David Jason is in this opinion... (Frost at Christmas - R.D. Wingfield)

Member Name: pje

Product:	Frost at Christmas - R.D. Wingfield
Date:	20/12/01 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: David Jason's on the cover so it must be good...

Disadvantages: ...but he's been shot by page two!

...sort of. Hey, if the BBC and ITV can use him to boost viewing figures, why shouldn't I?

I've seen A Touch Of Frost, starring David Jason (which Yorkshire Televison have been adapting from R.D. Wingfield's books since 1992) often enough, but this is the first of his books I've read (and indeed the first in the series of Frost books) and it was good. Nothing to write home about, but good.

Frost At Christmas, published in 1984, begins with a 999 call from an old man who has shot an intruder. When the police arrive they are shocked
to find that the intruder is Detective Inspector Jack Frost. Ohgawdblimey! David Jason shot. Dead? Imagine...no telly at Christmas. It's unthinkable!

Rewind...

It's ten days before Christmas and an eight-year-old girl hasn't come home from Sunday School. Her mother, a twenty-four year-old prostitute, didn't go to collect her because she was otherwise engaged. Thus begins a very eventful few days in the life of Detective Inspector Jack Frost GC (He received the George Cross for bravery after being shot while tackling an armed bank robber.) Frost is a shabby looking man in his early fifties, he wears a dirty old mac and a tatty maroon scarf, like a cross between Columbo and Dr Who†. He describes himself as "a natural sodder-upper" and his wife has recently died from cancer.

Meanwhile, the Chief Constable's nephew, Clive Barnard, arrives in the market-town of Denton (population 100,000), having been transferred from London. He resents being posted to "turnip country" and worse still he finds he has to work with an "old tramp" in a "filthy mac"! Oh dear.

Frost is a great character, down-to-earth and believable, but unorthodox… He always carries a set of skeleton keys and a penknife which he uses for dubious purposes, and he really hates paperwork. (When asked to supply crime statistics, he just gues
ses!) But what makes him most entertaining, and made David Jason perfect for the role, are the withering, sarcastic remarks he makes, which often bring matters into sharp perspective.

The investigation into the disappearance of the girl leads Frost to Denton woods, but the only things he finds there are a 'psychic' woman who lives in a house full of cats, and a skeleton from 1951. Interestingly there is an off-hand remark during the search of the woods that echo, or perhaps inspired, part of the plot of "The Treatment" by Mo Hayder. (I can't say exactly what without giving it away, but I thought I'd tease you anyway!)

Some things in this book do sounds dated. For example, younger readers might be mystified by references to the GPO and a teleprinter, but then it was written in 1984 which is the distant past nowadays rather than the ominous future. Another thing that can jar, is when a writer uses a word in dialogue, which, while it may be grammatically accurate, wouldn't be said in real life. "Don't you think I've reproached myself" the girl's mother says at one point. Well, 24-year-old prostitutes simply don't talk like that, do they?* Still, everyone is entitled to get one worm wrong occasionally.

Frost At Christmas is a run-of-the-mill story with the usual twists and turns to keep you guessing, but nothing to shake a stick at. The bottom line is that if you like crime fiction, then R.D. Wingfield is as good as the next man (or should that be woman - does anyone know?) So if crime fiction is your bag, then stick your head in it!


* How would I know?
† David Jason as Dr. Who? Now there's an idea...

¶ Paperback: £6.99 ¶ pp 384 ¶ ISBN: 0552139815 ¶

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ R. D. Wingfield has written five books featuring Jack Frost:-

Frost at Christmas (1984)
A Touch of Frost (1987)
Night
Frost (1992)
Hard Frost (1995)
Winter Frost (2000)
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