''Murphy's Law'' is the first novel of the ''Martin Murphy'' series by Northern Irish author Colin Bateman, published on 13 October 2011 through

Headline Publishing Group Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton, and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acqu ...

. The novel is adapted from the television series of the same name, created by Bateman and starring

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994). ...

Plot

The novel surrounds undercover

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

policeman Martin Murphy. Murphy fails a professional assessment due to the murder of his young son by IRA terrorists, and is assigned to work in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He is assigned a case investigating a

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

funeral home A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary is a business that provides burial, entombment and cremation services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared visitation and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for t ...

, the proprietors of which are suspected diamond thieves.

Development

The novel was written when Bateman realised that the amount of material he had written for the TV series of the same name exceeded what would be produced. Bateman decided to change the name of the protagonist from "Tommy" to "Martin" as "I wanted to be able to control the character if – as it turned out to be true – I was no longer writing the series and someone else decided to take it in a different direction".

Reception

The novel was well received. Reviewing for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', Anthea Lawson stated that "Bateman's writing is hard, fast and funny, and there's a slick sheen to the inevitable violence". Denise Wels, for ''Reviewing The Evidence'', stated "black humour abounds in a plot about funeral directors that fair begs for comic asides"; commenting that "Bateman has created some nasty villains", specifically Hatcher, who she found to be "totally immoral and sadistic finding entertainment in the troubles of others whilst displaying the most touching filial affection for his own deplorable parent". Writer Michael Stone found Murphy to be "charming, witty and dangerous" with "almost Holmesian powers of observation", stating "he is a character with complex issues, but Bateman renders him so humanely we have no problem identifying with him". Stone goes on to state that he found that the writing "is never less than superb". He does comment that "some folks dislike the sudden changes of POV, and I agree that head-swapping can lead to confusion at times" though does go on to conclude that "life's too short to nitpick, and I have another Murphy book to read, '' Murphy's Revenge''".

References

External links

* {{Colin Bateman Novels from Northern Ireland Novels set in London Novels by Colin Bateman 2002 British novels British crime novels Headline Publishing Group books