The Killings on Jubilee Terrace [CD-ROM]

I always enjoy Robert Barnard's books. This is one of his tamer books, not as gripping as most. Still, it is interesting enough and I enjoyed reading it. Sometimes he makes the characters so interesting that I really want to know what happens to them, even if they aren't especially likable. I wasn't as interested in the characters in this book. Charlie Peace is still the best, however. I hope he keeps appearing in Barnard's books.

When a popular soap opera TV series runs for years, the lines between fact and fiction can blur in the minds of the millions of viewers. Until I read this book I hadn't thought much about it. But Robert Barnard shows as well as tells how easily an actor and his/her character can become confused, conflated or something in between. Not just for the viewers, but for the cast, crew and other real people in their lives.

Because Barnard is such a master of his craft, I broke one of my rules for selecting novels to read for fun. The rule is that if there's a long list of characters at the beginning of the book, it will be too much trouble to keep them straight so I don't bother with the book. I saw the character/actor list on page ix of this book but did not put it back on the shelf. I don't regret that decision.

The long-running popular soap "Jubilee Terrace" has a core cast of actors who've been performing their roles for years. Other characters - and the actors in the roles - have come and gone. As the story opens, an older actor - Vernon Watts - has died after a street accident, and his character has just been written out of the series (also by death). We learn that Vernon wasn't much loved by his cast mates, in contrast to his well-liked onscreen character.

Then the cast is rocked by the announcement that a long-gone character is being written back in to the series - and will be played again by Hamish Fawley, the most loathsome actor to ever blight the set. It doesn't bother the young and restless ones perhaps as much as the older thespians, but Hamish has plenty of nastiness in store for everyone without regard for race, gender or age.

The cat has been set among the pigeons, and the cat has a sidekick. The bitchy wife of a long-time featured player joins with Hamish to make trouble, not least for her longsuffering husband and all their children. Other actors worry about their futures as the world, and series, turn. A young student actor gets a break and becomes a bone of contention between two actors who each want his character to have more scenes with theirs. Hamish' nastiness spreads fear and loathing.

Then DI Charlie Peace appears on the set, investigating an anonymous letter claiming that Vernon Watts was murdered. After a series of interviews, Peace finds nothing to support the allegations.

One night not long afterwards, an arsonist sets fire to Hamish's flat - with fatal results for Hamish and the woman in bed with him. Peace's pompous prat of a superior officer, Superintendent Birnley, rushes to convene a press conference to announce the names of the victims. But as Birnley is striding into the room to start his press conference, he ignores an urgent message from Peace. This has terrible results for the case and for Birnley's career.

The police have to investigate a double murder - not only the victims of the crime but a potential victim. This exposes some creepy personal secrets, and sends the usual sort of ripples among the witnesses, suspects and associates. This time I spotted whodunit before the author revealed all, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment of the story. I liked seeing Charlie Peace in action, and hearing briefly from his wife too, as he moved between the real and unreal lives involved with Jubilee Terrace, to the final scene. It was a bit of a job to keep the actors and their characters sorted out along the way, but well worth it. I'm not familiar with any of the major Brit soaps such as Coronation Street or Eastenders, but I suspect I might have enjoyed The Killings on Jubilee Terrace even more if I were.

Jubilee Terrace remains the second most popular soap opera in England in spite of being on the air for years. Actors come and go; almost always either being released or quitting for another job. However, top star Vernon Watts accidentally is hit by a bus. To appease upset viewers, Reggie Friedman brings back Hamish Fawley on the show; Hamish plays Cyril Wharton, who came home to die from TB.

Bet Garrett and Hamish pretend to marry and threaten to gain custody of her three children. She does not want her brats, but her husband Bill, who also performs on the show, actually wants his offspring so she uses her daughters as an extortion device. Bill believes his wife and Hamish are deceitful and is unable to let go of his his seething rage. Someone kills Hamish and his latest chippie and rumors spread that Watts' seemingly accidental death was no accident. Leeds Inspector Charlie Peace, who thinks soap is to wash hands, investigates in what seems to him as if he stars as Alice in Wonderland without the benefit of the rabbit or the looking glass. He struggles with separating TV persona from real personalities as everyone seems to perform all the time. In terms of Hamish, he quickly realizes everyone had a strong motive to see the final curtain fall on the nasty actor playing his last role.

Most of the novel takes the reader back stage behind the scenes of a soap opera so they think they get to know the key characters rather quickly; albeit with the same problem Peace has as the reader wonders whether they are seeing the real person or a role. The investigation is intense, but takes a long time to solve. No one will care as Charlie plays second fiddle, which adds freshness to the wonderful police procedural series; as Robert Barnard shines a deep spotlight behind the TV wall where acrimony and backstabbing are not hidden behind a performance.

Harriet Klausner

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