X’s And O’s by Elle Thorpe

January 30, 2026 By Leave a Comment


X’s And O’s by Elle Thorpe
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

One minute I’m cleaning toilets for minimum wage.
The next, I’m waking up from a drug-induced nap with a monster staring down at me.

Kidnapped and seconds from death, I think I’m done for…
Until masked men burst in, murder my attacker, and turn my world upside down.

They call themselves Murder Squad.

A secret brotherhood of broken men who only kill the worst of the worst.

And one of them thinks I’m his wife.

X is unhinged, obsessed, and deadly. A psychopath who hides behind bad jokes and bloodstained fingers.

Whip’s older, grumpy, and used to women paying him to worship them. But when he finds out I’m a virgin, he can’t keep his hands off my plus-size curves.

And Levi? One year of handwritten letters was all it took to fall in love with a man I’d never met. My prison pen pal turned killer, fighting his darkness for a second chance.

But they aren’t the only psychopaths in Saint View.

Someone’s playing a twisted game, leaving rhyming threats and promising to end us all if we don’t stop them first.

With every lie we uncover, every secret we expose, the danger mounts.
Until there’s only one thing we know for sure.

There’s a killer out there.
And this time, he’s hunting us.

Violet is a cleaner going about her regular life, when she is drugged by a new client and wakes up to find herself in a terrifying situation that turns her life upside down. In under a week, she goes from being a curvy, shy normal virgin to a woman who finds herself with three vastly different men all determined to protect and ravish her. The fact one of the men is apparently a jovial psychopath and the other is her newly released prison pen pal just makes the entire situation even more confusing. Will
Violet’s life ever go back to the way it once was?

I picked up this book on a whim after seeing some advertisements for it and it was absolutely not what I was expecting. I believe this is the first official “dark romance” book that I’ve ever read – and certainly it’s the first thing I’ve ever seen by this author or anywhere near this book plot-wise. I’d never heard of the genre “dark rom com” before but I have to say that sums this up fairly well. There are absolutely some dark themes in this book (murder, capture, threatened rape etc) but I have to say that I feel like the tone and voice this book is written in is definitely humorous and almost the kind of lightness you do find in a regular romcom movie. With antics and banter and a lightness to the whole tone – and thankfully none of the darker themes were dwelled upon or heavy-handed – so at no stage did I feel weighted down or like the darker aspects were uncomfortable or really wallowed in. Don’t get me wrong, the darker themes were present, but I certainly felt they were more as “part of the whole” rather than front and center.

Readers should also be really clear that there are three main male characters along with Violet as the main female character. And all three men have seriously romantic/sexual feelings for Violet. I also definitely feel two of the men have a growing attraction between them and I thought there was some definite chemistry between them on top of their strong attraction to Violet. For most of the book the “romance” was fairly complicated and probably not the sort of thing you’re going to want people reading over your shoulder on the train to work in the mornings. There is quite a bit of spice in this book – but I have to admit I didn’t feel there was the same level of bedroom antics that a lot of erotica books have. I felt there was quite a bit of progress and plot outside the bedroom to go along with the spice. I thought this was really well balanced in this book.

Overall, I found this book to be very well written, lighthearted and at time hilarious. I did grow frustrated with the repeated miscommunication/misunderstandings between Levi and Violet. Having exchanged more than a hundred letters in a year – most of them deeply personal – I strongly feel their crossed wires should not have occurred when Levi was released and they met up in real life. A part of me wonders if the author simply wanted Violet to have time and emotional room to fall for both Whip and X so their attachments and the foursome would make sense. I got quite annoyed though, so I really do feel the Violet/Levi thing could have been handled far better and not been so frustrating. I also didn’t fully see the whole Whip/Violet appeal but am willing to roll with that for now. I didn’t feel as convinced by their attraction and chemistry as I did with Violet/Levi and Violet/X. That said, there was a lot happening in this book and it’s the first of a trilogy, so I’m happy to hold judgement on whether Violet/Whip makes sense or feels right to me, at least for now.

