Set in France against the backdrop of World War 1, Cut and Run is a gritty and interesting crime thriller. Written by established author Alec Marsh (known for the Drabble and Harris series), Cut and Run is the first novel in the new Frank Champion thriller series.
Using a real-life geographical setting and real-life brothels which served the British military during the war, Cut and Run tells a dark, gritty murder mystery.
War weary and wounded ex-soldier Frank Champion is approached by an old contact to investigate the murder of a prostitute in northern France. Working at the Blue Lamp, a brothel that exclusively caters for British army officers, Marie-Louise Toulon’s was the prostitute whose is now dead. She was found with her throat slit and a British condom clutched in her lifeless hand.
Champion travels from Essex to northern France to investigate Marie-Louise’s murder. Yet almost immediately the enigmatic Fabienne Thomas, another prostitute also known to work at the Blue Lamp is murdered in eerily similar circumstances. And then the death toll continues to rise, including the death of Captain Bradbury, a man at first glance whom appears to have committed suicide, feeling the need to pay the price for his sins. Is Captain Bradbury the murderer? Or is his death a convenient set-up? And then there is the mysterious disappearance of Suzette Emmolet, another prostitute from the Blue Lamp.
Rich in dark historical detail, Cut and Run is a gritty thriller that explores some unsettling themes. It is full of interesting twists, meaning that I never worked out the ending, which I liked. As someone who reads a lot of historical war fiction, I found this to be an intriguing read, giving me the more seedy view of life on the front line.
At times I did feel as though I was missing aspects in the narrative, as more than once I had to go back and check that this book was the first in the series. I felt that Frank Champion had a back story that was alluded to, but as a reader I didn’t really have any knowledge of. Maybe Frank’s back story will be explored in the future novels in the series…
Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to the blog tour of Cut and Run which was published on 21 November 2024 by Sharpe Books. To follow the blog tour, please see below.
