The Hanging Woods

DCI Hannah Scarlett and her team have been given the cold case of a missing boy.  His younger sister had recently contacted Hannah about the case.  She didn't want her brother to be forgotten nor her uncle to still be blamed for his disappearance.she had been persuaded by Hannah's friend Daniel Kind to contact Hannah.  Unfortunately, Hannah hadn't paid her any attention, so the young woman committed suicide.

Many in the community believe that the uncle killed his nephew, but the suicide victim never believed that.  At a dinner hosted by a local wealthy family, Daniel learns some interesting news; a young man who is doing voluntary work at a local library has claimed to be the illegitimate half-brother of the suicide.

Unfortunately, the man is killed when he confronts someone about his parentage.  Will more deaths occur before Hannah can solve the cold case and her colleagues solve the current cases?  Author, Martin Edwards has a few surprises up his sleeve before the conclusion.  A very good, quick read.

The Witch Maker

DCI Charlie Woodend has been given three days to solve the murder of the witch maker in Hallerton.  The burning of the witch must go ahead say the people on high because of its cultural value.  He takes his DS, Monika Paniatowski with him to begin the investigation.  Woodend tells DI Bob Rutter to investigate criminal activity in the town back to 1604 when the first witch was born.

As Woodend and Paniatowski investigate the town, much comes to light about the history of the town and the burning of the witch.  Also for them to consider is a murder that occurred 20 years earlier plus the recent suicides of two women of the town.   How do they factor in to the most recent murder?

It takes some time before Charlie is able to put together just what brought about the murders.  The reader has had a sense of a murderer throughout this mystery by Sally Spencer, but once again, the author comes up with a surprising conclusion.  A good quick read.

Peril on the Royal Train

Inspector Robert Colbeck has been requested to investigate a derailment in Scotland.  Unfortunately Superintendent Tallis doesn't want him to go.  He feels that London has enough crime to keep Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming busy.  Only the threat of Colbeck resigning forces the hand of Tallis to allow him to go to Scotland with Leeming to investigate the crime scene.

When they arrive at the accident scene, Colbeck and Leeming discover that the railway police superintendent is an old rival of theirs.  McTurk has his own mind about the accident and has no intention of helping the two detectives from Scotland Yard solve the crime.   The police inspector, Malcolm Rae, is of a similar bent and not likely to work well with the detectives from Scotland Yard.

While gathering information, Colbeck finds out that the railway has been threatened by sabbatarians.  Meantime back in London, a robbery occurs at the home of the owner of the LWNR.  Colbeck's father-in-law is sure that the robbery isn't what it seems.  He is sure that the burglar was after the time of the train carrying the Queen to Balmoral would be running, the details of which were in the safe which was broken into.

Colbeck is informed that the gunpowder for the attack on the railway came from an army barracks.  It convinces him that there is more to come.  Returning to London, the two detectives go in search of a criminal who can break into safes.  But will they find the information in time to save the royal family?

Author Edward Marston builds up the tension as Colbeck and Leeming fight their way to solving this murder mystery.  A good, quick read.

Grief Encounters

DCI Charlie Priest has been handed a murder case where the victim has been brutally murdered.  He recognises a tattoo on her buttocks; she had been a nude model when he was studying art.  The team finds out who the victim had been living with up until a year earlier.  Priest speaks to the man and finds out the significance of the tattoo.  A previous boyfriend had arranged for it.  The former is sure the latter had killed her.

Policing isn't just about murder cases, and Charlie has another case he has undertaken.  One of the senior police officers was forced to resign because he had forbidden images on his computer.  He is sure that they were planted there, but he is unable to prove it.  Charlie is determined to help him.  Later, an MP commits suicide for similar reasons.  When a woman is arrested for drink driving, her story turns out to be very similar to his senior officer's.

The team finds the accused murderer, but after Charlie and his DS, Dave Sparkington, have interviewed him, they are not so sure that they have the right man.   However, author Stuart Pawson has Charlie and the team working hard to solve this crime, while Charlie does some delicate work of his own to figure out the other.  A very good, quick read.

Where Shadows Dance

It is 1812 and Dr. Paul Gibson has just received the body of a young man from grave robbers.  He had specifically requested this young man because he had died from a defective heart.  It is while cleaning up the corpse that Gibson discovers a knife wound in the back of the young man's neck.

Gibson calls upon his friend Sebastian St. Cyr to tell him what he has found.  St. Cyr agrees to investigate the murder.  He discovers that the young victim had been employed by the Foreign Office.  Suspects include Russians, Turks, Swedes, French and Americans!

St. Cyr also has his hands full with Miss Hero Jarvis.  She is expecting his baby.  The two really do not get along, but for the baby's sake he asks her to marry him, and surprisingly she agrees.

