Murder Of The Bride by Faith Martin
Publisher: Joffe Books, London
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

DI Hillary Greene is called out to attend a suspicious death at Three Oaks Farm in the picturesque village of Steeple Barton.

The large farmhouse is filled with music and revellers, but when she steps into the farm’s cowshed, Hillary finds a dead bride. Dressed in a sumptuous white wedding gown, the young, beautiful redhead had clearly been strangled.

But not everything is what it seems, and the victim turns out to be at the centre of a web of jealousy and intrigue in the close-knit village. Many of the villagers have a motive for murdering her but they’re not giving up their secrets easily.

Can Hillary discover the real reason for this brutal crime and cope with the spiralling revelations about her dead ex-husband?

When a young lady at a fancy dress party is found murdered in a cow shed DI Hillary Greene and her team are called in to investigate. The beautiful woman – dressed as the bride she would never become – doesn’t appear to really have any enemies. But the more Hillary digs into her life, the more she realizes just how complicated people really are.

I have been greatly enjoying this series and found this to be a strong addition. The murder mystery is interesting and while the pace is a little slower – more that of a Police procedural rather than an action/adventure – I really did find that the plot unknotted quite well. I also really enjoy that there are a few longer running story arcs through this series, like that of Hillary trying to get her house back and the leftover dregs of her ex-husbands schemes. The possibly blossoming romance also is a very slow-burn and seems to be starting to get somewhere. I also appreciated that there is a new boss for Hillary and her team and the author made it clear this character was going to have quite the mysterious background and motivations for his transfer.

Overall I found this a really interesting book and I’m eager to keep reading. While the mystery plot can absolutely be read alone readers who dislike reading longer story plot arcs out of order might want to consider reading this series in the correct order. I do feel that everything is explained well enough people can pick this up by itself and still thoroughly enjoy it, but for me personally a lot of the fun is in the fact there are a few longer-running character storylines, and I could understand if readers wanted the full story in order and not get muddled or spoilers. I’m enjoying this British police mystery.

Murder At The University by Faith Martin
Publisher: Joffe Books, London
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

A pretty French student is found dead in her room at an exclusive Oxford college. Everyone thinks it is another tragic case of accidental drug overdose.

But Detective Hillary Greene has a nose for the truth. She quickly discovers that the student was involved in some very unusual activities.

With a shocking cause of death found, the case becomes a high-profile murder investigation.

Adding to the pressure, Hillary’s nemesis is transferred to work with her at the station.

Can Hillary keep her cool and get justice for the unfortunate student?

This is the second book in the series featuring DI Hillary Greene and I really enjoyed it. With a layered and interesting murder mystery plot and a number of realistic and complicated characters in the police team I found there was plenty in this British police procedural book to keep my interest keen.

While at a first glance the murder appeared straightforward, I was pleased when a number of twists were uncovered and the mystery quickly deepened to be far more than first expected. I also like how the author kept a good balance with the plot and characters remaining realistic and believable but never simple – there were enough twists to keep me guessing and hold my attention firm.

I also really appreciated how Hillary is not a young woman (somewhere in her forties) and not a novice when it comes to her police work and investigations. That is still quite a refreshing change to me, and I love the series for that difference alone.

Readers looking for a well-paced British police procedural story with an intricate plot and solid characters should check this series out.

Murder On The Oxford Canal by Faith Martin
Publisher: Joffe Books, London
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.

Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.

Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.

Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

DI Hillary Greene has lost her husband and her home, but she’s determined to cling to her police career. Under internal investigation to see if she was linked to her husband’s corruption, Hillary knows she has an uphill battle ahead of her. So she’s determined to give her best when she’s put in charge of a murder investigation into a dead body found floating in the Oxford Canal. Can Hillary clear her name and the case without any further damage?

This was a new to me author and series and I was delighted with how much I enjoyed it. Hillary is not a young woman – past forty – and having separated from her now-dead husband months ago having to reshuffle her entire life around what was proving to be a very acrimonious divorce as well as maintain her position as a DI as a woman in the local police force this main character had a number of differences to the usual British murder mystery books I enjoy but still was thoroughly relatable. I found myself quite invested in Hillary within the first few chapters and with a number of interesting – both good and bad – characters in the main cast I was pleasantly hooked quite early on in the story.

I also greatly enjoyed how the two main plotlines were written with equal weighting. The internal investigation into Hillary to find out if she knew of any corruption, but also the murder investigation. These two plots were separate but I thought the author did an admirable job of weaving them together in the storyline so neither one really overshadowed the other. I feel this also helped keep the pace of the story moving along at a good pace.