X, however, definitely stood out to me as a fairly unique character. Extremely funny and an utter psychopath, yet somehow extremely loveable at the same time. He’s quite perplexing and I’ll be glad to read more about him in the next book. Readers should absolutely be warned that this book ends on a cliffhanger. I admit I immediately went out to purchase the second book which almost certainly was the whole point of ending the book in the manner that the author did it. Generally speaking, though I hate cliffhangers and I checked that the third (and, I believe, final book) was already released before I got even more invested than I already am.

Readers who might be looking to dip a toe into the whole Dark Romance genre to see what all the talk and fuss is about might want to start here. There are definitely dark themes and spicy sex – but I do feel that the humourous tone to the book as a whole and the lighter aspects make this a less daunting prospect to see if it’s your cup of tea or not.

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The Murder Book by Mark Billingham

January 29, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Murder Book by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Tom Thorne finally has it all.

In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. His love life is newly reformed by a promising relationship and he is happy in the job he has devoted his life to.

As he sets off hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he will be plunged into a nightmare from which he may never wake. A nightmare that has a name. Thorne’s past threatens to catch up with him and a ruinous secret is about to be revealed. If he wants to save himself and his friends, he will have to do the unthinkable.

Tom Thorne finally has a lot to lose.

DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner are drawn into a strange case involving a female serial killer who leaves particularly gruesome scenes behind her. With his private life finally seeming settled and two solid, close friends Thorne has no idea that this case is going to draw them all into the darkness they manage to avoid every day. What price will Tom have to pay to keep his life intact?

I found this to be an interesting and excellent addition to this long running series. The ongoing feud between Thorne and the true villain in this series has been bubbling away quietly in the background of the previous few books. I was pretty excited therefore when I found this one brought that conflict back onto center stage once again.

I thought the author did a really good job of balancing out the plot and wove a few different threads together slowly building the tension and the obvious conflict that would mark the apex of this case. Thorne – having been comprehensively thwarted during their last exchange – this time had a lot of pent-up anger and fear but equally held a good amount of sense and caution which I thought showed remarkable growth and maturity. Characteristics which Thorne doesn’t always portray very well.

There were a few solid twists in the plot – some of which were a delightful surprise and some I was proud that I guessed before they were unveiled. I absolutely feel this is a well written and solidly plotted British police procedural mystery novel. While there is a fair chunk of history between the villain and most of the main characters everything is quite briefly – and very clearly – explained so I do feel readers can pick this book up as a standalone. That said this is a really well written series and I do believe the emotional connection I felt was at least in part because I had read the previous books in this series and knew just how high the stakes were for everyone involved.

I was particularly pleased that Thorne reached out to Dave Holland. While I love Hendricks and Nicola Tanner, I have missed Dave and I really hope we see more of him now Thorne and he have reconnected once again.

An interesting and well plotted mystery, I found this to be a good addition to the series.

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Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

January 27, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group/Pan Macmillan
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions.

Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.

Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, helpless to resist.

But then I discover he’s been sent to collect on an unpaid debt from my missing fiancé….

And that debt is me.

Nat is struggling in the limbo her life has become. Her fiancé had disappeared without a trace just before their wedding rehearsal dinner and Nat has a million questions along with her broken heart. It might have been five years, but she still can’t seem to reconnect with the world and move on. Then Kage moves in next door. Tall, dark and dangerous Nat knows she shouldn’t be intrigued, but they’re drawn together like a moth to the flame. Then she learns he’s here to collect her fiancé’s debt – and payment will be herself.

This is the first mafia romance/darker romance story I’ve read since the genre exploded in recent years and I have to say this was a good book. In many ways it felt similar to me as the many (many, MANY) erotic romance stories I’ve read over the years, though I’ve usually stayed away from the mafia element. I admit the mafia aspect to this story was fairly light – Kage is the right hand man and member of this particular mafia family but he’s away from home, collecting the debt and “making a point” and I do feel that since he’s out of his home city, away from the rest of the family this really tones down the mafia element of the story. It was perfect for me and I felt it was a really good way to dip my toe into the genre.

