Rachel Lynch Archives - The Quick and the Read

September 2021 Wrap-Up and October TBR

It’s been a slow reading month for me – being back in the classroom is busy and reading has taken a back seat to work.

Still, I managed to read 8 books in September and finished my Goodreads challenge for the year – 100/100 books read! That won’t stop me reading on though – I have some gorgeous October reads planned…

All my books this month were 3 or 4 stars – my favourite was ‘The Royal Art of Poison’ by Eleanor Herman which was an unexpected treat of an audiobook.

Book Review: ‘Lying Ways’ by Rachel Lynch

It’s no secret that I love DI Kelly Porter so a new book from Rachel Lynch is always a treat. This is the ninth in the series – a great series that I’ve followed since the start.

This book is centered on HMP Highton, a prison in a remote bit of the already pretty remote Lake District. When a newly released convict is found tortured and killed shortly after leaving Highton, DI Kelly Porter and her team are horrified at the brutality of the crime. When a second ex-convict is killed in similar circumstances, it seems that there is a dangerous killer on the loose…but the leads keep taking the team back within the prison walls.

My Top 10 Crime Fiction Books of 2020

I love crime fiction and there have been some brilliant books published in this genre in 2020! I’ll admit that I’m particularly partial to a police procedural and love a twisty crime thriller.

I have included only contemporary crime in this list – historical crime fiction features rather heavily on my top 10 historical novels of the year here.

Affiliate links are provided – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you).

Here are my top 10 crime novels of this year, starting at number 10…

10 – ‘Neon’ by G S Locke

This is serial killer thriller with a very unconventional detective duo who are working very much outside the law themselves! It’s an absolute page -turner set on the gritty streets of Birmingham – you can read my original review here.

9 – ‘Knife Edge’ by Simon Mayo

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Simon Mayo’s novel as I’m always a bit sceptical when people in the public eye turn to writing. However, I needn’t have been worried – this is a tense, tightly-plotted novel with terrorism at its fore. It keeps you reading from the very first pages when the first attacks take place in rush-hour London. You can read my full review here.

8 – ‘The Cutting Place’ by Jane Casey

I’m a huge fan of the DS Maeve Kerrigan series – this is the ninth book and I think could work as a stand alone (but why miss the other 8?!) This story is about uncovering corruption at the highest levels in society and it is another excellent police procedural. My review is here.

7 – ‘Their Silent Graves’ by Carla Kovach

This is the seventh book in the crime series featuring DI Gina Harte – I personally think this is one of the best in an always-excellent series. In this book (which I think could be read as a stand alone), Harte and her team are called in to investigate some particularly chilling Halloween murders in which a serial killer stalks the residents of a town. You can read my review here.

6 – ‘The Watcher’ by Kate Medina

I could not put this book down when I read it for a blog tour earlier in the year! It is gruesome, gritty and absolutely edge-of-your-seat tense. The story is about a killer who stalks their victims and leaves horrific crime scenes, but what I really loved was the fact that one of the investigators is a police psychologist, Dr Jessie Flynn. This gives a different flavour to the police procedural and I’m hoping Dr Flynn will feature in many more books. My review is here.

5 – ‘The Postscript Murders’ by Elly Griffiths

This one is a slightly cosier option than some of my other choices. In this, an unusual mix of characters come together to solve the killing of a ‘murder consultant’ who helps authors with their crime novels. I really enjoyed the combination of a cleverly-plotted murder mystery with the literary backdrop to it all. My original review can be read here.

4 – ‘Lost Cause’ by Rachel Lynch

This is the eighth instalment in the brilliant crime series featuring DI Kelly Porter and set in the Lake District. I think this is a high-point in a series that can always be relied upon to deliver solid police procedurals with plenty of twists. In this book, Porter and her team are investigating the brutal death of a woman whose abused body is found in a bin – but is she the only victim? It is grim and gritty but absolutely compelling. My review is here.

3 – ‘All Fall Down’ by M J Arlidge

In a kind of modern twist on the classic ‘A Murder is Announced’, victims are being warned of their own impending demise in a phone call. DI Helen Grace and her team are called in to investigate and begin to find connections to events eight years before. This is tense and twisty and really quite creepy – full review here.

2 – ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman

This was a highly-anticipated debut from Richard Osman and I was charmed by this mystery set in a retirement village. Although the mystery plot was well handled, the real strength of this book was the characterisation and emotional punch. You can read my review here.

1 – ‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry

This was one of those books that I was totally unprepared for – the pacing, the twists and the tension all totally took me by surprise and I loved it! It’s a gritty tale of Bradford’s criminal underworld featuring DS Nikki Parekh (who I loved) investigating the disappearance of a fellow police officer and I absolutely raced through it! Full review here.

Header photo by Maggie Yap on Unsplash.

‘Lost Cause’ by Rachel Lynch

There are so many brilliant books out this week that I’ll be sharing with you – please do follow my blog as I’ll be reviewing a new release every day this week. It seems that 20th August is a key date in publishing for new books and there are some amazing ones on the way!

First up, we have a fantastic police procedural by Rachel Lynch.

I’ve followed this series from the start and could not wait for book 8 in the DI Kelly Porter series. Set in the Lake District, this series features a tough but likeable female detective, the beautiful but inhospitable Lakes and consistently well-plotted police procedural narratives.

The series seems to become a bit darker with every book and this one does have some quite disturbing themes, including child abuse, prostitution and torture.

In this instalment, Detective Inspector Kelly Porter and her team are investigating the killing of a woman whose body is found in a bin in a tiny village. They begin to notice that there is a pattern of women disappearing in the area, particularly those who are vulnerable and potentially involved in prostitution. What starts as a murder investigation quickly becomes a race against time to discover where the women are being taken before more vanish. Thrown into the mix is a disturbed and lonely young man who frequents an abandoned churchyard and seems to know a lot about the women; it is up to Kelly to determine what his involvement is in the crimes.

As already mentioned, this is a dark story and the sense of looming disaster is enhanced by the setting – the Lake District in January is bleak and remote and often impossible to navigate because of the snow. This further hinders the investigation and makes the story more tense, as does the problems the police have in managing the case across different policing areas. I’m not an expert in these things, but the series seems solidly researched and realistic.

I’d recommend this to those who have followed DI Kelly Porter from the beginning. It does work as a stand-alone, but you would have missed the significance of some of the issues surrounding Kelly’s personal situation and so picking up the series earlier on would be better.

This is a solid, well-plotted police procedural and will certainly keep you reading as you race to find out what happens!

I received a free copy of the novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book can be purchased using the link below – The Quick and the Read may earn commission on this, but at no extra cost to you. Excellent!

Photo by Amanda Kirsh from Burst