As his investigation progresses, St. Cyr learns more about the victim and his work at the Foreign Office.  He is shocked later when a Swedish man is killed; one who could have been providing the victim with information.  Another potential witness is garrotted the next day.  It appears that spies are being targeted.  Things take a turn for the worse when Hero is kidnapped.

Author C. S. Harris provides an exciting conclusion to this historical murder mystery.  The St. Cyr series continues to provide the reader with thrilling reads.

The Serpent Pool

DCI Hannah Scarlett has a new DS on her cold case team.  She wants her team to investigate the death of a young woman who had been found tied up and drowned in a shallow lake six years earlier.  As the investigation progresses, Scarlett begins to wonder if her victim is tied to the recent murder of a book collector.

Meantime, Scarlett's friend, Daniel Kind has returned from overseas to find his sister, Louise partnered up with a wealth lawyer.  Unfortunately that relationship ends shortly after his return acrimoniously.  Feeling he needs to set things right, Daniel goes to visit the lawyer, only to find him missing.  Concerned, a few days later, and accompanied by Louise, and the lawyer's gardener, they find the lawyer killed and at the bottom of a disused well.

It is something that Louise tells Daniel and which he passes on to Hannah, that shows a link between the three deaths.  More links appear as the cold case team meets with the team investigating the two new murders.  Can DCI Scarlett's team solve the cases before more deaths occur?

Once again, author Martin Edwards has written a very good murder mystery, which is hard to put down.

A Death Left Hanging

In 1934 a woman was hanged for murdering her husband.  Quite some time later, her daughter, Jane Hartley QC, has asked the chief constable to investigate the murder further because she believes that her mother was framed for the murder.  She Is sure that the criminal involved was the police officer who investigated the case, and he is now a peer of the realm.  The chief constable hands this poisoned chalice to DCI Charlie Woodend.

Woodend assembles his team, DS Monika Paniatowski and DI Bob Rutter.  Rutter has the case file and the team agree that the investigating officer did not do a good job of interrogating the suspect.  It was as if he wanted to wrap up the investigation as quickly as possible for his own purposes.  Unfortunately for the team, Hartley decides to go to the press with the story.  It is at that point that the peer of the realm sticks his nose in and threatens Woodend, not impressing Charlie one bit.

This case brings a lot of revelations to the team, especially Monika.  However, it is the revelations that help clear up this gold case.  Another good, quick read in the DCI Charlie Woodend series by author Sally Spencer.

What Remains of Heaven

It is 1812 and the Bishop Of London has been foully murdered.  Sebastian St. Cyr and the Archbishop of Canterbury want him to investigate the murder.  Britain has been at war in Europe for some time now, and the Americans are threatening to invade Canada. The interesting thing is that the bishop's body is on top of a another body that has been dead for several years, and it appears that he too was murdered, because there is a knife in his back.

As he begins his investigation, St, Cyr discovers that Hero Jarvis had been meeting with the bishop on the night he was murdered.  Tom, St. Cyr's tiger, in his investigations, discovers that a man who had been in St. Cyr's army unit, and had been punished by him has vowed to kill St. Cyr should he ever see him.

Are the two murders connected in any way?  Could the bishop have killed the first victim and then been murdered in revenge?  Later the older victim is identified as an eldest brother of the bishop because of a ring he was wearing.  The elder brother had gone missing quite some time earlier.  Now the ring is missing.

More murder and revelations of a surprising nature are revealed to St. Cyr before he solves this mystery.  A very good read from author C. S. Harris.

Undercurrent

DI Andy Horton has just come home from a break, when he spots a police car with its blue lights flashing.  Curious, he finds that there is a suspicious death.  A professor has plunged to his death in a dry dock.  The victim is a professor who had given a lecture earlier that night.  Horton is sure that it was not a suicide, but how can he prove it?

Shortly after this, a young man is found dead on a yacht.  Horton realises, after he recognises the name of the victim, that he had been at the aforementioned lecture.  However, Horton's superintendent, Uckfield refuses to see any link.  Despite this Horton and DS Barney Cantelli continue to investigate.  They are warned off by their superiors.  Horton comes to the realisation that there is more to this investigation than meets the eye.

Horton is sure that the victims could have something to do with terrorism.  He enlists the help of his friend and pathologist, Gaye Clayton.  Later that night an attempt is made on his life.  The following morning Horton is called out to another suspicious death.  A man has been brutally murdered, and Horton recognises him as having been at the lecture, too.  He can't convince Uckfield that the three deaths are tied together.

Horton and Cantelli come up with a plethora of suspects.  But, how can they narrow it down?   Author Pauline Rowson has once again excelled.   This is a murder mystery you won't want to put down.  An excellent read.