I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. Another great read from a great author, always entertaining but also keeps you thinking. I highly recommend.

Didn't feel too in depth but definitely a fun and solid read. I love old time murder mystery and this did not disappoint! The characters and plot definitely make it worth picking up!

I loved that this was a 1940s mystery, it felt like a true story, The plot is really well done and the characters were really great,

Sam and O’Rourke’s task was a tedious one, back and forth on the train they travel, seeking clues that would aid them in their quest of solving a complex murder that was over twenty years old. O’Rourke couldn’t hide her tears as she watched the dead numbers rose, as more and more of the gruesome and morbid details began to come to light. The book cover was deceptive, you know, I thought it was going to be one of those dreary reads. It was nothing of the sort. Instead, it turned out to be an intriguing, interesting, and captivating read.

Gripping but also totally creepy
The sister of a murdered boy comes to the police station every year on the date of his death to see if there has been any developments in his case, now 20 years later there seems like there could be a link with another murder elsewhere in the country and it will take all of Chief Inspector Sam Mason and Constable O’Rourke’s skills to solve the case
Sam and O’Rourke are a brilliant team and work together really well. They see patterns and as they get further into the investigation their working relationship gets much stronger but they also allow others to have an input and it’s Sam’s wife who makes a key connection thanks to the input of a Scottish officer
This story is fast paced and kept me on my toes with twists and turns at every corner making it impossible to put down. Seeing how the case unfolded was fascinating and I know that I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out, but I was very invested in knowing what would happen next
I’m not going to lie, the crimes in this book are really high on the creepy scale and it has freaked me out quite a bit which I think reflects the writing style and the nature of the story. I haven’t been this unnerved by a book in a long time and may need to sleep with the light on tonight
It’s so compelling and I think this book would appeal to those who enjoy detective stories with brilliant characters and a story that will pull you in and not let you go

"Sam took hold of the book, surprised by its heft, only to realize it was the knowledge inside that weighed him and not the book at all." This quote from The Custard Corpses reflects how this book is so much more than an historical police procedural. Set in 1943 Birmingham, England and with brief glimpses of other U.K. locations, the author tells the story of the investigation of a cold case from 20 years prior. The main character, Chief Inspector Sam Mason, follows a string of new leads, each built on one coincidence after another to unfurl several additional unsolved murders in other communities that appear to be all connected to the same killer. How many children were victims, who is the killer, what was the motive, why was each victim "posed" in death, and did a killer get away with murder? The investigation lead by Sam is set against the backdrop of life just after the worst of the Blitz during WWII. People in these communities are trying to conduct daily living as normally as possible while food rationing, the fear of new air raids, and concern for loved ones fighting in the war loom around them. To bring up old wounds from unsolved murders only seems to add weight to the already gloomy feeling. However, the possibility of uncovering the truth, and thus offering closure to the families of the victims drives Sam to see the investigation through to its conclusion. This was a very engaging, well-written story that I thoroughly enjoyed! I thank NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Really good stuff. A well-crafted mystery with great characters. It's not always a fast-moving plot, but it is engaging, and it has a good ending. Recommended for historical fiction fans. I'll have to circle back to some of MJ's other books.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

The Custard Corpses is a well written WW2 police procedural set in England and written by M.J. Porter. Released 25th March 2021 it's 225 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is the author's first foray into the more modern era. Quite possibly having been used to settings in the quite distant past, the relatively recent setting of WW2 era Birmingham wasn't too much of a stretch. I was impressed with the verisimilitude of the characters, the dialogue, and the setting. I'm often an unwilling stickler for anachronisms and continuity (my friends hate my continuity game), and nothing jumped out at me here. It's very much a procedural with an ensemble group along with Chief Inspector Mason trying to unravel a very cold-case child murder more than 20 years old.

