The Last Dance: A Detective Miller case - the first new Billingham series in 20 years Paperback – 18 Jan. 2024

Being huge fan of Thorne I was bit wary but o my what an incredible character Detective Miller is, love his sense of humor his personality and his comebacks had me laughing away, will definitely be buying second book and looking forward to many more.

I enjoyed this, Mark Bellingham is a very accomplished and witty writer and it is a pleasure to skim through the pages - albeit electronically. I’m docking a mark because Miller IS relentless and you mutter “just shut up” a few times plus - not really a spoiler - the ending is very annoying. I assumed I’d missed something (not unheard of), but reckon it’s one of those irritating open ended ones so you have to read the next book. Which luckily I had snaffled in a 99p Kindle bargain, and which I will definitely read. Like a few first in a series books I’ve read recently, there is heavy reliance on some dead relation (I seem to have read more than my fair share of dead dads causing or effecting the way the hero(ine) acts, and I hope that Alex can slide away in the next one. But certainly worth a read. And some great characters defined by Miller’s jaundiced take on them, Sullivan, in particular, and Sara is a fab side kick.

Loved it, loved Miller. Bother the cliff hanger, I’m getting the next one straight away. It is written, isn’t it ??? 🤨

I always want to like a Mark Billingham book as he seems to be such a great person and is always entertaining when he talks in public. He is also very generous to fellow crime writers - always pleased to encourage new novelists and he seems to be happy to give quotes when he likes a book.This was first published in 2023. It has 63 chapters spread over 378 pages. Most MB's books have been written about DI Thorne, interspersed with a few standalone novels. This book starts a new series with the introduction of DS Miller. I'd read a few Tom Thorne books but not in any particular order so had never engaged with him as a character - I was keen with DS Miller to start from the first book.The setting is Blackpool and the Tower Ballroom gives an underlying theme for the book. Declan Miller dances (as we see on the back of the book) and parts of the story are names after basic dance positions.This is a confidently written book and the author's experience shows. He is enjoying a new character and gives us plenty of material that will be picked up in future stories.There is lots of humour that makes the book entertaining - I think Miller pushes it too far and I struggled to believe that he was allowed to stay in post. Miller can be very annoying to those around him - and to the reader, which is never a good move. The humour seems to be a defence mechanism but it is not attractive and it'll be good if this is reduced in the next book. He is sometimes ridiculously irreverent which can be fun to read but stretches plausibility.The books doesn't do anything new for the genre and, at times, I felt that MB wasn't trying very hard.I do like the idea of Alex's character as it gives Miller a way to communicate his thoughts to the reader. It becomes a bit overused though and the "rules" are blurred.The experienced writing shines though and kept me reading. There are some fantastic sentences that seem to say what other authors need a whole paragraph for. This has been written recently and there are many contemporary references which make this feel current.

very good read

I have always enjoyed Tom Thorne and Bellingham’s new character couldn’t be more different. He talks with his dead wife and he shimmies on the dance floor between annoying his colleagues and solving crimes. I look forward to the next addition

Really enjoyable.I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good as the Thorne books, but I needn't have worried, this was a great read

As a big fan of the Tom Thorne series, I was in two minds about starting this one. It’s a big leap from London to Blackpool in more ways than the simple geography, and the temptation to make Miller the antithesis of Thorne, beyond his competence as a copper, is visible throughout.On the plus side, Miller is a fun character to hang out with, especially for those of us neurodivergent readers whose brains and lives exhibit similar signs of apparent chaos to the outside world. And where the later Thorne novels lacked the lightness of touch that made the earlier ones so enjoyable, the writing in this book is almost gleeful. It’s honestly lovely to see a writer having so much fun with a character without simultaneously making the whole thing either too self-conscious or embarrassingly cringeworthy. This book was undoubtedly a gamble, but it’s one that has paid off.Is the book perfect? Of course not, not least because in creating a new cast there are bound to be some rough edges along the way. But the overall grounding of the new series is solid, and I am looking forward to the next instalment. There is lots of scope for development, and I’m rooting for Sara Xiu to blossom in the next book into more than a reluctant - if ever more accepting - straight woman to Miller’s dad jokes.