Blog Tour: Voices from the Dead – Tony Bassett

The brand-new gripping crime thriller in the popular Detectives Roy and Roscoe series.

A murdered beauty influencer. A buried secret waiting to surface. A killer who’s already one step ahead.

In the picturesque Warwickshire town of Queensbridge, a retired nurse escapes to her hotel room looking for peace from the chaos of her great-nephew’s rowdy thirtieth birthday party. But to her horror she witnesses a brutal crime from her balcony — a young woman strangled in the room opposite.

Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy — staying at the same hotel after attending a nearby wedding — is first on the scene, and quickly realises this isn’t a random attack. The victim, glamorous beauty influencer Candy Goodhope, was living a double life — and everyone close to her has something to hide.

Roy’s boss, DCI Gavin Roscoe, takes charge of the investigation, and as the pair follow the trail, another brutal killing tears through the town. Roy is sure there’s a link between both murders, but Roscoe isn’t convinced.

But as Roy digs deeper, she closes in on a secret so dangerous someone will kill to protect it.

Because in this town, the past never stays buried — and even the dead still have a voice.

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Tony Bassett is a former journalist who worked on regional and national newspapers in Britain for more than 40 years. He mainly reported on crime, show business, human interest and consumer
topics. Now retired, he writes crime fiction.

Tony is best known for his series of novels set in the West Midlands featuring Detective Chief Inspector Gavin Roscoe, an experienced detective and family man, and his sergeant, law graduate and resourceful problem-solver Sunita Roy.

His latest novel, VOICES FROM THE DEAD (Book 8) begins in the picturesque Warwickshire town of Queensbridge where a retired nurse escapes to her hotel room from a rowdy birthday party, looking
for peace. But to her horror, through a window, she witnesses a brutal crime — a young woman being strangled in the new wing of the building.

Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy —attending a wedding in the same hotel — is first on the scene, and quickly realises this isn’t a random attack. The victim, glamorous beauty influencer Candy Goodhope, was living a double life — and everyone close to her has something to hide.

The fifth book in the series, HEIR TO MURDER, was judged first in the Mystery and Suspense (Police Procedurals) category in the American Fiction Awards in June 2024.
Other books in the series (in order) are: MURDER ON OXFORD LANE; THE CROSSBOW STALKER; MURDER OF A DOCTOR; OUT FOR REVENGE; and IT NEVER RAINS.

A collection of the first three books was published in May 2024 under the title THE MIDLANDS  MURDERS: Detectives Roy & Roscoe box set (Books 1 – 3). The whole series has been released by  London publishers The Book Folks, part of Joffe Books.

Tony has also written a stand-alone thriller, SEAT 97, about a man shot dead at a London concert hall  (published by The Book Folks) while two further works (the crime novel Smile Of The Stowaway and
the spy novel The Lazarus Charter) were published by The Conrad Press.

Tony first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he produced a junior school magazine.
A few years later, his local vicar in Tunbridge Wells staged his play about Naboth’s Vineyard. At Hull  University, Tony was judged Time-Life Magazine student journalist of the year in 1971.

Tony, who has five grown-up children, is a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. He lives  in South-East London with his partner Lin.

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My thoughts: Witnessing a murder through her hotel window is a shock, but the witness, a retired nurse, has the presence of mind to call for help. Luckily DS Roy, Sunita, is at a wedding in the same hotel and is first on the scene. A young woman has been strangled.

She’s a local hairdresser and influencer, last seen very drunk in the hotel bar earlier that day. The police find DNA linked to a supposedly dead man at the scene, which sends them in the wrong direction, but they quickly get back on track.

Why would anyone want to kill Candy? She might not have appealed to everyone, but she wasn’t a terrible person. Her two friends/employees are at a loss. Her husband and her boyfriend have alibis, and her husband would more likely do away with his rival than his wife.

It must be someone in her circle. Could it date back all the way to her school days?

When a retired teacher from the same school is found murdered in her home with a nail gun, the police wonder if there is a link between the two killings. It seems slim, but as they dig into the past, certain things come to light that suggest someone with plenty to hide.

A satisfying ending, with twists and turns along the way for the team of detectives. The motives are dark and the means rather ad hoc but they get their man in the end. Very enjoyable.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.