Tag: detective

‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry

Today’s post is about an absolutely brilliant police procedural by Liz Mistry. It’s an absolute edge-of-your-seat page-turner and I can’t recommend it enough! 

I'd not read any books by Liz Mistry before this, but I'll certainly be looking for more!  This is the second in a series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and, although there are references to the backstory, I don't think its essential that you have read the previous novel.

After a multi-agency conference, police officer Felicity Springer leaves the venue for her drive home.  As she heads through the country lanes, she sees someone trying to get her attention from inside the van in front.  Felicity Springer doesn't make it home and an investigation is launched into her disappearance.  However, that proves just the tip of the iceburg and DS Nikki Parekh and her team are thrown into a complex and dangerous investigation in Bradford's criminal underworld.  

I'll admit that this is a bit more gritty and grim than my usual reads, but it's also compelling and very pacy - I kept planning on reading one more chapter to see what happened until I realised it was 3am and I should just finish the book!  I liked the portrayal of multicultural Bradford and the diversity within the police team and Nikki herself is an interesting protagonist.  Often the personal lives of the police officers can overshadow the actual crime story in this kind of novel but this never happens here - the plot is tight and twisty throughout.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes police procedurals, especially those with a feisty female police officer in charge.  Just don't pick up this book unless you have a clear run of reading time in which to finish it because you absolutely won't want to put it down.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Shopify Partners from Burst

‘Cut to the Bone’ by Roz Watkins

I chose to read this not realising it was the third in a series featuring DI Meg Dalton and her team.  It does work as a stand alone novel, but there are possibly spoilers about what happened before in case you then wanted to go back and read the rest of the series.

In this book, a young woman called Violet Armstrong goes missing from an abattoir in the Peak District.  She has become something of a social media star in her support of the meat industry, but it seems that there is more to the story.  She has also angered the local animal rights groups who seem to know more than they should about her disappearance.  DI Dalton and her team get involved and find that the story has links to the town's past and a ghost that foreshadows death for its inhabitants.

This is a solid police procedural; it is well plotted and the characters were credible, particularly the police team involved.  In particular, DI Meg Dalton was an appealing character, being quirky and grappling with her own issues, and her potential romance with her colleague is something that would pull me into reading a sequel to this.  I did find some of the events a little unbelievable, but still enjoyed the book.  The setting, the Peak District and a reservoir with a submerged village, was engaging and well-presented.

Overall, I'd recommend this but suggest that you start at the beginning of the series to make most sense of it.  It is quite dark though and has some unpleasant themes, so approach with some caution.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Shopify Partners from Burst

‘Neon’ by G. S. Locke

My review of ‘Neon’ (published on 9th July 2020 by Orion).

This is a debut novel by GS Locke and is an edge-of-your-seat crime thriller.  From the tense opening where a man is awaiting his own death, it doesn't let up and will keep you reading as you race to the finish.

A serial killer referred to as Neon is slaughtering women in Birmingham and using their bodies within his twisted art installations of neon lighting.  He is audacious and uses public spaces for his 'art', but his last victim was a police officer's wife.  That very police officer, Matt Johnson, is now on his trail with a very unconventional partner who has her own reasons to kill.  As the net closes in on the killer, the need to operate outside the law becomes essential.

This is an extremely tense thriller.  Although the killer is revealed early on, the tension comes from the continued action, close calls and revelations as Johnson's rather maverick approach to policing runs its course.  The setting is also appealing - as someone who knows Birmingham reasonably well, it felt realistic and creepy.  However, I didn't particularly like the bleakness of the story, especially around Iris - I absolutely know why this was done and it is effective, but I prefer a little less grit personally!  

Overall, I'd recommend this to people looking for a distinctly unusual take on the police procedural.  For me, it's a 4 star read because the ending felt a bit rushed, but there certainly is never a dull moment!

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst