Shelf Control is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Instead of always looking ahead to upcoming new releases, I thought I’d start a weekly feature focusing on already released books that I want to read. Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available, and in most cases, books that are either on my shelves or on my Kindle!

Title: Shallow Graves

Author: Ray Fysh

Published: 2023

Length: 318 pages

Brief Synopsis from Goodreads: Shortlisted for the True Crime Awards 2023 Best New True Crime Author

The murder of Sarah Payne, Adam the Thames Torso, the London bombings, the Night Stalker and the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko… The solving of all these cases can be linked to one Ray Fysh, a beer-swigging Charlton Athletic fan from Woolwich, a natural raconteur and also one of the finest forensic detectives the country has ever seen.

Ray began work for the Met Police in the 1970s when forensic investigation was seen as little more than a geeky side show, only in existence to confirm or eliminate evidence. But by the mid 90s Ray and his team had made huge progress in their field, contributing to the UK becoming a world-leading innovator in forensic techniques, with Ray himself being named as Special Adviser to the Forensic Science Service. As the SA, Ray worked alongside Senior Investigating Officers from day one of a case, directing his team to identify forensic opportunities and harvest case-cracking clues.

As Ray looks back over his career at the cases he worked on, the reader is given unparalleled insight into the highs and lows of an astonishing career, the historic classist snobbery of the Met and the stunning realities of crime and forensics

How I got it: I bought this book at a mall in Meadowhall / Sheffield, England. Having lived in Austria since 2017, I am used to inner city train systems that function relatively on time and without issue. Apparently, in England there is a massive worker shortage, which affects the trains because there aren’t enough operators. So even though Sheffield and Meadowhall are one stop away from each other, it took me nearly an hour to travel one way because there were at least 3 trains cancelled before one showed up due to having no operator to run it. I didn’t have a book with me, so I bought this one for 4 pounds to read on the way back to the hotel.

When I got it: 2023

Why I want to read it: The synopsis sounded really good!