Scottish Contemporary Authors Month ~ The Wrong Box by Andrew C Ferguson

The Wrong Box is the debut novel by a Fife author in his venture away from serious non fiction. It is produced by Thunderpoint, an Edinburgh based publishing company. Andrew got in touch with me himself through a mutual friend and I downloaded The Wrong Box on Kindle.

Simon English, a visiting lawyer from London, wakes up to find a dead body in the bath of the flat he’s renting from a colleague. He tries to prove he is innocent and uncover the culprits as well as their motives, which are far more reaching than just one murder. Then he comes across Karen, a bored eighteen stone lady living in a council block, who is adept at uncovering corruption in the council. She becomes the most unlikely sleuth, adding mirth to the proceedings, but also saving Simon’s life on at least one occasion.

The dark side of Edinburgh life was an eye opener to me, although Ian Rankin should have prepared me for it, and I was immediately struck by the contrasting societies, living side by side. I enjoyed the story line, which was quirky but gripping enough to shock and keep me ‘on my toes’ as it were. The characters were amusing, well formed and beautifully described, both good, evil and unexpected. Humour ran through the novel.  The lapse into Karen’s local dialect added to the flavour of the novel.

On the down side, and this is a personal comment, I’m not used to reading so much blatant swearing in a novel, or the inner thoughts of a man thinking about his sexual needs ~ but for some these factors could be a bonus. More realistic maybe.

(I’ve led a bit of a sheltered life 🙂 )

I wish Andrew the best of luck, especially if he makes this into a series.