Tag: crime fiction

DCI Warren Jones is deep into the investigation into an apparent murder-suicide when another case is thrust onto his desk. Winnie Palmer, missing for two months, has been found dead, her body stripped and propped against a tree in the woods.

Two cases are more than enough to handle – but things get even harder for the team when they realise the cases might be linked. And when a third suspicious death is added to the pile, it raises a horrible question. Is there a serial killer on the loose?

With all the murders taking place on Sundays, it’s a race against time to find the killer before they strike again. As the days tick by Warren desperately searches for a link between the victims – but the only thing he knows for sure is that absolutely anyone could be next…

My thoughts: this was a clever, gripping crime thriller. A murderer seems to be killing people indiscriminately  – an older couple, an elderly woman, but putting out food for the family pet each time. Each killing takes place on Sundays. So the police have a week to find the killer.

But they’re struggling and Warren is a little distracted by his new diet and the fact his wife is finally pregnant. His boss is retiring, change is in the air at the station and now with this spate of killings, all eyes are on Warren and his team.

Another body turns up, and the heat turns up on the team. And now the killer is writing to Warren. Detailed diaries of the murders, taunting Warren. Like certain historical serial killers. As it unfolds, Warren is easily the most sympathetic figure in the book. He has a lot on his plate and wants to catch the killer.

I really enjoyed this book, as with the previous books in the series, the writing is crisp and the plot keeps you gripped. The denouement delivers a surprise or two and I was stunned by the identity of the killer and his frankly bizarre reason for killing.

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

Old secrets are hard to keep buried in this gritty and gripping novel of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.

Kelsey Warren may now be a high-flying journalist, but she’s never forgiven her reckless mother Donna for abandoning her as a teenager.

Yet when Kelsey returns to her hometown and discovers her mother’s body at the bottom of a flooded quarry with a gunshot wound in her chest, Kelsey’s world is flipped upside down. Her mother didn’t desert her; she was killed.

Despite Sheriff Mitch Garrett’s pleas to leave the case alone, Kelsey is determined to uncover the truth about her mother. But small towns hide big secrets, and someone has their eye on Kelsey and is set on silencing her for good.

Previously published as In Dark Waters

My thoughts: I liked Kelsey and Mitch, the way they bickered and her irritation at his need to protect her from everything, even though she had a right to know what was going on, after all it was her mother’s disappearance they were looking into.

However this book contained one of my biggest bugbears and it distracted me from the plot – the phrase “making love” as a euphemism for sex. If you can happily write a steamy sex scene, then please use the phrase “having/had sex” instead of “making love” which just makes me gag. Especially when it’s in the back room of a dive shop or a one off, they’re having a shag, not *gag* “making lurve”. Please stop.

Apart from that, and this isn’t the worst offender, it was a good and enjoyable crime story – I didn’t guess the killer right away and couldn’t see at first how the other deaths were connected, which was good. If it’s too obvious, it’s boring. Which this wasn’t.

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

Will the truth be buried with the dead?

When DS Joe Romano first meets Ana Dobrescu she’s nervous, in serious danger, and clearly needs help. The next time Romano sees her, she’s dead.

There was nothing more he could have done, but that’s cold comfort for Romano. He’s determined to catch Ana’s killer. Although the prime suspect, her millionaire boyfriend, is in a coma.

With the help of his larger-than-life partner Rita Scannon-Aktar, Romano begins to piece together a puzzle that places Ana at the centre of something much bigger than they could have imagined.

But while they’re hunting a murderer, those higher up are more concerned about the money. So it’s up to Romano to get justice for Ana. And whatever she knew, he’ll just have to pray that she didn’t take her secrets to the grave.

My thoughts: from what looks like a simple pub fight on the surface, to murder, people trafficking, exploitation and dodgy financial dealings in the small town of Batley, Yorkshire.

DS Romano, himself the grandson of immigrants, is sensitive to the plight of a group of trafficked Romanians, stripped of their passports and forced into horrible jobs for little to no pay, living in squalor. But Ana had a plan to help them, can Romano and his team unravel all the threads in this gritty and dark thriller?

I liked Romano, even if he really could use a clean suit and a good night’s sleep, he’s very determined and forges on even when he’s told that Ana’s death is “probably a domestic”, he knows there’s more to it than that and he won’t rest till he’s helped the same people Ana wanted to. I liked his partner in solving crime, Rita, not your stereotypical copper, and her no nonsense, take no prisoners attitude too, she was good fun.

The case felt timely and real – Brexit may well mean more people trafficking as it’s harder for migrant workers to come into the country legally to do the work Brits don’t want to do, some unscrupulous individuals will take advantage wherever they can. Hopefully the real DS Romano’s out there will put a stop to them.

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

‘I just want my little girl back. She’s so little, she needs her mummy. And she doesn’t even have her panda bear with her. Find her, please find her, before it’s too late.’

Little Rosie Blake has been taken. Since going missing from the hospital where she was being treated for cancer, Rosie’s distraught parents haven’t heard a word. And time is swiftly running out. They have to find her, and right away, because Rosie can only survive for ten days without her medication.

With the police unable to find any leads at all, criminal behaviourist Jessie Boyle and her team are brought in to help. Who would be so evil as to steal a sick child? Narrowing down on a suspect, Jessie quickly moves to arrest them, only to discover the suspect’s dead body instead… And with no Rosie in sight, the case becomes even more desperate.

