Another gripping tale from Myfanwy Alexander

Book Review by Graham Breeze

Burning Issue, Myfanwy Alexander’s follow-up to best-seller Bloody Eisteddfod, has arrived in all the best book stores with more complex tales around the life of Llanfair Caereinion Police Inspector Daf Dafis.

The Powys County Councillor with Cabinet responsibilities for Adult Social Care and the Welsh Language is probably better known for her TV and written work in Welsh than her English works around murders in the normally peaceful Mid Wales countryside. But she is surely onto another winner here.

This time it’s an intriguing tale around the suspicious death of Heulwen-Breeze-Evans, Plaid Cymru’s candidate for the Welsh Assembly elections, who perished in an office fire in Welshpool and of course Acting Chief Inspector Daf Dafis is in charge of the investigation.

What at first had seemed an innocent fire turns out to be a complicated murder investigation with revelations about the complex lives being led by not just Mrs Breeze-Evans but her election rival and other politicians too.

It’s a gripping and often complicated tale of country life and the twists and turns affecting the many families whose lives become linked by the tragic death of such a well-known politician.

While the book is clearly a classic “Who-done-it” there is also a brilliantly written insight into the personal life of the main subject Daf Dafis - a conscientious bobby who had married into the well-to-do farming community, only to take-off with his sister-in-law and set-up home with their newly born child in the very centre of Llanfair. A scandal in itself.

Daf’s attempt to live as normal a life as possible with his new family proves a difficult balancing act with the day-to-day challenges of a demanding job – particularly when his investigation starts to touch his own family and many of their friends.

And is there anyone in the community without a reason to want Mrs Breeze-Evans dead?

There’s also more than a smattering of sexual tension in the Banwy Valley air. Hard to believe that the farming and political communities could find so much time for such extra-marital excitement – and who knew that such goings-on could happen at The Goat in sleepy Llanfair Caereinion?

Published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch with support from the Welsh Books Council, Burning Issue gives Myfanwy Alexander every chance of having another top-selling book on her hands and at £9 is worth every penny.

Who is the author?

Myfanwy Alexander was brought up in the hills of Montgomeryshire where she returned to raise her six daughters in a thatched farmhouse near Llanfair Caereinion. As a writer and broadcaster, she has numerous credits for comedy, drama and factual programmes, winning a Sony Comedy Award for her long-running satire show The LL Files. She is half of the Wales team on Radio 4's gloriously obscure Round Britain Quiz.

Where can I buy the book?

Burning Issue is available at all leading book stores and with Amazon.