The story itself was really quite good. I enjoyed both Nat and Kage’s characters, the plotline of her disappeared fiancé (ex-fiancé, I suppose, since it’s been five years and legally, he was deemed dead) and in particular the emotional fall out Nat has been dealing with over the situation was an emotional and excellent read. I do feel that Kage almost instantly fell in love with Nat – which I thought was strong for the plot and storyline but was never really thoroughly explained or discussed. Much of the book is from Nat’s perspective and so we can see why Kage and his honesty about not being a good person and not being a “regular” kind of man doesn’t turn Nat off. I found Nat’s perspective and attachment a lot better explained and much easier to connect with. I did enjoy Kage and his character truly appealed to me, but I wished a little there were a few more chapters from his perspective so I could have more easily understood some of his thought process. With some difficult themes both characters were going through a bit more balance between their perspectives would have helped me with this, I think.

The paperback copy of this book I purchased and read had a bonus chapter – from Kage’s perspective – at the end and this did fill some of that gap for me. The chapter was after the end of the book, and apparently an addition to the paperback copy only. I thought it was an excellent addition – though obviously I didn’t reach it until I had finished the book itself.

This book has plenty of spice and erotic readers should find it very satisfying. I thought the balance of spice and plot was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed Sloan – Nat’s BFF and a fun and interesting secondary character. The final chapter fairly clearly outlines that the second book will be Sloan’s story and set up a cliffhanger style intro/prequel into the second book so readers who dislike that kind of ending/lead up to the sequel should probably not read the final chapter from Sloane’s perspective.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

From The Ashes by Damien Boyd

January 26, 2026 By Leave a Comment


From The Ashes by Damien Boyd
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Long lives are being cut short in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.

A retired teacher is found dead in her Somerset home on a cold January night. At first glance, it is a routine unexplained death and a simple referral to the coroner, until a neighbour reports an unscheduled visit from an occupational therapist an hour before the body was discovered.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon is convinced the elderly woman has been strangled—a cause of death confirmed by the pathologist—and a murder investigation is launched.

More victims are soon found—a second retired teacher who died in eerily similar circumstances in Devon. Then a possible third victim is exhumed in Dorset.

Leading a regional task force, Dixon must find the connection between the victims. As the coincidences mount, he begins to fear he has stumbled on something premeditated and deeply sinister—a serial killer targeting the elderly in their own homes.

When a sharp-eyed rural police officer notices similarities between the seemingly sudden death of an elderly lady with a similarly sudden death recently of an elderly man, DI Nick Dixon is called in to review the crime scene. The similarities are striking – and soon the forensic details also match in ways that are unlikely to be faked. DI Dixon and his team soon uncover a much larger issue and the case grows even more complicated.

I have found this to be a really good and reliable series. I strongly feel this new addition is an excellent book – one of the best recently in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed how the plot slowly grew both more intense and more complicated. By half way through the book is was a far deeper and more complicated case than a few elderly people dying in their sleep could ever have appeared. I also really enjoyed the methodical way the facts came together without too many red herrings or lost time.

I have high hopes for the newly minted officer who first spotted the similarities – I hope we see her character again more in future books. I also really enjoyed the personal and relationship progress between Jane and Nick and find their interactions really grounding and satisfying to read. It adds a good reality to the story, and I think the books are better for it.

I found this book good and am enjoying this interesting and well written British police procedural mystery series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Beer Truck by Emily Carrington

January 22, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Beer Truck by Emily Carrington
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, LGBTQ
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When TJ, a famous country star, finds out he has cancer, he retreats to his hometown to heal away from the paparazzi. Uncomfortable living with his parents, he gets a job as a beer truck driver.

Harvey is the owner of a local bar. He’s been following TJ’s career because the two of them used to be lovers. But TJ insisted on being in the closet. Now that Harvey’s older, he can’t imagine burying himself like that ever again.

But when TJ walks into his bar, both men are shocked by the attraction that still blossoms between them. But neither will budge in their beliefs. How can they possibly find happiness in each other’s arms?

