shore in the isolated Church Ope Cove, Portland.
‘Why is it called Church Ope Cove and not hope cove?’ Ryga asked, breaking the silence. ‘Was the H left off by mistake centuries ago?’
‘Ope is local dialect for an opening in the cliff that leads down to the water’s edge. The cove was famous for smugglers in the last century.’ Sergeant Daniels answered.
‘Was?’
‘Maybe still is,’ Daniels corrected, flashing him a glance and narrowly avoiding hitting a cyclist. ‘Perhaps that’s why the body has ended up there. He doesn’t look much like a smuggler though, not if you expect them to be dressed in woollen pullovers and patched grubby trousers, as in old books and photos.’ He smiled. ‘So maybe they’ve become more fashion-conscious. And thieves and crooks come in all guises, as you’d know all too well, sir.’
Ryga did. While working for the Thames River Police he’d been called upon to assist the Port of London in helping to uncover two highly notable and profitable drug smuggling rings. It had been because of his background in the merchant navy, his knowledge of ships, their loading and unloading operations and their crew mentality that he’d been asked to assist. The success of the operations had catapulted him from the river police into the Metropolitan Police and into the Criminal Investigations Department of Scotland Yard with such breath-taking speed that he had hardly realized what was happening. Now he was being called upon to once again utilize his knowledge of the sea to try and discover why a man dressed in a pinstriped suit had been stabbed in the neck and ended up dead on the beach of a small cove on Portland on the Dorset coast.
Death in the Cove, an Inspector Alun Ryga 1950 mystery
'Don’t miss this first book in what is sure to be a first-class series. Whilst the murderer is unmasked there are left some tempting hooks for the next book. Highly recommended.' Mystery People Magazine.
"Ryga studied the face of the dead man with interest. Death no longer had the power to shock him. He’d seen too much of it. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel sorrow, pity, anger or despair, or sometimes all four emotions and in such a swift succession that they became one. This time he felt none of these, only professional curiosity.”
Available in paperback, as an ebook, on Amazon Kindle and Kobo
Also as an audio book, narrated by Jonathan Rhodes and published by B7 Media. Download the audio book
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