Review: BETTER LEFT DEAD, Catherine Lea

• 
   This edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DJG69T13
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ David Bateman Ltd (October 2, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 357 pages
• #2 in the DI Nyree Bradshaw series
• author website 
  

Synopsis (publisher)

DI Nyree Bradshaw and her team have their work cut out for them once again. Local woman Lizzy Bean has been found dead, garrotted with a piece of wire. Lizzy’s property, a 1950s beach house overlooking a pristine Northland bay, is overflowing with rubbish. Inside the house is even worse.

As Nyree and her team delve into the case, clues begin to reveal an intricate web of connections involving a local crime syndicate, a kidnapped woman, and a group of ex-foster children haunted by the past.

Meanwhile, Nyree’s own past is catching up with her. Forever racked by guilt that she has failed her son who is currently in prison for murder, Nyree might finally get a chance to redeem herself in his eyes . . . but it comes at a steep cost. 

My Take

This second in the DI Nyree Bradshaw series lives up to the promise that I detected in the first in the series and I'm looking forward to more.

The action in this story is linked to a 20 year old case, and the scenario is very tangled. In addition Nyree's own life becomes tangled as she discovers she has a granddaughter who needs her.

An excellent read.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE WATER'S DEAD - #1 

Review: THE WATER'S DEAD, Catherine Lea

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09R96Q3LR
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brakelight Press; 1st edition (February 9, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages
• #1 DI Nyree Bradshaw Crime Thriller  

Synopsis (publisher) 

The chin tattoo confirms the victim in Māori. The whorls of ink from her lower lip to her chin - the moko - is worn only by Māori women.

So her ethnicity is a given.

Finding who murdered her and dumped her body in the pool at the base of Mason's Rock waterfall is DI Nyree Bradshaw's latest case. From the strangely unsympathetic parents to the belligerent boyfriend on home detention for drugs, it seems everyone has something to hide, and no one is telling the truth.

Then Nyree discovers six-year-old diabetic, Lily Holmes is missing, last seen in the victim's care. Now Nyree must find the killer to save Lily.

The clock is ticking.

She has already failed her own son. She cannot fail this child.

Who Is DI Nyree Bradshaw?
A tough, no-nonsense New Zealand DI. Her heart and soul have gone into the job. She thought her toughest cases were behind her. She was wrong.

The Setting:
New Zealand's beautiful Far North. With its white sand beaches, the crash of waves from the turbulent Tasman Sea, and small rural towns surrounded by Māori land, traditions, and community.

My Take

Another new author to follow! Detective Inspector Nyree Bradshaw is likeable, hardworking, methodical, but also intuitive, located in the north of the North Island of  New Zealand. She has a strong sense of obligation to her clients, both dead and alive, as well as to her own team. 

A young Maori woman is found dead in the river, and the little girl she has been looking after is missing. Nyree has to tread a fine line in negotiating for a search within the nearby Maori community as well following their wishes as they mourn their loss.

I will certainly be reading more by this author. 

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Catherine divides her time among numerous fictional worlds behind her keyboard. In past lives, she has sold international satellite capacity, worked in IT recruitment, and run her own communications store.
When Catherine isn't writing, she's dog-wrangling, wrestling with technology, or going crazy trying to maintain control of the yard.
She also writes dark, gritty thrillers under the pen name C. J. Lea.
You can find Catherine's official website at www.authorcatherinelea.com

Review: THE CYCLIST, Tim Sullivan

• 
  This edition made available by my local library as an e-book on Libby
  
• DS Cross mystery #2, published 2020 
• author website
  

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

To solve any murder, you must first know your victim . . .

THE DETECTIVE

DS George Cross has unique and unmatchable talents. He uses a combination of logic, determination and, often, pedantry to get answers where others have failed for families who have long given up hope.

So when a ravaged body is found in a local demolition site, it's up to Cross to piece together the truth from whatever fragments he can find.

THE VICTIM

Cross has little to go on, but from the faint tan lines on the ravaged body, and strange scars on his forearms, an identity gradually emerges: a male amateur cyclist; a reliance on performance-enhancing drugs. But what happened that led to this man's death? How did he end up here? And, most importantly, who is he?