Famous country star TJ’s life is turned upside down when he gets a cancer diagnosis. Retreating back to his hometown, all is wants is to escape and try to heal. Getting a job as a beer truck driver, TJ is shocked when he walks into a bar and hinds his secret ex-lover, Harvey still in town and the owner. Can these two stubborn men find their happily ever after?

I found this to be an emotional read – TJ’s fight against his cancer runs fairly smoothly but the depth of emotion and worry he feels runs deep and is quite powerful to read. Readers who aren’t comfortable with cancer as a main plot device should be cautious with this book.

Normally I find books where one (or both) partners are in the closet fairly difficult and annoying to read. I was fairly impressed though with how the author handled it in this story. TJ had two very strong reasons to be so firmly closeted – his strictly religious, homophobic parents but also his music career. That, coupled with Harvey’s refusal to go back into the closet made this a strongly conflicted romance plot and I feel this gave quite a bit of meat to the story. I felt deeply connected to both characters and the emotion all but dripped from the page for me.

Readers looking for well written and stubborn characters, a solid romance plotline and a lot of emotion should find this to be an excellent story. I do feel this might be a difficult read for some people, but I equally feel the story is well with the discomfort. A charged and emotional read, this was a story I’m not likely to forget any time soon.

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Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham

January 21, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When DI Tom Thorne is called to the site of a suicide, he expects to be in and out in no time. But when he arrives at the Underground station where a woman named Philippa Goodwin threw herself in front of a train, he inexplicably senses something awry and feels compelled to dig deeper. He soon discovers that she was the victim of a callous con man who preys on vulnerable women—and whose deception plunged Philippa to her end.

Thorne enlists DI Nicola Tanner to help him track down the swindler and bring him to justice. But the detective duo gets more than they bargained for when a young man’s bludgeoned body turns up on the shore of a nearby seaside town and the two cases come together in a way that neither of the detectives could have foreseen . . .

Tom Thorne is called out to an apparent suicide and while he’s fairly sure that this is what it seems – the reason behind the suicide is something he struggles to let go of. When eventually he and his partner Nicola Tanner do hand the case to the fraud squad no one is more surprised than Thorne when he’s contacted by another division – the DNA sample turning up in a recent murder case. Suddenly his interest doubles and the case once again becomes theirs. Can Thorne and Tanner sort out what’s going on?

I found this to be an enjoyable British police procedural murder mystery book. Both Thorne and Tanner have worked a few cases before, so they seem to have found a good rhythm together now which I really enjoyed. While there are some developments in each of their respective personal lives, I was pleased this didn’t take too much time away from the main plot.

I really enjoyed how this case grew and almost spiraled as the main characters wove together and the case grew as the villain’s relationship did too. While I definitely found parts of the plot easy to guess and foresee, there were still enough twists to keep me guessing and surprised. I feel this book should absolutely appeal to mystery readers of all kinds. I particularly liked how while the villains were clearly villains, they both had quite different issues and in many respects, they worked wonderfully together it was equally clear they were also going to cause serious issues for one another. I thought their relationship – both growing and disintegrating – was an extremely complicated and intriguing dynamic and I feel this really made the plot as gripping as it was. I can’t recall reading a story like this previously and to some extent the two villains even outshone Tanner and Thorne for me- which is a highly unusual position for me as a reader to find myself in.

With a steadily growing plot and plenty of realism I found this to be a good read and a nice addition to a great series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham

January 19, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

While Tanner investigates the deadly spread of a dangerous new drug, Thorne is handed a case that he doesn’t take too seriously—until a spate of animal killings points to the work of a serial murderer. When the two cases come together unexpectedly, both Thorne and Tanner must risk everything to catch two very different killers.

DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner both return in this book and I feel readers are in for quite a ride with this. While this is a good number of books into the series I was pleased to find it quite fresh and still able to grip me by the throat.

