For many, the words “the first in a new murder mystery series from Jeremy Vine” will feel more like a threat than a promise. Ever since Richard Osman’s monster hit The Thursday Murder Club five years ago, there has been a barrage of crime novels written by British broadcasters — Robert Peston (ITV), Richard Madeley (ITV), Stig Abell (Times Radio), Richard Coles (Radio 4), to name but a few. Yet Vine (Radio 2, Channel 5) can be forgiven for jumping on the bandwagon. In a niche but growing sub-genre, his small-town whodunnit, Murder on Line One, is one of the better offerings.
Robert Peston’s hero was a political journalist and Richard Coles’s was a priest, so naturally Jeremy Vine’s is a radio host
What is Murder on Line One about?
Peston’s hero was a political journalist and Coles’s was a priest, so naturally Vine’s is a radio host. Edward Temmis is a phone-in presenter at a local station in Sidmouth who’s given the heave-ho as part of a doomed attempt to bring in a non-existent younger audience. Alone and grief-addled (dead son: tick!), Edward is given new purpose by Stevie, a vicar’s daughter with Tourette’s syndrome, after she asks him to look into the suspicious death of her grandmother, who was a fan of his show. With the help of Edward’s old flame Kim, he and Stevie learn that a scammer is targeting his elderly listeners, gathering information about their interests to fleece them.
What the story lacks in originality it makes up for in dry humour
Vine is an Agatha Christie mega-fan (he read all 66 of her books before he was 18), which may explain why his mystery is unashamedly old-fashioned. But what the story lacks in originality it makes up for in dry humour (I especially liked the detail of a WhatsApp group formed by vengeful scam victims called “Ladies who lynch”) and the bonhomie between the three heroes.
It would be understandable if Vine held a cynical view of the British public after a career fielding their questions. Yet the overriding sense from his debut is that he has real affection for those who call in. It is, however, a dependent kind of love. There is a lingering fear at the heart of Murder on Line One that no one has a God-given right to be on the air and that careers, like lives, can end brutally and without warning.
William Moore is the features editor of The Spectator
Murder on Line One by Jeremy Vine is out on April 24 (£20, HarperCollins)