THE FAMILY

In the face of ever-mounting challenges, including budget cuts and unreliable witnesses, Cross must first work out who the man is to have any chance of solving the murder. But in searching for this man's identity, Cross will come up against a lot that he is unfamiliar with – jealousy, ambition and a family tearing itself apart . . .

Perfect for fans of M.W. Craven, Peter James and Joy Ellis, The Cyclist is part of the DS George Cross thriller series, which can be read in any order.
 

My Take

I am thoroughly enjoying this series.

When a body is found dumped on a demolition site, DS George Cross uses his keen observation skills to deduce that he is a local amateur cyclist, and eventually discovers his identity.  From there he builds the entire story. George bases his deductions not only on what people tell him but also what they leave out. In this story he discovers a crime that has gone undetected for 12 years.

He is a fascinating character as are the other characters in these stories. There are little side stories that are added to in each book.

Well worth reading, and the mysteries are challenging.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE DENTIST- #1

4.6, THE POLITICIAN -#4

Review: THE BLACK LOCH, Peter May

• 
  This edition published by riverrun, an Hachette UK company, 2024
  
• ISBN 978-1-52943-607-5
• 385 pages 
• an extension to the Lewis Trilogy
  

Synopsis (publisher)

The newest instalment in the internationally bestselling Lewis Trilogy, The Black Loch returns to the Isle of Lewis with a twisty and unpredictable investigation that unearths dark secrets from the past.

THE RETURN OF FIN MACLEOD, PETER MAY'S MUCH-LOVED HERO OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING LEWIS TRILOGY.

A MURDER

The body of eighteen-year-old TV personality Caitlin is found abandoned on a remote beach at the head of An Loch Dubh - the Black Loch - on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis. A swimmer and canoeist, it is inconceivable that she could have drowned.

A SECRET

Fin Macleod left the island ten years earlier to escape its memories. When he learns that his married son Fionnlagh had been having a clandestine affair with the dead girl and is suspected of her murder, he and Marsaili return to try and clear his name.

A RECKONING

But nothing is as it seems, and the truth of the murder lies in a past that Fin would rather forget, and a tragedy at the cages of a salmon farm on East Loch Roag, where the tense climax of the story finds its resolution.

The Black Loch takes us on a journey through family ties, hidden relationships and unforgiving landscapes, where suspense, violent revenge and revelation converge in the shadow of the Black Loch.

My Take

It is over 10 years since I read the first two books in the Lewis Trilogy so my recall of the series (and I never read #3) was not very reliable. 

The author does a good job of summarising Fin Macleod's very chequered life for us, and we learn a lot about his childhood and adolescent years. Fin is now no longer a detective, and is working in a police-related job that he hates. Events that scarred his adolescence rise to the surface.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

THE RUNNER

VIRTUALLY DEAD

FREEZE FRAME

4.7, THE BLACKHOUSE - #1

5.0, THE LEWIS MAN - #2

4.5, EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE

5.0, ENTRY ISLAND

4.9, COFFIN ROAD

4.8, LOCKDOWN

4.6, ENTRY ISLAND 

4.6, A WINTER GRAVE

 

Lewis Trilogy (Fantastic Fiction)
   1. The Blackhouse (2011)
   2. The Lewis Man (2011)
   3. The Chessmen (2012)
   4. The Black Loch (2024)

Review: A TOWN CALLED TREACHERY, Mitch Jennings

• 
   This title available to me on Libby as an e-book by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins (August 1, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 383 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1460765419   

Synopsis (publisher)

A brutal murder in a town called Treachery? It's a story most journos would kill for, but for Stuart Dryden, it's a major inconvenience. He didn't take the gig at the local rag for its bustling crime beat. He'd sacrifice a career-making story for happy hour at the pub, but not even he can let a grisly murder through to the keeper. Especially when he keeps getting scooped by a persistent kid with a disposable Kodak.

Life's tough for eleven-year-old Matty Finnerty. His mother's gone, his father's gone most of the time and, as hard as he tries, he just can't get the kids at school to like him. When his favourite teacher Wendy Millburn turns up dead on the beach, it puts his dad Robbie in the crosshairs of a town that never liked him anyway. Worse than the bricks through the window, the dead animals on the lawn and the fish heads in the mailbox is the fact no one seems to be looking for the killer.

Matty starts to wonder whether Robbie knew Wendy better than he's let on. He needs a hero, and Dryden will have to do – that is, if he can just stay sober for a night or two. He might even cast off the ghosts of his own past.

