Six Feet Under by Colin Garrow

Release: October 8th, 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Colin Garrow
Source: Damp Pebbles Blog Tours
Find it at Goodreads, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Smashwords __

A murder victim, a deserted airfield, a sinister project. Can Terry untangle the mystery before someone else dies?

The widow of a building contractor asks taxi drivers and amateur sleuth Terry Bell to investigate her husband’s death. However, he thinks the dead man’s widow may be wasting her money. But, his trail leads to an old airfield and a brace of brutal thugs. Now he begins to wonder what they’re trying to hide. Tracking down one of the builder’s former workmates, Terry finds him unwilling to answer questions. After beating the man, the canny cabbie gets a visit from his favorite detective inspector. But DI Charis Brown and her latest sidekick determine no involvement in this until the man is attacked again…

In this murder/mystery series set on England’s northeast coast, Six Feet Under is book #4 in the Terry Bell Mystery series.

About the Author:

True-born Geordie Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland and has worked in a plethora of professions, including taxi driver, antique dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director, and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate. Colin has published three stage plays, six adventures for middle-grade readers, two books of short stories, the Watson Letters series, and the Terry Bell Mysteries. His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including SN Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Grind, A3 Review, Inkapture, and Scribble Magazine. These days he lives in a humble cottage in North East Scotland where he writes novels, stories. Poems and the occasional song.

Six Feet Under Review:

What a fun mystery this was around a Polish cast with possible conspiracies.

The author paced the story very nicely. It starts as a simple investigation as Terry tries to find out what happened to Ravi, the contractor. The theme was unique, where you don’t know what kind of conspiracy is taking place (except it has something to do with crates in a mysterious location). Terry is also very charming in the lead. He is just a taxi driver but does well for an amateur detective to solve the case.

The author also lightens the story with Terry’s cute romance with Carol. One of my favorite scenes is when Carol and Terry investigate the tunnels to determine what is happening. Similarly, DC Pringle and Charis also added nicely to the cast. The climax surprised me and concluded the plot satisfactorily. On a side note, I also loved the various ethnicities of the characters detailed in the story. Moreover, the pace is pretty short and never has a dull moment, as there is always something happening. I also liked the author’s note in the end on how his experiences as a taxi driver motivated him to write this series.

However, I had mixed feelings about the dialogues. On the one hand, I loved how the author makes the tone authentic by using its native accent in the conversations. But, I did get lost in the conversation and could not comprehend a few terms. I appreciate the author for providing a glossary of the pronunciations in the end.

Overall, this was interesting and a fun, quick read. I would indeed read the first book “Death on a Dirty Afternoon” soon.