Set in Essex in 1991 this is the latest in a series but the first one I have read. It works ok as a standalone with not too many references to earlier books. That being said like most series I feel it would be better to read them in order. Two completely different detective sergeants are paired together to investigate the death of a criminal who has recently returned from Spain to the UK.
Although totally different in character the pairing seems to work. Not really a police procedural but more of an old fashioned whodunnit the story is well plotted and held my interest throughout. The social attitudes of the times are well depicted and reminded me of how much things have changed in the intervening years( I was 46 in 1991)
Not a great book but a readable book.

I saw a true crime dcoumentary about the Rettendon Murders and this story made me think about that case as the atmosphere and the places are similar.
It's a tense and gritty thriller, featuring interesting detectives and a very bleak setting.
Well written, twisty, surprising and gripping.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A slightly different police procedural with some interesting characters and a rather convoluted plot. I got a bit confused at times but on the whole it was a good read.

Revel in the retro of '90s policing in this fabulous police procedural, an intriguing page-turner, and satisfyingly solid read.

This is a police procedural that, because of some of its themes, is not always an easy read. It is suspenseful, with quite a few twists, and well-crafted, but the pace was a bit too slow and I got easily distracted, so that I can’t say that the novel really worked for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus for ARC.
Britain in the early 1990s is a very different place, and Essex in winter is remote, inhospitable, and not the place you'd expect a retired drug smuggler to return to from his haven on the Costa Del Sol. Neither is it a place where vandalism of ancient churches is common or expected. However, Colchester detective and birdwatcher Kenton and his new partner Brazier have to deal with both of those, and some very nasty chickens coming home to roost.
This is the first of Henry's books I have read; I admired the sense of place and the slow unfolding of the details of the personal lives of the detectives and the people they encounter. The compassion for people involved in the rapidly changing health and care system was finely done and took me right back to that era. A month later, do I remember how it turned out? No. But I remember that it seemed just right.

This is a detective story set in Essex. Kenton and Brazier are investigating a murder and other crimes. They have to go back into the victim's past to find the connections and the motives. I found it to be a slow start, but once the detectives got involved, became more engaged ed. I liked the two detectives, and WPC Wilde. They were a bit unorthodox at times, but were kind to the vulnerable people involved in the case. Recommended.

I guess you have to be a true fan of o James Henry to complete his books.
The Winter Visitor promised so much but failed to take me on the journey. It lost me at the very beginning (story was being told from several perspective) and failed to pick me up as the story rushed on.

The return of notorious drug smuggler Bruce Hopkins to Essex puzzles not only his former wife, but the local police too. Having fled to the Costa del Sol many years ago, his wife is surprised that he would be so desperate to see her again. When things turn nasty for Bruce, Kenton and Brazier are on the case - along with the strange arson attack on a local church. As they delve deeper secrets from the past give some insight into what may be causing the sudden upturn in the crime statistics. Can they find out the truth before anyone else is hurt?

I love that the author made me think. This was a puzzling case and kept me guessing throughout. I liked the setting and the time period. It was just far enough in the past to show the big changes that have happened in the last few decades. 

The working relationship between the two police officers was interesting. One represented the more sensitive side of policing - while the other would have been at home in The Sweeney. But it worked. 

A well written mystery, dealing with a difficult subject.

I wasn't sure if I should tag this review as 'historical crime fiction.' The novel certainly takes us back to a 1991 England of Ford Sierras, four-star petrol, Spurs being managed by Terry Venables and captained by Gary Mabbutt. Perma-press slacks from C&A and  - on the telly - the brief wonder that was BSKYB. We are in and around the town of Colchester in Essex, and we are in one of those winters where it always used to snow. I am sure that there is a doctorate waiting to be written on why Essex is perceived to Britain's Crime Central. Perhaps it might be to do with the White House Farm murders in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, the 'Essex Boys' murder at Rettendon, or the exploits of double murderer James Fairweather in Colchester.

In The Winter Visitor, James Henry echoes his love of ornithology by using the term used for birds who fly to Britain during the winter - among them Redwings, Fieldfares, and both Bewick's and Whooper Swans. I reviewed an earlier James Henry novel with an avian title, Whitethroat, back in 2020, and you can read the review on my website.


Two birds of very different feather are Detective Sergeants Daniel Kenton and Julian Brazier, based in Colchester. Kenton is married, bespectacled and fairly civilised:

"Daniel Kenton stared blankly into the hairdresser's mirror. He did not care to see himself as others surely would: a a weary man, with murky red eyes, closing in on thirty five but aged beyond his years."

Brazier, however, is frequently uncouth, ostensibly insensitive, and with the dress sense of someone preening himself in a Southend pound shop.

"Brazier was in a green bomber jacket and baggy black trousers like Charlie Chaplin, with white trainers poking out the bottom of them. Pegged trousers with turn-ups as well - on such short a leg as Brazier's they were not at all flattering."

As a pair, though, they are extremely effective. They need to be. James Henry has presented us with an extremely complex murder case.