I enjoyed the fact that this book – unlike most of the others in this series – had a few different moving parts to the plot. And while I was fairly sure from the beginning that they were all linked somehow it wasn’t clear at the start how they were linked – or even if they were connected at all. That kept a lot of my attention on the book in a different way that I’m used to with this series. I also thought the way things came together in the end (both linked and not) shows exceptional writing on the authors behalf and I have to admit there were a number of points I wasn’t even close to guessing correctly.

I was pleased Nicola Tanner was back, while her character is fairly new, I enjoy her strong presence, and I feel she adds a good counterpart to Thorne. I definitely feel these two work well together and I’m glad the author has continued along these lines. I also really enjoy how while these two characters are vastly different, there are a few key aspects to which they are really quite eerily the same when push comes to shove. I am very eager to read more of these two continuing to work together.

While I usually find the plots quite uneasy and uncomfortable reading I feel a few of the above points helped me with this book. And while Thorne is initially hunting an animal killer, which is obviously not lighthearted or fun as a major plot line, I did feel this book remained gritty but not the same level of discomfort I usually associate with a DI Thorne novel. I had to pause at numerous times to breath and regroup – there are still quite a few fairly hard aspects to these plots, but overall, this book was well worth the effort and was a strongly plotted and well written read.

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Cole For Christmas by Treva Harte

January 15, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Cole For Christmas by Treva Harte
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Holiday, LGBTQ
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Sarah has a secret — she wants her best friend Cole. Cole wants Jeff. And Jeff? Surprise! He wants them both.

Cole is wild, funny, impulsive, and Sarah’s best friend. She doesn’t understand what he gets out of submission, but she’s not going to let Cole get hurt the way he has in the past. So when she discovers his new dom is Jeff, the jerk who helped kick her out of her undergraduate program, she knows she has to intervene.

But when she sees Jeff again, she’s confused. He says he wants Sarah to be Cole’s Christmas present, and she’s stunned. She and Cole are just friends, aren’t they? Amazingly, Cole seems to want her as much as she secretly has wanted him. The even bigger surprise? She realizes she wants Jeff too.

Even if she could have them both, this is supposed to be temporary. It’s too bad she’s only allowed to have Cole for Christmas.

Life was never meant to be simple. Cole is Sarah’s best friend. When she finds out his new Dom is Jeff – the jerk who got her kicked out of her undergraduate program – she knows she needs to keep a very close eye on her best friend. Only Jeff thinks Sarah should be Cole’s Christmas present, and suddenly everything gets complicated. Can the three of them work something out with no one having a broken heart in their Christmas stocking?

Readers looking for a spicy and lightly kinky friends-to-lovers style Christmassy read should absolutely enjoy this read. While Jeff and Cole have recently begun a relationship, Cole and Sarah have been good friends for years. I thought this would be an interesting dynamic to the usual menage scenario – one where all the characters know each other quite well already but the relationship itself changed significantly through the story. This certainly made the quick road to intimacy easier to accept and understand so I think most readers should find the storyline believable and realistic.

There was quite a bit of antagonistic history between Jeff and Sarah. While this created a good amount of conflict and tension in the story I was pleased that the author handled the difficult conversation between these two fairly early into the story. Getting their history, the circumstances leading to the situation and both their feelings aired and discussed really paved the way not just for all the sexy shenanigans to be enjoyed, but also for some truth and trust to have room to flourish between them. While not exactly realistic – when do conversations like this ever really go smoothly this fast and this easily? – I could absolutely appreciate the author getting this worked out and smoothed over early so I could sit back and enjoy the relationship develop between the three main characters.

Readers who enjoy their erotica with a bit of BDSM and plenty of spice and strong characters should absolutely enjoy this story. I thought there was a solid balance between the emotional plot, the strong connections between the threesome and the spice levels which made this a lovely read for me.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Death Rocks by LJ Ross

January 13, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Death Rocks by LJ Ross
Publisher: Dark Skies Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A COINCIDENCE…

When the body of a talented photographer is found on the rocks beneath the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle, DCI Ryan and his team of detectives immediately suspect the worst. But, since none of their potential suspects seems to have a motive, the case runs cold.

