Utterly Explosive

This is the first audiobook in the Utterly Crime Series, set in Suffolk, England. It is 2010 and three unlikely friends, thrown together on a carpentry course, are about to start their apprenticeships. Overweight Matt, who has mild autistic traits, persuades middle-aged widow Chrissie and prize-student Nick, to investigate a relative's suspicious death. Up to this point their lives have revolved around real ale, quirky T-shirts, music and cranky classic cars.

The friends are increasingly drawn into a web of subversive events, lives are put at risk and ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary situations when a disaffected local criminal turns terrorist, planting bombs and firing missiles. The action centres around historic Wattisham Airfield, the helicopter base where Princes Harry & William trained.

This is a lively first crime novel with themes of friendship, loyalty and eccentricity played against a backdrop of rolling wheat fields, Norman church towers and fertile fruit farms. DI Clive Merry makes his first appearance towards the end of the novel.