Bruce Hopkins, an Essex criminal - not a major gangster, but more of a conman who dabbled in the drugs business - returns from the Spanish hideaway he shares with many other dodgy British expats, but it is a huge mistake. He is kidnapped, shoved into the boot of a Sierra (what else) which is rolled into a reservoir. When the car and body are discovered Kenton and Brazier are assigned to the case, and it is a complex one.

Hopkins did not have a criminal history likely to provoke Mafia-style revenge, so there seems to be no point in rounding up 'the usual suspects'. Even so, Kenton is despatched to Marbella to interview former Essex bad boys, but he returns literally clueless. There is also a current investigation into an arson attack on a local church, and it is that Kenton and Brazier get the first hint of a breakthrough when they begin to suspect that Hopkins's death may be linked to a small preparatory school called Bryde Park and some of its former staff and pupils.

James Henry is a very good writer. He captures the period perfectly, and his appreciation of the nature of Essex's relationship with London is acute:

"Billericay, South Essex. Home of the East Ender made good. Traders, jobbers, grafters on the stock market. Leave school in May at fifteen, straight on the train into Liverpool Street towards plum jobs with brokers in the city, pulling in wedge before their smarter 'O' Level classmates finish in the exam hall."

Kenton and Brazier have to visit an old fashioned mental hospital in the course of the investigation, and Henry captures its menace:

"...the institution itself had teetered on the fringe of an archaic medical world best forgotten. At the forefront of experimental medicine in the fifties, the place was synonymous with lobotomies, padded cells, terrifying screams, and all the nightmares associated with the restraint of insanity."

We are lead this way and that as we share the detectives' struggles to make sense of the death of Bruce Hopkins. The solution is as unexpected as it is elegant, and this is superior crime fiction. Published by Riverrun/Quercus, it is available now.

A cold winter in Essex, 1990, and wanted drug smuggler Bruce Hopkins has come back from ten years on the Costa del Crime at the behest of his wife, or so he thinks. When Hopkins' body is found dead in the boot of a car submerged in a lake, the police think his criminal links are to blame. However when this is linked to a fire at a local church and the suicide of a retired teacher, the clues point towards a local Prep school and secrets from a decade earlier.
This is a very good police procedural which is enhanced by the period setting. The early 1990s are when policing started to become politically correct so there is lots of sexism here which is being addressed subtly and appropriately in the narrative. The plot is suitably complex and the period setting is just right.

A competent police procedural set in deepest Essex during the 1990s. Though well written, the story did not interest me and I failed to finish.

This was a slightly confusing story which did'n't unravel until right at the end. Raised some interesting dilemmas and had some dubious characters. A rather nebulous conclusion.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Quercus and James Henry for my ARC of ‘The Winter Visitor’ in return for an honest review.

Bruce Hopkins has been lured back to Colchester in the winter after spending 10 years in sunny Spain, escaping from a drug charge in the UK. He’s found dead in the boot of a car at the bottom of a reservoir.

It’s February 1991 and DS Brazier and DS Kenton set about unravelling the murder and the mysteries surrounding it.

Great read. Recommended.

Bruce Hopkins is lured back to a chilly Essex from his bolt hole in Spain by a letter supposedly from his ex wife. However he’s found stripped naked in the boot of a Ford Sierra at the bottom of a reservoir. Tge not I’d found earlier tha could have been expected. Also a wooden church roof is set on fire in a most unusual way. Are the two connected. And then a florist commits suicide. Is this connected as well? I loved the way it was written from 1990’s perspective

This was a fairly good read, but sadly I did not get the "wow" feeling at any point during the book. I think this could be because I did not really end up clicking with the characters. The story is good, and the setting interesting, and nothing wrong with the book per se. One reason could be that I have lately read a lot of books with a faster pace, so maybe my mind was not set on the pace in this book.

I enjoyed this Police Procedural ,set in the 1990's during a very cold and snowy winter in Essex..Full of twists and turns with lots of good characters .I liked the two Detectives DS Kenton and Brazier ,two complete opposites but great together. First a body is found in the boot of a car in a lake then the local Church is set on fire is there a connection ? A very good story ,atmospheric.I hope this is the beginning of a new series .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

Bruce Hopkins, has returned back to Colchester after 10 years on the Costa del Sol. An ex drug dealer with many enemies so why has he returned? However he is soon found dead but who has done this now and why?
Also there is the question of an arson attack on a church and the suicide of a florist! Are they linked?
Good luck to DS Daniel Kenton and DS Brazier is solving this one!

An entertaining police procedural book set in 1991. The set up for the situation was comprehensive and the reader is given a good and varied cast of characters, the two main characters being the most interesting. The case proves to be a complex one with lots of twists. I presume this is the first book in a new series and I look forward to reading more.

The Winter Visitor is the latest police procedural book by James Henry.

Set in Essex in 1991 an “old face” returns home only to be found dead shortly afterwards.

The main underlying story is a good one but it felt at times a little bit disjointed with the book sometimes feeling like it was jumping around.

The 2 main detectives are interesting characters although their backstories could have been expanded upon. Maybe that’s for future books!

So overall a potentially good start to a potential series.