An Accidental Death (D.C. Smith #1), by Peter Grainger

An Accidental Death: A Novel by Peter Grainger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Peter Grainger and Detective Sergeant Smith first came to my attention through the New York Times article “The Best Literary Detective You’ve Never Heard Of, and the Man Who Made Him” (Gift link). It made an excellent introduction to both author and character.

In “An Accidental Death”, a young man drowns after a party, apparently leaving Kings Lake police with a routine investigation. Smith, newly back at work, is paired with trainee Christopher Waters, and the case gradually becomes more complicated than the initial explanation allows. I will keep the details there, because the pleasure lies in watching Smith work rather than in having the investigation pre-explained.

Smith is an immediate winner for me. He is experienced, observant, stubborn, and quietly funny, but Grainger never turns him into a grandstanding super-detective. His appeal is much more understated. He notices what other people overlook, follows his instincts, and keeps moving when institutional caution becomes an excuse for doing nothing.

The book itself is still a little rough around the edges. It takes some time to settle into, and the Kings Lake setting occasionally receives more attention than the central investigation needs. The opening also spends a while establishing the series before the mystery acquires real momentum. Once Smith takes hold of the case, though, the novel becomes considerably more assured.

»highly unorthodox but effective«

That description, offered within the novel, captures Smith perfectly. He is not flashy. He is simply very difficult to stop, and I enjoyed every scene in which the people around him slowly realised that they had underestimated him.

Waters is useful here, too. He gives the reader an angle on Smith’s habits without reducing him to a mystery-box mentor, and their pairing supplies some welcome generational friction. I also liked that Smith’s private life matters without swallowing the case; his melancholy is present, but it is not used as a shortcut to depth.

Compared with Angela Marsons’ “Dead Memories” (review), this is quieter, more local, and less emotionally high-voltage. Compared with Harry Bingham’s “Talking to the Dead” (review), it is far more comfortable remaining a police procedural instead of dividing its attention between investigation and psychological spectacle. Grainger’s restraint suits Smith, and the result is a crime novel with a reassuringly solid centre.

»There’s nothing more boring than a philosophical policeman!«

That line also hints at the book’s dry humour. Smith is cool in a very understated way, and the character carried me through the slower passages. This is my first completed Grainger novel, so I cannot yet compare Smith with the author’s other protagonists. I have already started the next DC Smith book, however, which is probably the clearest recommendation I can give.

“An Accidental Death” is not flawless, but it was a great deal of fun, and it introduces a detective I very much want to follow.

Four stars out of five.


Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam




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