Then, when another body is found dead on a lonely stretch of road near Hadrian’s Wall and their only suspect has an airtight alibi, the team are faced with another crime without a perpetrator.

With the number of unexplained deaths in the area increasing rapidly and only a series of coincidences to work from, Ryan and his team must find the invisible link between them to crack the case—before it’s too late.

Can Ryan solve his most dangerous case yet?

DCI Ryan and his team are called into what could be a suspicious death – but equally might just be a tragic accident – on Death Rocks. With no clear motive and no real suspects, the case quickly goes cold on the team. But when another potentially suspicious but possibly accidental death turns up DCI Ryan and his team know something just be going on – but can they work out what it is?

I’ve been enjoying this long running series and found this book to be an interesting and strongly written addition. While the team has been together for years and have a great cohesion to them, I feel that there’s enough progress – and a new team member joining the group – that this would be a perfect book to introduce oneself to the series.

I also felt the murder mystery was a delightful breath of fresh air. With no clear motive or suspects – and even a question over whether this is actually murder at all – I found the police procedural aspect to the book really well written, and it also felt fresh and interesting to me.

There is some friction between some of the team initially, and while I feel bad for Jack, sometimes I also feel he can be a real idiot. I was pleased, though, this tension and conflict was resolved fairly quickly but also realistically. Readers should be aware that this book has quite a twist and a character death at the end. Plus, while a lot of the plot is wrapped up there isn’t a complete conclusion of everything – a few aspects are left for resolution hopefully in the next book.

Readers who enjoy a well-paced and excellently written British police procedural should find this is a very good book – and possibly the opening to a whole new series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Murder At Work by Faith Martin

January 7, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Murder At Work by Faith Martin
Publisher: Joffe Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Looking for a brilliant bestselling murder mystery with a feisty female detective?

Meet DI HILLARY GREENE, a policewoman struggling to save her career and catch criminals.

Hillary will retire in a few weeks. But can her boss get Hillary to change her mind by putting her on a murder investigation?

The victim is found dead with his head bashed in with a piece of wood. Michael Ivers was a gambler and a notorious womaniser. He had few friends and there is a long list of people who might have wanted him dead.

Hillary wants to solve her final case as a police officer and she has just days left to find out who killed him. To add to her problems, her old enemy, ex-Sergeant Frank Ross is back on the scene and is a prime suspect.

This is a crime mystery full of well-observed characters, which will have you gripped from start to the absolutely thrilling conclusion.

DI Hillary Greene is almost at the end of her two month’s notice. Determined to retire from her beloved job and leave on her own terms – and with her dignity and reputation intact – she is systemically wrapping everything up to leave in the best possible way. With two weeks left, however, a new murder case is dropped on her plate, and despite her initial instinct to turn it away she soon finds herself drawn in despite her best intentions. Can Hillary fix these last few problems?

I have been thoroughly enjoying this series and was quite pleased with this addition. Over the last few books a series of events have been culminating and in this book a lot of that longer-running story arc comes to a fairly dramatic conclusion. I feel the author did a really good job both explaining and summarizing the events without it feeling like an info dump or catch up for the reader, so I do think that readers who pick this book up having never read any of the previous books should catch on quite easily to what’s happening. I admit that since I’ve been along for the whole ride I had quite a strong emotional connection to Hillary, her team and the series of these events in general.

While a lot is obviously happening around Hillary and her life, I did not feel this detracted from this books murder plot and the author is to be commended for this good balance. The murder and the plot revolving around that had a good pace and I don’t feel it was left to drag or languish beside all the personal drama and that sub-plot. These two items both moved along well and while they were not linked I feel they each were given plenty of time to shine without overshadowing the other.

Readers who enjoy a good British Police procedural mystery should find this is a good read. I personally also enjoy that quite a strong cast of secondary characters – both from Hillary’s past and present – have a good showing and for me this gave the book some good depth and heart. I really enjoyed this book and am very eager for the next in line to see where these events and Hillary’s decisions lead her.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,
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