Conrad Nield finds himself in a spot of bother; having given a lift to a hitchhiking girl, he leaves her stranded on a country road. When the body of a murdered girl is found nearby, Conrad lies to the police, denying he was even in the area. He becomes a person of interest and as his story unravels, so does his life, police attention impacting his marriage and his job.
More a character study than a crime novel, Accidental Crimes is a closely written account of an unpleasant character getting something of a comeuppance. Nield is a typical English Tory type - a patronising narcissist, his own worst enemy, but kept from the consequences of his actions because the suffering tends to fall on his victims; his wife, colleagues and students. In this instance, however, he oversteps the mark, with some gratifying results for the reader.
It appears that author John Hutton only penned two novels, this being his second and last, published in 1983. Which is a pity as his work seems excellent and rather timeless in its characterisations. Hutton engages the reader's antipathy towards his main character in the way other authors go for the easier option of sympathy. The book is over a generation old but still powerful both in style and intrigue. Highly recommended.
