Jurymen May Dine by Nick Boreham - REVIEW

A Guilty verdict, a scream, and an 11 to 1 split jury is how Nick Boreham’s debut novel Jurymen May Dine kicks off.

The book follows Tony Quirke, the one juryman who refused to find Conrad Connor guilty of the murder of his flatmate. After an encounter with Conrad’s sister Janet and the news of his death, Tony begins an investigation into the possibility of Conrad’s false conviction. Although initially more motivated by the money he can make with his writer friend Phil, Tony digs deeper. Driven by a sense of the injustice visited on his family in the past, he leaves himself vulnerable  and soon finds himself investigating more than one crime and wondering what side of the law he’s really on.

Jurymen May Dine is an excellent first novel from Boreham. At 288 pages, it is a fast, entertaining read you can complete in a day. Filled with many twists and turns to keep readers guessing, Boreham’s writing style is accessible and easy to follow. The pacing of the story gives the reader enough time to keep up without it feeling overly explained or rushed. Fellow crime fans will surely have a good time with this book; due to the investigative journalism aspect, some true crime fans may also find it an interesting read.

Like all good crime fiction, Tony is a slightly offbeat investigator, not only because he is taking up his investigation during his annual leave but also because of his own grievances against the British justice system that falsely convicted his father. Tony can come across as a little naïve when faced with someone who seconds his opinions. However, as the reader continues following him, you get the sense that deep down, Tony just wants justice to be upheld without collateral damage. He is the most well-rounded character throughout the book and is likeable for his flaws, even if there are aspects where he lacks self-awareness.

As for Tony’s partner in true crime, if you will, Phil is an entertaining side character who operates as both his friend’s advisor and supporter. Being an old friend of Tony’s, Phil quickly figures out he was the reason for the split jury and sees an opportunity to get one or two episodes out of his friend’s experience for a TV crime series he is writing. He only agrees to change the agreement to writing a true crime book after he believes they can both make money out of it and Tony agrees to do all the legwork. The reader gets the feeling that Phil cares about Tony, telling him multiple times to stop as he gets deeper and deeper into danger, but there is an underlying used car dealer vibe that adds a lot to the character, and my appreciation for him.

As for the rest of the cast, Janet Connor is Tony’s call to action, as he sees her and the loss of her brother as a reflection of his own past and shows a more compassionate side of Tony rather than his usual cynicism. There are also the townspeople in the little Essex town where the murder took place, each adding a little facet that builds the story up. One or two characters could have added more, as most of the story consists of Tony being out on his own. Some further development of the other characters could have brought more variation to the story. However, the characters fulfilled their purpose in the narrative, nor does the story suffer from this.

The main recurring theme throughout Jurymen May Dine is justice and how that can be obtained in a system based on juries who are, on the whole, untrained in the nuances of the law. Tony grapples not with the fact of Conrad’s innocence, but the fact that, to him, he hadn’t been proven guilty. Despite the book taking place after his time as a member of the jury, it is what haunts him throughout. Boreham poses a lot of questions about what constitutes proof. Tony finds evidence through his investigation that pokes holes in the prosecutors’ theories from people who interacted with both Conrad and the victim Doug Hamilton regularly. Not to mention looking into Doug’s past and finding a couple of inconsistencies in the image of a good boy artist portrayed by the prosecutors. Yet these weren’t brought up in court, unlike the prosecution's character assassination of Conrad. Why is one considered evidence and the other not? Boreham further emphasises this by including the actual failings of the British jury system that could affect a jury’s decision, such as foremen/women not being given training on how to manage a basic meeting. Or the juror, a plumber, who wanted the trial to be over sooner so he could go back to work because despite working with his brother, he couldn’t afford to stay off work any longer. There are so many little facts about the British jury system that were completely unknown to me until reading this book, despite my avid consumption of the crime genre. Boreham has served on a jury in a murder trial himself, and if nothing else, the book is worth a read just for the information alone.

Overall, Jurymen May Dine is an excellent first novel from Boreham, showcasing his writing skill, style, and his own interesting perspective on the crime genre. It would be a great addition to any enthusiastic crime reader's library. I personally wouldn’t mind reading more Tony Quirke if that were a future instalment of his and Phil’s dip into true crime journalism if Boreham were to continue his story.

Available in paperback and Ebook from Waterstones and all good bookshops, Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play and Barnes & Noble Nook. 

Paperback ISBN 9781805141495

Ebook ISBN 9781805147244

Short link to book on Amazon https://t.co/DpAypHQTFx