Like many British police procedural stories this isn’t an action-orientated story. Readers looking for thrills and a fast pace might not be satisfied here, but equally at no point did I feel this story was slow or dragged. I didn’t need to skip ahead to hurry things along so that was a pleasure too. For a first book in a series I enjoyed this and before the half way mark I had ordered the next two books to have ready.

With interesting characters, a relatable and enjoyably different main character and a solidly written murder mystery plot I found this a lovely book and am eager to continue in the series.

Crime On The Fens by Joy Ellis
Publisher: Joffe Books, London
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A CRIME THRILLER WITH A COMPELLING DETECTIVE WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO AVENGE HER DAUGHTER

THE DETECTIVE DI Nikki Galena: A police detective with nothing left to lose, she’s seen a girl die in her arms, and her daughter will never leave the hospital again. She’s got tough on the criminals she believes did this to her. Too tough. And now she’s been given one final warning: make it work with her new sergeant, DS Joseph Easter, or she’s out.

HER PARTNER DS Joseph Easter is the handsome squeaky-clean new member of the team. But his nickname “Holy Joe” belies his former life as a soldier. He has an estranged daughter who blames him for everything that went wrong with their family.

THEIR ADVERSARY is a ruthless man who holds DI Galena responsible for his terrible disfigurement.

The town is being terrorised by gangs of violent thugs, all wearing identical hideous masks. Then a talented young female student goes missing on the marsh and Nikki and Joseph find themselves joining forces with a master criminal in their efforts to save her. They need to look behind the masks, but when they do, they find something more sinister and deadly than they ever expected . . .

DI Nikki Galena has finally pushed her vendetta against the drug pushers a few steps too far and her boss is given no choice but to issue an ultimatum – work with a new partner, squeaky clean DS Joseph Easter aka “Holy Joe” – or be removed from the police force. Nikki has lost everything, her husband, her daughter, any semblance of a life or friends. All she has left is her work and the burning passion to rid the streets of drugs. Nikki and Joe all too soon are forced to make some tough decisions – can they find a way to work together despite their polar opposite views on how to do their duty?

I found this to be a really different but interesting first book in the series. While having a new police partner pairing that have such wildly different approaches to their work isn’t really that unusual at all, I was quite pleased that it was the female partner – Nikki – that was so off the rails and overly aggressive. I thought that was a refreshing change and while Nikki’s character felt a bit too over the top for me, personally, the author kept the strength and aggression consistent throughout most of the book for Nikki.

My main issue was Nikki’s character seemed just too abrasive and unsympathetic. A strong and jaded female police inspector I can totally understand and relate to – but frequently I felt Nikki stepped over the line into being rude and antagonistic to witnesses, coworkers and others. For example, I was really surprised that when questioning a witness Nikki immediately pushed hard, alienating and upsetting the witness and even borderline bullying them when her harsh manner had the witness not wanting to share information. For more than half of the book I really struggled to even like Nikki’s character, let alone feel sympathy for her or want to cheer her on. I also felt these actions of hers were pretty unrealistic. While I could understand there’d be leeway for an inspector with a massive “closed case” number in how physical and over the line they were when it came to arresting criminals and drug dealers, I really couldn’t see the police upper management letting Nikki’s bullying and antagonism slide when it came to innocent witnesses and members of the public. That just didn’t feel realistic to me and it certainly didn’t help me feel like Nikki was a heroine in the usual sense.

I completely understand why Joe’s character was brought into the story fairly early on. While his dedication in arresting the bad guy and saving the victims were just as strong and intense as Nikki’s, his means and manner in reaching that objective was far more palatable. His character was an excellent contrast to Nikki’s and while I understood their enforced partnership finally began to build ties between them both, I really did enjoy watching Joe navigate the various hardships of dealing with a largely uncooperative partner in Nikki and settling down in the new police station and find his way.

Aside from Joe’s character, the other main saving grace of this story to me was how interesting and enjoyable I found the two main plotlines of the story. There’s a smaller plot surrounding some mysterious rubber masks being delivered around the township to egg on various youths into committing petty crimes – which I found both unique and highly creative – but also the more serious case of a murdered young lady out on the Fens. Both mysteries were gripping and interesting and while I really struggled with Nikki’s character, even that edge helped make the story as a whole feel fresh and gripping to me.

While I feel sections of this story really won’t appeal to all readers, the strength of the two plots, the conflict and clashing of Nikki’s abrasive personality and the contrast with Joe’s as the two officers forge a new partnership all added up into an interesting, intense and pretty creative story that I found well worth reading.