Blue Murder- Cath Staincliffe

Janine Lewis is recently separated from her husband after finding him in bed with the home help.  They have 3 children together and she is pregnant with their fourth.  She is also the newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector of South Manchester police station called in to investigate the murder of a man found in his allotment.  Janine faces pressure from her boss who makes it clear that she has only been given the case because everyone else is too busy.  The case is moving slowly until three equally plausible suspects burst into the frame and Janine struggles knowing where to concentrate the team's efforts.  At the same time we learn more about her family life and how they are dealing with the separation of her and Pete.  Interwoven into all of this is the story of Jade, a seven year old who is not allowed to play near the allotments but found herself there on the morning of the murder.  She doesn't dare tell anyone what she saw as she doesn't want to get into trouble for being there.
I enjoyed this story, I hadn't seen the television series but may now hunt it out.  The characters at times felt a bit too 2 dimensional but that could be simply because this is the first book in a series.

Think of the children- Kerry Wilkinson

Think of the children is the the fourth book in the DS Daniels series which shot Kerry Wilkinson to fame as the earlier books rocketed up the Kindle chart.

On her way to work DS Jessica Daniels witnesses a car crash.  When she arrives at the car she finds the driver is dead but notices the boot of the car is open.  When she takes a look inside she finds the body of Isaac Hutchings, a young boy who has been missing for a couple of weeks.  This case soon becomes linked with a case from 14 years ago when another young boy went missing.  Jessica and Dave Rowlands are called in to see what the connections can be between the two cases and also to try adn identify the dead driver.

This is a good addition to the series, the relationships between the characters continues to develop and it is really nice to have a main character in a detective novel who seems fairly normal.

Our penguin made from an aubergine for my 5 year old's homework.

One, two...he is coming for you

Rebekka Franck and her daughter Julie have recently moved back in with her father after fleeing from her husband when he became ausive.  She starts working at the local newspaper on the day that the town has their first murder.  The team of Franck and Sune, the photographer, soon start looking deeper into the case than the police seem to and it is not long before they believe they are looking for a serial killer.

The book is well written, I thought I had worked it out who the killer was fairly early into the story but was pleased that it was a red herring.  The characters develop well throughout the course of the book with more and more coming to light about each of them as the story progresses.

I shall now be downloading the second book onto my kindle to see if it lives up to the first in the series.

White bones- Graham Masterton

John Meagher finds the skeletons of 11 women on his farm arranged in a strange pattern. Detective superintendent Katie Maguire is called to investigate but quickly discovers that they are very old bones. Meanwhile a teenage girl is abducted and resources have to be plowed into searching for her. Soon Maguire discovers that the two cases are linked. Whilst dealing with these cases she is also fighting her own demons at home- the death of her baby boy and her not-always-law-abiding husband.

I loved the main characters in this book, I thought they were really well built up. In parts the story was a bit gory, I found myself skim reading a couple of paragraphs! I saw half of the ending coming but not the entirety of it which I think makes it all the more satisfying.

Dark Side- Belinda Bauer

Jonas Holly is a local police officer whose beat takes in a number of small villages.  He is called in when an elderly, paralysed lady is found dead.  soon it becomes clear that she has been murdered and reinforcements are called in in the form of DCI Marvel and his team.  Marvel is a very rude, brusque individual who does not like Holly, or in fact many people.  Soon more dead bodies are found, the link between them all is they were suffering from some life limiting illness.  In amongst all of this Holly is dealing with his wife who is suffering from MS.

I really enjoyed this book, I foudn it was really gripping and I couldn't put it down.  I did feel that the ending didn't quite sit right with me though.

I loved the fact that the chapters in this book were a countdown to how many days were left in the investigation.  I didn't realise this was the second book in a series so I shall be hunting out the first one to see what happened prior to this story.

John Kear Coaching is Chaos

John Kear is a man who lives, breathes and loves rugy league.  This much is clear from his autobiography.  It is a very easy to read book, filled with some great anecdotes about well known Rugby personalities.  Kear is honest about the things he has got wrong as well as the times he has been hurt by people.  He is not naive though, he realises that his time in the game isn't forever and is up front with his opinions about changes that should be made to the sport.

Apologies

I haven't posted here for nearly a year primarily due to the birth of my little girl.  I am hoping to be more active in my reviewing now!!

Gone missing- Linda Castillo

This is the fourth book in the Kate Burkholder series.  In this book Kate is called in to help with an investigation into missing Amish teenagers.  The teenagers are all keen to leave the Amish community before their disappearance.  As Kate was brought up in this society it is hoped that she will be able to offer some insights into the case.
I enjoyed this book but felt that a lot of it focussed on Kate's private life and relationships.  It is not a fast moving thriller but it is a well written police procedural.

Me and my sisters- Sinead Moriarty

A pleasant read if a little predictable in places.  Julie, Sophie and Louise are very different personalities and have drifted apart slightly as they have grown older but as problems hit them they discover that blood is thicker than water and they do all pull together.  The story is nicely told with chapters alternating between the three of them and we also have the funny storyline of their brother Gavin who insists on being called Willow to blend in with his tree hugging friends!!

Lucifer's Tears- James Thompson

Inspector Kari Vaara returns in this book.  A woman is found murdered in her lover's flat with her lover beside her claiming he has been hit over the head.  Vaara is under great pressure to wrap up the case quickly and arrest the lover.  However, he feels this is all too convenient and pursues the case more.  He is also told to investigate the war crimes committed by a now 90 year old man and these implicate his grandfather also.
In his private life Kari's wife Kate is 8 and a half months pregnant and her brother and sister from America are staying with the couple leading to cultural and family tensions.  All in all I really enjoyed this book and hope there will be another one in the series. A few times I felt that the translation seemed a little clumsy but on the whole it read well.

