The Scent of Death

Last updated

The Scent of Death
The Scent of Death.jpg
First edition
Author Simon Beckett
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDavid Hunter
Release number
6
Genre Crime, Mystery
Set in London
PublisherBantam Books
Publication date
12 February 2019
Published in English
18 April 2019
Media typeHardback book
Pages358
ISBN 978-0857504340
Preceded by The Restless Dead  
Website Author's webpage

The Scent of Death is the sixth novel by Simon Beckett to feature Dr David Hunter, a forensic anthropologist. [1] It was first published in hardback in the United Kingdom in April 2019. It was published in Germany in February 2019 as Die ewigen Toten (German : The Eternal Dead). [2]

Contents

Background

The sixth story in the David Hunter series is the first to be set wholly within London. Previous to this, the settings for the stories have been Norfolk, Devon, the Outer Hebrides, Essex and Tennessee. The author, Simon Beckett, was determined to place Hunter in a more urban environment. [3]

As the David Hunter series is popular in Europe (especially in Germany), Beckett's novels have been published on the continent before his home country of the United Kingdom. The Scent of Death (Die ewigen Toten) was published in February 2019 and went straight to the number one slot on Germany's book chart. [4]

Translation rights have also been granted for the book to be published in Italian, Polish and Russian. [5]

Plot

David Hunter is asked by the police to come to an abandoned and derelict hospital (St Jude’s) in London. A mummified corpse has been found in a loft space and Hunter's expertise is brought to bear on the case. After a ceiling collapses, a hidden room is revealed which has a further two bodies in it. After making sure that the building is safe, a cadaver dog is brought in to search for more bodies. Those they have found were put into the room after the hospital was closed and were walled up inside with strange torture and burn marks on their bodies.

As in other cases, Hunter becomes too involved in the people either directly involved with, or on the fringes of the case. One of the people trying to save the hospital is a barrister who asks Hunter for too much information and is killed in a very suspicious hit-and-run which also wounds a fellow forensic officer on the case. Besides all of this, Hunter has to contend with his girlfriend taking a 3-month job abroad and the spectre of Grace Strachan, a female killer from the second book, still causing him to be jittery as she could be back to get him. [6]

Critical reception

Barry Forshaw, writing in the Financial Times , praised the book for its "avoidance of too much extraneous forensic detail," and described Beckett as being "back on form." [1]

Marcel Berlins, writing in The Times , said that the novel was "arguably the best" out of the six written in the series and also described it as "a superbly strong read." [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Beckett</span> Nobel-winning Irish writer (1906–1989)

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy and nonsense. His work became increasingly minimalist as his career progressed, involving more aesthetic and linguistic experimentation, with techniques of stream of consciousness repetition and self-reference. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the Theatre of the Absurd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatto & Windus</span> British book publisher

Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business partner Andrew Chatto and poet William Edward Windus. The company was purchased by Random House in 1987 and is now a sub-imprint of Vintage Books within the Penguin UK division.

Francis Edward Camps, FRCP, FRCPath was an English pathologist notable for his work on the cases of serial killer John Christie and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.

Literature of the 20th century refers to world literature produced during the 20th century.

Margaret Murphy is a British crime writer.

Simon Beckett is a British journalist and author. His books, in particular the crime series around forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter, have sold 21 million copies worldwide, and have had particular success in Germany and Scandinavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stieg Larsson</span> Swedish writer, journalist, and activist (1954-2004)

Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson was a Swedish writer, journalist, and activist. He is best known for writing the Millennium trilogy of crime novels, which were published posthumously, starting in 2005, after he died of a sudden heart attack. The trilogy was adapted as three motion pictures in Sweden, and one in the U.S.. The publisher commissioned David Lagercrantz to expand the trilogy into a longer series, which has six novels as of September 2019. For much of his life, Larsson lived and worked in Stockholm. His journalistic work covered socialist politics and he acted as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism.

Kenneth Martin Edwards is a British crime novelist, whose work has won multiple awards including lifetime achievement awards for his fiction, non-fiction, short fiction, and scholarship in the UK and the United States. As a crime fiction critic and historian, and also in his career as a solicitor, he has written non-fiction books and many articles. He is the current President of the Detection Club and in 2020 was awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, in recognition of the "sustained excellence" of his work in the genre.

<i>The Chemistry of Death</i> 2006 novel by Simon Beckett

The Chemistry of Death is a novel by the British crime fiction writer Simon Beckett, first published in 2006. The novel introduced the character of Dr David Hunter, who has gone on to feature in other novels by the writer. The Chemistry of Death was nominated for the Duncan Lawrie Dagger by the Crime Writer's Association in 2006.

<i>Written in Bone</i> 2007 novel by Simon Beckett

Written in Bone is a novel written by the British crime fiction writer Simon Beckett, first published in 2007. It is the second novel to feature Dr. David Hunter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Rob Smith</span> English author, screenwriter, producer (born 1979)

Tom Rob Smith is an English author, screenwriter and producer.

<i>Whispers of the Dead</i> 2009 novel by Simon Beckett

Whispers of the Dead is the third novel in the Dr David Hunter series, created by Simon Beckett. It was published in January 2009 by Bantam Press.

<i>Castle</i> (TV series) American crime comedy-drama TV series (2009–2016)

Castle is an American crime mystery/comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC for a total of eight seasons from March 9, 2009, to May 16, 2016. The series was produced jointly by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aribert Heim</span> Austrian SS doctor

Aribert Ferdinand Heim, also known as Dr. Death and Butcher of Mauthausen, was an Austrian Schutzstaffel (SS) doctor. During World War II, he served at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Mauthausen, killing and torturing inmates using various methods, such as the direct injection of toxic compounds into the hearts of his victims.

Helen Grant is an English author of novels for young adults, now based in Crieff, Scotland. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards.

<i>Stasi Child</i> Novel by David Young

Stasi Child is a novel by David Young which won the 2016 CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger for the best historical crime novel of the year. It was also longlisted for the 2016 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

<i>The Restless Dead</i> 2017 novel by Simon Beckett

The Restless Dead is the fifth novel in writer Simon Beckett's Doctor David Hunter crime series. It was first published in English in April 2017.

<i>The Calling of the Grave</i> 2010 novel by Simon Beckett

The Calling of the Grave is the fourth instalment in the Doctor David Hunter Series by Simon Beckett.

<i>All Thats Dead</i> A 2019 novel by Stuart MacBride

All That's Dead is the twelfth novel in the bestselling Logan 'Lazarus' McRae series written by Stuart MacBride.

<i>In a House of Lies</i>

In a House of Lies is the 22nd instalment in the Inspector Rebus series written by Ian Rankin. In a House of Lies entered the hardback chart at No. 1 on the first week of its release.

References

  1. 1 2 Forshaw, Barry (18 April 2019). "Short review: The Scent of Death by Simon Beckett" . Financial Times. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  2. Lukas, Luger (20 February 2019). "Der Mann, der die Toten sprechen lässt". Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  3. "The Scent of Death: Simon Beckett talks to Crime Time". crimetime.co.uk. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  4. "The Scent of Death Number One in Germany". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  5. "The Scent of Death". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  6. 1 2 Berlins, Marcel (27 April 2019). "Hungary for first-class thrills". The Times. No. 72, 832. Saturday Review. p. 17. ISSN   0140-0460.