As they stumble their way to answers, can they find the truth about Wendy – and what they're really made of?

My Take

For the most part, this was an interesting told tale, but there were just bits that did not do well. The character of Matty Finnerty was too young for the role that he had to play and for the information that he had to process. It did feel like the plot had too many strands and would have benefitted from less complexity.

However I did read to the end and I thought the Australian-ness of the setting came over well.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Mitch Jennings is a writer, journalist, radio host, sports commentator, podcaster and comedian. His debut novel A Town Called Treachery was shortlisted for the 2022 HarperCollins Banjo Prize. He was raised on the beautiful Mid North Coast of New South Wales and now lives and works on Dharawal Country in Wollongong with his wife, Angela, their son and their French bulldog, Guinness.

Review: THE GHOST OF LILLY PILLY CREEK, Abbie L. Martin

• 
  This edition available on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BYJT8BNY
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Abbie Allen Publishing (March 14, 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 222 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0645713902  

Synopsis (Amazon)
After the tragic death of her sister Autumn, Jones returns to her small hometown in South Australia's Adelaide Hills. When Autumn's ghost appears to her, Jones is thrust into a quest to uncover the truth behind her sister's untimely demise.

Together, they resurrect The Memory Bank, a cherished family stationery and bookshop with a twist, whilst unravelling shocking revelations that challenge the notion that Autumn's death was an accident.

As danger lurks, Jones finds herself drawn to Hugo, the owner of a neighbouring wine bar, who willingly aids their mission. With Autumn's ghostly powers guiding them, the sisters race against time to identify the killer before they strike again. Yet, the closer they come to the truth, Jones realizes her own life is on the line.

In this thrilling cozy mystery, follow Jones, Autumn and their friends as they navigate small-town secrets, unearthing clues and trying to stay one step ahead of a murderer. Will they solve the case in time, or will Jones be the next victim?

My Take:

It took me a little while to warm to the ghost element of this novel, the first in a self-published series although by the end I had accepted it. The central mystery of whether Autumn's death was accidental or a murder was well presented and there were a number of believable red herrings.

Of course for me part of the attraction was that this is a local author and some of the settings are very familiar.

I'm willing to keep reading the series.

My rating: 4.4

About the author

Abbie L. Martin is a South Australian author who lives with her family in a small town very similar to Lilly Pilly Creek. She has been dreaming of writing and publishing since she was a child, and when she reached her forties, finally decided to take the leap. Whilst also running a business with her husband, and juggling life with three children, Abbie loves nothing better than peace and quiet with a good book and a glass of wine, preferably an Adelaide Hills sparkling.  

Review: THE POLITICIAN, Tim Sullivan

•  This edition an e-book provided by my local library on Libby
  
  
• #4 in the DS Cross Mystery series 
• author website
  

Synopsis (publisher)

A smashed window. A ransacked room.
A dead body.
At first glance, it’s a burglary gone wrong.

First impressions of a crime scene are crucial… but they aren’t always correct. When DS George Cross – Bristol Crime Unit’s most eccentric and dogged detective – starts investigating the death of former mayor Peggy Frampton, he’s convinced that what looks like a bungled burglary is in fact a case of pre-meditated murder.

After her political career ended, Peggy became a controversial blogger whose forthright opinions attracted a battalion of online trolls. And then there’s her family: an unfaithful husband and a gambling-addicted son. With yet more enemies in her past, the list of suspects seems unending.

Now Cross must unpick this dark web of seedy connections to find her killer – but the sheer number of suspects is clouding his usually impeccable logic. He’s a relentlessly methodical detective, but no case can last forever: can Cross catch the killer before he runs out of time?

My Take

Mistakenly, I had convinced myself that I had read many more in this series. Now I have discovered that I have only read the first, then I intend to make up the leeway and I am pleased to see that there are another 6 to read.

The author has created an interesting bunch of characters, and there was a pleasing complexity of plot strands.

Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE DENTIST- #1

Here is the list according to Fantastic Fiction

DS Cross Mystery
   1. The Dentist (2020)
   2. The Cyclist (2020)
   3. The Patient (2022)
   4. The Politician (2022)
   5. The Monk (2023)
   6. The Teacher (2023)
   7. The Bookseller (2025)
   8. The Tailor (2026)