The characters are distinct and well rendered. The setting (as stated) is pitch perfect. The only thing that felt off-kilter to me was the fact that there's a fair bit of banter and light humour and the book's murders are about as dark as it's possible to *be*. The murders (over several decades) are children and the denouement and resolution struck me as so bizarrely creepy (but well done), that the sort of humorous banter just added maybe a bit too much ick factor for me to really relax and enjoy the read. The author is both prolific and talented; it was unquestionably intentional, it just felt a bit too much to me. For readers who really like that sort of creepy vibe, there's a lot to enjoy here.

Four stars. Well written. I would recommend it to fans of period British police procedurals.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

*Many thanks to MJ Porter, BooksGoSocial, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
An entertaining read, despite the WW2 background, that offers a good cold case mystery, well-depicted characters and the feel of what life was like in 1943 in Birmingham. Hope to read more books by the author.

I chose this one largely based on the strange title.
Birmingham, England, UK, 1943.

A cold case that has bothered Sam Mason for years comes to the forefront again when Robert McFarlane's sister comes to Sam on her annual visit about the death of her brother. This time, however, she brings an old newspaper clipping about a child murder that took place three years after young Robert's.

Interested, if not exactly hopeful, Sam is determined to follow any lead. As it turns out, there are similarities Sam can't ignore...and yet cannot decipher. Sam's wife makes the most important connection that sends Sam and Constable O'Rourke through many twists and turns as "new" old cases keep turning up.

The concept is interesting and the investigation kept me involved. Slow in places and sometimes a bit repetitious, The Custard Corpses still managed to provide an intriguing and unusual historical police procedural.

Read in April. Blog review scheduled for ????

NetGalley/BooksGoSocial

Historical Police Procedural. March 25, 2021.

A great mystery which is supported by excellent scene setting and character development. For me, it also showed how modern crime solving techniques have changed over time, but the heartbreak of losing a loved one has remained constant. I loved how the authors made 1943 so clear and real. Such an enjoyable mystery!

This was a fabulous read,.Right from the beginning it had me hooked and this was read incredibly fast as I wanted to find out the ending. Would definitely recommend this book.

Wow! I was hooked from the opening paragraph to the last line.

Set during World War II, a cold case murder is reopened when a possible link is found miles away from Erdington, in Weston. How can they solve murders going back twenty-five year? How are the murders linked? And will there be any other victims?

I enjoyed the interplay between the main characters and felt the relationships were natural. I was quickly invested in their journey and hoped they would be able to solve these crimes as they crossed the UK. I especially like the positive portrayal of the female police, O'Rourke, as policing was seen as a 'man's job' in the forties, and many female police characters in other books have them playing a more subservient role. The story kept me guessing, and I was convinced that one of the police officers may have been involved.

This is the first book I have read by MJ Porter, and it won't be the last. Highly recommend.

A well written, entertaining and gripping historical mystery, the first I read in a series and hope there will be more.
Excellent character development, a vivid historical background and a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A quirky whodunnit didn't think I would enjoy it but wow air raids you felt you were in the story line. The title of the book doesn't make sense until you start reading the story

Set in 1940s Brum, amidst air raids and general unease, our Chief Inspector Mason has a murder of a young boy on his hands. It bears remarkable similarities to a 20 year-old unsolved case that's haunted Mason through his career. Mason and his sidekick O'Rourke work well together teasing out similarities, chasing leads and finding a series of similar cases from other parts of the country - no HOLMES in those days, each police force working effectively in isolation. The atmosphere felt right for the times although Mason was able to get petrol easily enough given that these were cold cases, albeit related to an ongoing investigation. The joy of waiting for responses - something for which we have little tolerance or understanding these days. The story never dragged though. Well-written and well characterised people this was a distinctly enjoyable read although I doubt I'll see custard in quite the same light again! Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sometimes a book comes along with very little by way of advanced publicity or hype, and it hits the sweet spot right away. One such is The Custard Corpses by MJ Porter. Strangely-named it might be but the reason for the title becomes more obvious - and appropriate - the more one reads. A few sentences in, and I was hooked. It ticks several of my favourite boxes - WW2 historical, police procedural, likeable and thoroughly decent English copper, the West Midlands and a plot which is inventive without being implausible.