Only the innocent- Rachel Abbott

 Sir Hugo Fletcher is found murdered in his home, tied to the bed in such a way that the police are convinced that the perpetrator of the crime must be a woman.  Sir Hugo's charity work made him famous for rescuing eastern european girls from prostitution and prociding somewhere for them to go but what of his private life?  This begins to be revealed to us through a series of letters his second wife Laura wrote to her childhood best friend Imogen.  The public figure and the private man don't match up.  DCI Tom Douglas has no shortage of women he could consider to be suspects but he finds it very difficult to penetrate the tight circle of loyalties that exist for Sir Hugo and between one another. 

This book is told in a clever way because there is the ongoing police investigation into what has happened but this doesn't dominate the storyline and there are also the letters written from Laura to Imogen as well as the discussions these letters provoke between the two friends.  As the book progresses there are more and more layers evident.  I was very slightly disappointed by the ending and for this reason I have gone for 4* and not 5.

Impeding Justice- Mel Comley

After being impressed with cruel justice I downloaded this one and it does not disappoint at all. The book opens with Pete, Lorne's partner, being shot and from there on it is a battle against the clock and against the "Unicorn" a criminal Lorne has been hunting down for 8 years. He is a master of escape and has no end of people that he is controlling. Lorne is desperate to catch him particularly after he starts targetting members of her family.

Tensions still exist between Lorne and husband Tom about the amount of time she is spending at work but these tensions don't seem to be as severe as in the first book. It will be interesting to see whether they have further improved by the time the third book is read.

My only criticism was the ending...guess I'll just have to download the next book though

Blood line- Lynda La Plante

Anna Travis is approached by a man whose son has gone missing.  Eventually DCS Langton tells her to start investigating it.  When Anna questions the man's girlfriend she admits he has gone missing but says she thinks he has run off with another woman.  Anna finds herself in a strange situation trying to work out what has happened. A pool of blood is discovered under the bed but there are very few personal belongings at the flat so obtaining DNA samples to compare to the blood is not possible.  All the reports received about Alan Rawlins say that he is a hard working, polite, quiet man and there appears to be no reason for him to have disappeared or been killed.  Travis finds herself getting very frustrated by the amount of interference by Langton and it is unclear for a while whether their shared past is going to jeopardise the case.

I really enjoyed this book.  I found it really easy to read and was realy interested to find out what did happen to Alan Rawlins.  There weren't too many characters in the book so it was easy to "get to know them".  In this case Anna worsk with a new team of detectives so will be interesting to see if this team continues next time or whether Mike Lewis et al return

The cleansing- Bill Rogers

DCI Tom Caton has to find out who the murder victim is as well as who the murderer is.  As the reader we know the answer to one of those questions- Albert Stephen is the murderer and the book switches between what he is doing and what the detectives are doing.  Even once Caton and his team have found out who the victim is they can find no reason for the murder to have taken place.  Strangely enough though the murderer seems quite keen to show himself to CCTV cameras and ensure people get a good look at him.
This is a really well written first book in a series.  The characters are well developed and likeable.  Despite there being quite a lot of characters introduced I didn't feel like I lost track of them at all.  Am now going to download the second in the series!

Touch- Mark Sennes

DI Charlottes Savage is investigating the murders of several women.  Her husband is a naval officer who is away from home leaving her to bring up her children with the help of Stefan their nanny! 
Harry is a rapist and killer and as the story progresses we learn something of the reasons why he does these things.  The story alternates between finding out what is happening with Harry and what is happening with the investigation.
The story is based in and around Plymouth and reads very easily.  It is not particularly gory and on the whole has a satisfactory ending.  I am pleased to see there is a second book lined up for release.  I look forward to getting to know some of the main characters better

The Cipher Garden- Martin Edwards

This is the second in the series that I have read and I feel that as a series it is starting to pick up pace. For some reason I found it hard to remember the connections between some of the characters in this story- they all seem to be ex partners of each other.

DCI Hannah Scarlett has reopened the case of Warren Howe who was murdered folowing a a tip off. Daniel Kind is uncertain as to why his garden is laid out the way it is and his investigating into this ends up tying in with Hannah's investigations into Howe's death

Vigilante- Kerry Wilkinson

Now you see her- Joy Fielding

Marcy Taggart is visiting Ireland on what should be her second honeymoon but her husband isn't with her as he left her for another woman. While in a bar she sees her daughter walking past. the only problem is that her daughter disappeared and is presumed to have killed herself two years ago as she was suffering from depression. Marcy has never accepted this explanation and sets out to track her down.

This is the second Joy Fielding book I have read and the characters she develops are very believeable and likeable. The storyline jumps from the present to Marcy's memories either of her childhood growing up with a mother suffering from manic depression or to her time as a mother dealing with her daughter's manic depression. It was a gripping read but I would say that I preferred "Still Life" to this one

The shadow of death- Tim Ellis

I thought this was the weakest of the Parrish and Richards books I've read so far.  It felt slightly unbelieveable with Parrish being suspended (because of someone else's agenda) yet co-ordinating his own investigation from his own home with the support of several other officers and Toadstone the forensic scientist.
The actual storyline wasn't bad but did seem a bit like a repeat of previous books.  I'll still look out for the next one in the hope that it will be back to the previous high standard.