Aspire To Die by MS Morris

Aspire To Die by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Lust. Ambition. Murder.
When a beautiful, wealthy student is found dead in her room in Oxford’s most prestigious college, Detective Inspector Bridget Hart is called to investigate. The murdered girl appeared to have no enemies, yet was killed in a brutal and bloody assault.

Haunted and driven by her own personal tragedy, newly promoted DI Bridget Hart has a lot to prove as she leads her first murder case. Her investigation uncovers a tangled web of lies, lust and ambition, and brings her into conflict with powerful interests.

But no one can be above suspicion within the closed and claustrophobic confines of an Oxford college, where students and academics live and work side by side, and a ruthless killer waits to strike again.

When a beautiful, wealthy student is found dead in her room at one of Oxford’s most prestigious universities, DI Bridget Hart is called to investigate. Newly promoted, DI Hart is determined to do her best, only there’s no real evidence and no clear enemies who wish ill upon this young student. Can Bridget sort through what really happened in time?

While I have been enjoying the Tom Raven series by this author this book is the first in a different series revolving around DI Bridget Hart in Oxford. Fast approaching middle age with a teenage daughter I found Bridget to be an enjoyable and relatable character. I feel it’s clear the author is well versed in the location of Oxford and the University setting was both interesting and well integrated into the murder mystery.

I do feel the pace of the story was a little on the slower than usual side. Partly this was because the main characters and other team members really needed to be introduced and they all had to settle in a bit together – so I understand how important that is – but equally there felt to me to be quite a few viable and understandable lines of inquiry that the police team needed to investigate. While a lot of this ended up as red herrings I do feel the author should be commended – at no time did I feel like the story was being padded out and nor did it feel like DI Hart or the team were chasing their tails or falling for false leads.

The plots all felt legitimate but upon reflection it did seem like a larger than usual amount of mess and false leads. I thought this book had loads of atmosphere, good and strong characters and a thoroughly relatable storyline and easiness to be read and binged on. I was a little over half way through the book when I ordered the next one and I’ll happily read that when it arrives. A good new series I am eager to sink my teeth into.