Death Message by Damien Boyd
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Publishers
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by FernGraffiti is a dying art in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.
A routine missing person enquiry takes a grisly turn when a young couple drag a box containing human remains out of a Somerset river. The victim was a surveillance expert investigating an exaggerated injury claim—a murder with an obvious motive, until a police officer is implicated and suspended.
Still brooding after his recent brush with police Professional Standards, Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon is on extended leave, helping his pregnant fiancée, Detective Sergeant Jane Winter, fight for her place on the major investigation team.
Convinced that the death of an art student is connected, Dixon returns to duty, and when graffiti depicting the murders starts to appear, the race is on to find the artist and the murderer. But, why the paintings? Could an infamous street artist be involved?
With colleagues questioning his every move, Dixon must stop a sadistic killer before another life is taken. Then a second art student is reported missing…
Detective Sergeant Jane Winter has no problem taking a new probational officer Sarah Loveday under her wing when the officer brings what at first appeared to be a routine missing persons report to Jane’s attention. As they begin to follow the usual procedure it soon becomes apparent that this missing person is anything except ordinary. And when parts of the person are found in a local river – dismembered and weighted down – it doesn’t take long for Jane’s fiancé, currently on leave DCI Nick Dixon to also find his curiosity roused. Can they uncover the various messages layered in this unusual case?
With DCI Dixon taking a slightly more back seat than usual in this novel I found I really enjoyed Jane’s time to step up and be fully one of the main characters in this novel. As Dixon’s fiancé and team member Jane has been a strong secondary for quite a few books now, but I really enjoyed seeing her both take a more active role, but also help train and lead what I feel might become the newest character in their team.
Readers should definitely feel able to pick up this book and read without any of the prior novels – this book stands very well by itself and certainly the plot is completed encapsulated here, with a clear beginning and a satisfying ending with the loose threads all cleared away. Readers who enjoy a solid and well plotted British police procedural should find this pacing and storyline definitely meets their expectations and readers who have enjoyed previous books in this series should be aware that there is a character death in this story. I personally felt the death was very well handled and sensitively treated.
Readers looking for something very high action or intense might not feel this book quite meets that criterion, but personally I’d much prefer a well plotted storyline with plenty of twists and turns as more of the mystery is slowly uncovered. There is some really good police work here and I definitely felt like this was an exceptional mystery. Readers who enjoy most British police procedural style books should feel this is a book well worth the time invested in it.
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