We are in the Birmingham district of Erdington. It is 1943 and Great War veteran Sam Mason is a uniformed Chief Inspector at the local nick. He is not yet on the downward slope heading for retirement, but he is like Tennyson's Ulysses:

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

He is a man given to reflection, and a case from his early career still troubles him. On 30th September
1923, a boy's body was found near the local church hall. Robert McFarlane had been missing for three
days, his widowed mother frantic with anxiety. Mason remembers the corpse vividly. It was almost as if the lad was just sleeping. The cause of death? Totally improbably the boy drowned. But where? And why was his body so artfully posed, waiting to be found? Mason and his then boss, Chief Inspector Fullerton, had never solved the crime, and Mrs McFarlane died without knowing the whys and wherefores of her son's death.


When  Mason learns that there had been a similar case, a couple of years later, he is close to despair that it hadn't come to light earlier. He realises that the fault was theirs. They hadn't circulated the strange details of Robert's death as widely as they should. Attempting to make amends, albeit two decades too late, he has a circular drawn up, and sent to the police forces across England, Scotland and Wales. To his dismay, a succession of unsolved killings come to light; the dead youngsters are of different ages, but there is one bizarre common factor - the bodies have been posed as if in some kind of sporting action.

Mason is given permission to devote his energies to this macabre series of killings, and with the resourceful Constable O'Rourke, he sets up an incident room, and begins to receive case notes and crime scene photographs from places as far apart as Inverness, Weston, Conway and Berwick. One evening, after he has taken images and documents home with him, his wife Annie makes a startling discovery. Like nearly two million other readers across the country, she is a great fan of the magazine Picture Post, and while thumbing through a recent copy she notices that the sporting youngster drawn in an advertisement for a well-known brand of custard is posed in a way that has a chilling resemblance to the way one of the victims that Sam is investigating.

At this point, the investigation sprouts wings and launches into the air, and in a journey that takes them across England, Mason and O'Rourke eventually uncover a tale of horror and obsession that chills their blood.

MJ Porter has written a  series of historical and fantasy novels, mostly set in what we call The Dark Ages - Vikings, Goths and those sorts of chaps. That doesn't tend to be 'my thing' but, my goodness, he is a good writer. The Custard Corpses goes straight onto my early shortlist for Book of The Year, and I do hope that he can tear himself away from his tales of ravens, rape, swords and general pillage to bring us another novel featuring Sam Mason. The Custard Corpses is out now.

Birmingham, England, 1943. While the whine of the air raid sirens might no longer be rousing him from bed every night, a two-decade-old unsolved murder case will ensure that Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is about to suffer more sleepless nights. This book may be one of my favorite reads in years! I couldn’t put this down. So well plotted and suspenseful. I felt like I was in wartime England. Lots of history here as well. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

An irresistible English whodunit cleverly plotted and perfectly set within a richly detailed time period makes the Custard Corpses an engrossing and highly entertaining read. Following Mason and O’Rourke as they investigate and try to untangle the various intricate links between the murders kept me guessing and in the edge of me seat. M J Porter has written a marvellous piece of historical fiction and an unputdownable murder mystery full of highly colourful and unforgettable characters. An amazing and unexpected literary discovery that should be enjoyed without any moderation👍👍

Many thanks to Netgalley and BookGoSocial for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful novel prior to its release date

Described as a historical mystery, it has a good deal of police procedural work involved and would interest readers of that genre as well. Set in the 1943 period the story involves a decades old unsolved murder of a little boy which troubles the Detective at the station.

When he gets the go ahead to further investigate from his superior officer, Detective Mason and his constable O'Rourke start a systematic search of all possible clues and come up with missing information, wrong procedures followed and then link up with a stream of other cases across Scotland, Northern Ireland and England with a very similar form of death.

Putting the pieces together and bringing closure to several families was an act of mercy and though justice could not be meted out as the murderer had already died, the story was a good, methodical piece of detection work.