A Darkly Shining Star by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by FernIt’s nearly Christmas in Oxford and Detective Inspector Bridget Hart is enjoying a rare day off at Oxford’s Christmas Market. A ghost tour seems like a fun way to round off the day. Until, that is, a brutal murder brings the evening to a tragic close.
Torn between work and family commitments over the festive season, Bridget soon discovers that the ghost of Christmas past is reaching out to the present with fatal consequences.
Not everyone believes in the season of goodwill to all men, and with a real-life, flesh-and-blood killer at large in Oxford, Bridget races to solve the case in time to prevent yet more murders.
With only a few days remaining until Christmas DI Bridget hart is enjoying a rare day off and spending time with her partner at the local Christmas market. They decide on a whim to enjoy the ghost tour before heading home only the group leader is stabbed to death as the group enjoys a quick drink after the tour ends. Shocked and curious who in earth could want to kill the kind and pleasant man, Bridget and her team investigate the murder, quickly finding that it’s strongly linked to a strange disappearance decades ago.
I have been enjoying this British police procedural series and found this to be a well plotted and enjoyable addition. While I am pleased the other team members have different personalities and stand well alone, I must admit some of the personal drama between Ffion and Jake was starting to drag a little for me. I was pleased that the authors seem to have wrapped it up – at least for now – but I really hope they both move on swiftly from this and some of that angst and drama really settles down.
Oddly enough I find the family drama surrounding Bridget and her family – especially that of her daughter and sister – much more palatable and even though this a drama is even more lingering than that of Bridget’s colleagues, I think I find regular family conflict – a new boyfriend, feelings of not measuring up – a lot less grating and far more relatable. I also enjoy how the regular personal conflicts make a good contrast to the police work and murder plot line.
Readers looking for a well-balanced, police procedural style of murder mystery should find this book really suits that niche.
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