Well, not a rose actually, but the name is Frost, the author R.D. Wingfield creator of that inimitable detective Jack Frost, portrayed on television by David Jason. Here we have three Detective Frost novels, the middle by R.D. Wingfield, who gave birth to the  glorious, funny shambolic Frost, and Superintendent Mullett and attendant crew.

It’s winter in Denton, and crime abounds. A serial killer, a skeleton, an armed robbery, and ram-raid, plus numerous burglaries. But over all this, a missing school girl. Dire happenings, a heady pace, serious subjects, but always, thank the Lord, hilarity. There is not other character quite like D.I. Frost, no other foil quite like Mullett.

But then such sadness in 2007, when R.D. Wingfield died. Would D.I. Frost be, forgotten?

Well no, James Henry took up the cudgels, and also R.D. Wingfield’s creation Jack Frost, taking us back in time to his earlier days.. Here we have Britain in 1982  during the Falklands War,  Jimmy Savile on the airwaves, (yep THE Jimmy Savile) burglaries, murder, followed by a ritual killing – or not. And at a time when Det Sgt Frost has domestic problems.

Then, A Lethal Frost with Danny Miller, featuring R.D. Wingfield’s Detective Frost setting it a bit later, in 1984  featuring the usual gang as Frost shambles through the cases that need solving. (I haven’t reached the end yet, and I want it konw ‘who did it’ but I don’t want it to finish, which was the case with all the Frost novels to date.

Did Henry and Miller make it work? Well, clearly, for me, anyway.   Did they have the same pace, the hilarity, the crime, the much loved characters? Yes, and I can only assume  Henry and Miller lived and breathe Frost, Denton, Mullett, until they were Frost, but still retaining in some measure their own voice. A tricky balance but one they managed with aplomb.

I loved them all. I want them to go on and on. Thankfully Danny Miller has written The Murder Map continuing the earlier Frost. So, R.D. Wingfield’s legacy is safe. – Enjoy.