The Broken Afternoon

Oxford-based author Simon Mason has made a mark with his almost identically named sleuths Ray Wilkins and Ryan Wilkins, the former precise and formal, the latter dishevelled (and now discharged from his job). In The Broken Afternoon, a child goes missing from an Oxford nursery, and the duo must work together again to tackle a clandestine criminal network. Such issues as the vulnerability of children and current diversity drives are grist to Mason's mill in this beguiling offspring of Colin Dexter's Morse series. * Financial Times *
Move over Morse. Simon Mason's Oxford crime novel confounds all our expectations. -- Val McDermid
His work has qualities in common with that of fellow Oxford novelist Mick Herron: alert, amusingly cynical, relishing absurdities * BookBrunch *
The detectives Ryan Wilkins and Ray Wilkins - no relation - are back . . . Having established their relationship so vividly last year in A Killing in November, Simon Mason spreads his wings to show just how good a writer he is. The horror of paedophilia is never downplayed and throws into relief Ryan's unconditional love for his young son: "Be good, Daddy." Oxford and its environs - described so well you can smell the heat-crazed pavements and the rank luxuriance of the water-meadows - is a character in itself . . . The result . . . is a funny, thrilling and life-affirming story. * The Times *
A welcome return from an unforgettable, nuanced character. * Daily Mail *
There is no one else like him! * Mark Sanderson The Times/Sunday Times Crime Club *
Humane, tense, funny and fabulous -- Amanda Craig
The writing is fast and colourful, the men's love-hate relationship is entertaining, and their own troubles add depth to this excellent police procedural. * Literary Review *
This pacy tale, with twists and raw emotion, is gripping * Sun *
There is a long history of crime fiction set in Oxford, stretching back to Dorothy L Sayers. Contemporary writers offer a very different view of the city . . . Simon Mason's superb second Oxford-set novel, The Broken Afternoon, opens in a poky office of a van hire company . . . Child abduction is a difficult subject for genre fiction, but Mason handles it sensitively, and every sentence is beautifully written. * Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month *
A bright new series that makes Colin Dexter's Oxford feel distinctly passé * Times (Audiobook of the Week) *

Simon Mason is a bright new talent who sets his second book of this series in a thoroughly modern Oxford
that makes Morse seem distinctly passé.

* Times (Audio Book of the Week) *
Mason's superb crime novels are set in a version of Oxford where areas of deprivation co-exist with posh family homes. His detective, working as a night security guard, stumbles on information about the disappearance of a child. Mason handles a difficult subject well and every sentence is beautifully written. * Joan Smith, Sunday Times *