William Shaw's first Breen & Tozer mystery, She's Leaving Home is a perfect snapshot of an era. It's 1968. Beatlemania is strong in England, and the young and free and beautiful seem to be in charge. Although he's not that old, Cathal Breen grew "up in an England of cautious floral prints," an England in which he was expected to turn into his parents and to accept his place in the world. He'd moved his ailing father into his home and had taken care of him until his death, and he wasn't showing any signs of fighting against what had been expected of him. No indeed. Breen has carefully avoided all the changes sweeping the country.

But Helen Tozer, fresh from the country and enjoying city life, isn't going to let him avoid those changes forever. She definitely represents The New, and although she takes a misstep or two, she's got more than enough gumption to put up with all the males who think it's ridiculous to have female police officers. That is a very good thing, too, because she even has to put up with nonsense from the secretary.

Shaw had me learning things about England in the swinging sixties. The attitudes, the casual racism, the Beatles, lardy cakes... I could really picture myself in London with Breen and Tozer. The mystery is very good, and if I had any little quibble it was the fact that I got to know more about Breen than I did Tozer, and I found Tozer to be every bit as fascinating as the closed-off Breen. But that's what a series is for: each book develops the characters even more while involving readers in new mysteries.

It's good to know that I have this series by Shaw to read while I wait for new Alex Cupidi mysteries. He's one very fine writer, and you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't at least sample one of his books. ( )

I learned from reading William Shaw’s Alexandria Cupidi series that his fictional detectives are usually, to one degree or another, pretty flawed human beings. Shaw is, in fact, quite the master at creating policemen who vividly come to life on the page precisely because those flaws make the cops so easy for the reader to identify with. Now having just read Shaw’s debut novel, She’s Leaving Home (2013), it is apparent that using flawed heroes around which to build a series of books has been a William Shaw trademark from the beginning.

It is 1968, and DS Cathal Breen has been called to the St. John’s Wood section of London to investigate the discovery of an unidentified young woman’s body. Because the body has been found so near Abbey Road Studios, Breen believes the victim to be one of the dozens of Beatle fans who regularly hang around the area hoping to get a glimpse of the Beatles as they come and go from the studio. Now he has to figure out who she was and why someone left her naked body where it could be so easily be found.

As for Breen, being a policeman has never been an easy thing for him. Already an outcast of sorts among his fellow policemen and women, Breen has recently made things much, much worse for himself by running away and hiding from a crime in progress during which his partner was being physically held at knifepoint. This is not the kind of behavior that any policeman should expect ever to recover from, but Breen has been given one more chance to prove himself — if he is only up to it.

Breen spent several years caring for his aging father, even moving the older man into his own small flat toward the end of the man’s life. And now although his father is gone, Breen continues to act much older than his years and seems to have turned into a younger version of his own father. 1968, however, is a year during which everything seems to be changing and loosening up around him except for the ultra-conservative Cathal Breen himself. Then to Breen’s chagrin, rookie investigator Helen Tozer is assigned to Breen’s mentorship at a time when female investigators are still rare in the UK, and Breen finds himself changing in more ways than he ever imagined were possible. Helen Tozer is a rather free spirit who has eagerly adopted the societal changes that Breen continues to ignore, and she has a lot to teach her supposed mentor about the world around him.

Bottom Line: She’s Leaving Home is a first-rate debut novel in which William Shaw quickly proves that he will stand out from the crowd of today’s crime writers because of his memorable characters. The two investigations that Breen investigates in this one are both interesting and satisfying, but Beatles fans are going to find the St. John’s Wood murder investigation to be particular fun. George Harrison, who lives nearby, even makes a cameo appearance of sorts at one point during the investigation. Part of the fun, too, comes with the recognition that the novel’s title is also the title of a great Beatles song from the band’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. (Hint: check out the song lyrics if you get the chance.) But, the best news of all for readers who enjoy this one is that there are three other Breen and Tozer novels just begging to be read. ( )

"She's Leaving Home" by William Shaw is the first Breen and Tozer novel, two London Metropolitan cops in 1968 London. At the moment there are three additional novels in the series; readers should note that some of the books have different US titles than those originally published in the UK; fantasticfiction.com is a very good resource in clearing up any title confusion. The police squad which Sgt. Cathal (Paddy) Breen is assigned to is headed by Bailey, a veteran who goes by the book, someone who does not exactly embrace change. So when Bailey picks up a new addition to the force, Helen Tozer, young and mouthy, he and the rest of his team fall back on their gender biases and behaviors which they have nurtured for the past X years. Tozer is expected to get the tea, make copies and as for driving a patrol car - no way! Even clerk Marilyn sees Tozer as a nuisance, someone who doesn't belong - and a threat.

A young girl is found strangled, naked, no ID. Breen who has recently run from an armed robbery scene, leaving a colleague in dire straits, falls out of a tree. All of this near the studio where the Beatles record their revolutionary music. And the story is off and running.

I rate this 5 stars for a number of reasons. The writing is excellent, as is the plot, a layered mystery that evolves into something bigger and bigger with a nice degree of escalating tension. Equally important is the extent to which Shaw weaves into his story not only the environment of the late 60's, eg, phone booths, Beatlemania, prejudices, but global issues as well. This is especially well done as he focuses on a huge issue with a sad outcome that the world paid little attention to in those days but which becomes integral to this case. Nicely done. I look forward to reading more of this series and will #2 "The Kings of London" next. ( )

This book has an overall grade of 3.69 which, I think, is spot on.
The first in a new police procedural series, albeit that you couldn't tell that from the ending of this book. Quite interesting and entertaining lead characters show promise for the future as does the writer. Set back in 1968 we are with Marylebone CID and the Met has its difficulties with corruption, sexism and racism. This is a good "set up" book and I am looking forward to following the series from here. ( )

An enjoyable murder mystery set in 1968's London, near the Beatles recording studio on Abbey Road. I felt that Shaw really captured the colorful and turbulent time: issues of feminism and racism, the sadness underlying hard-core "Beatlemania," the cultural struggles of immigrants. The relationships between the characters felt adequately tense and combative, reflecting the changing times and the pressure on the status quo to adapt to a new, liberal world. Cathal "Paddy" Breen, the protagonist police detective whose Irish roots and disconnect from British pop culture prevent him from truly fitting in, gives the reader an outsider's perspective. His confusion is our confusion, and thus it was easy to connect with his character.

Side note: The police environment reminded me a lot of the excellent British TV series "Life on Mars" which also features a protagonist who doesn't fit in (literally, as he time travels back to 1973 as a cop). I couldn't help but see several of the TV show's actors in my mind's eye while reading.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Goodreads giveaways. ( )