Who killed their chief suspect, and where is Rosie now? And is Rosie’s disappearance linked to the sudden revival of Dublin’s Hellfire Club, an ancient and terrifying cult obsessed with death and human sacrifice?

As the race to find Rosie intensifies, her heartbroken parents know their little girl’s time is running out. The clock is ticking, but Jessie clings on to the hope of finding her safe. Then her search leads her to Ireland’s remote mountains… Will Jessie be able to survive the deadly threat that awaits her, rescue Rosie, and get her back to safety, before it’s too late?

An utterly compelling crime thriller that will have you hooked from the very first line. Fans of Patricia Gibney, Lisa Gardner and Lisa Regan will not want to miss this.

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Shane Dunphy (S. A. Dunphy) was born in Brighton in 1973, but grew up in Ireland, where he has lived and worked for most of his life. A child protection worker for fifteen years, he is the bestselling author of seventeen books, including the number one Irish bestseller Wednesday’s Child and the Sunday Times Bestseller The Girl Who Couldn’t Smile. His bestselling series of crime novels (written under the name S. A. Dunphy) feature the criminologist David Dunnigan. Stories From the Margins, his new series of true crime books written for Audible, has been critically acclaimed and the second title in the series, The Bad Place, is an Audible True Crime bestseller. 

https://shanedunphyauthor.org/

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My thoughts: the team return for another case with folkloric overtones, although this time they’re rooted in more human behaviour – the Reavers are a strange band planning a sacrifice, spun out of the infamous Hellfire Club, and a child’s life is at stake.

There seems to be several different groups interested in little Rosie’s life – why did the hospital porter report that she wasn’t safe, what does an old school gangster have to do with any of this?

Dawn gets to go all Die Hard, kicking in doors and wielding guns, while Jessie goes off on her own and Terri is put in danger. It’s absolutely cracking, heart in mouth, stuff. There were several moments where it seemed as though we might lose a character as they’re up against possibly the nastiest bunch so far. And of course Jessie’s creepy serial killer stalker Uruz is still around sending her messages, are they any closer to identifying him? Cannot wait for book four.

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

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare…

Seventeen-year-old Bryony Lloyd’s father drops her off at a friend’s house to study – but when he returns to pick her up there’s no sign of her, and the woman who lives in the house swears she lives alone. Bryony has vanished into thin air, and her ‘friend’ doesn’t seem to exist.

DI Gaby Darin immediately sees similarities with another missing-persons case: seventeen-year-old Christy Taylor, who vanished without warning several months earlier. There’s nothing in the girls’ personal lives to suggest trouble at home – could someone have taken them both?

After a third case is linked, Gaby knows time is running out if she’s going to find Bryony and Christy alive. After going missing over a year ago, this girl’s just been found dead.

When a tragic accident means Gaby loses a vital member of her team, she distracts herself from her grief by throwing herself into finding the missing girls. Even if it means putting her whole career on the line…

A gripping and thrilling mystery for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean and Cara Hunter. Cold Grave will have you hooked!

My thoughts: this was another really good book featuring Gaby and her team. This time they’re looking for missing teenage girls – bookish, clever but not particularly striking girls. The last ones you’d expect to run away. But then that might just be the point. Working with Manchester police, who have a similar case, the team gradually draw the net closer on their suspect, but time isn’t on their side.

A shocking tragedy derails Gaby slightly, she’s so caught up in her own emotional spiral that she’s not as focused as she should be. But between DCI Sherlock and Rusty, she’s reminded of the vital role in finding the missing girls that she plays.

I really like these books and so it’s a shame that this is currently the last one planned. Hopefully the author has something good coming up next.

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

All is not well in the village. The local meadows have been the pride of Bishops Well for hundreds of years, but now they are facing the sharp blades of developers. The landowner is a rich and reclusive author who is happy to see them destroyed, but the villagers – including Sam Dee and Maggie Kaye – are fighting back.
Until, that is, someone decides to silence one of their number permanently.
As Maggie and Sam soon discover, there is more than a quick buck to be made in the
developers’ plans. There are age-old secrets and personal vendettas that could have deadly repercussions in Bishops Well today.
With Sam’s legal expertise and Maggie’s… well, Maggie-ness, they delve into the past,
determined to unearth the truth. And, as sparks begin to fly, could there finally be something more between this sleuthing duo?

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Anna Legat is a Wiltshire-based author, best known for her DI Gillian Marsh murder mystery series.
Murder isn’t the only thing on her mind. She dabbles in a wide variety of genres, ranging from dark humorous comedy, through magic realism to dystopian. A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna
has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian. She has lived in far-flung places all over the world where she delighted in people-watching and collecting precious life experiences for her stories. Anna writes, reads, lives and breathes books and can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction.

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My thoughts: on returning to Bishops Well, there’s a mass act of civil disobedience to start things off, before the first body drops. Because yes, Maggie and Sam have found another dead one, much to DI Gillian Marsh’s annoyance. But it takes them a while to solve this one, first they have to finally work out what happened to Sam’s wife Alice, so she can stop haunting him and as always with Maggie, she picks out a few wrong suspects first.

These books are a bit lighter in tone than the main DI Marsh series, a lot of village life is funny, and the villagers are all fairly eccentric, even with the high murder rate.

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