Dead Man’s Daughter by Roz Watkins HQ pb £7.99 eBook and audio.
A thriller set in the Peak District, which is of course, beautiful but can be challenging. Just like this book, because a child is involved. I find thrillers involving children ‘on the edge’ of my comfort zone. I think Watkins has pulled it off. Read it, and see what you think.
DI Meg Dalton isn’t prepared for her latest case – a child found running through woods, her nightdress covered in blood. Nearby her father is also found, stabbed, dead.
Just as most would, Dalton thinks of a violent intruder but there are complications. The father was obsessed with odd statues in the woods. Added to this was his obsession with his daughter’s recent heart transplant. Watkins begins to ask herself if the new heart has altered the child? This leads to the big question: who exactly was the donor? How did he/she die? Is there a killer out there? Is the child safe?
Give it a whirl. Watkins first book, The Devil’s Dice was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award and is optioned for TV.
Her Last Breath by Alison Belsham Trapeze pb £8.99
Oh crikey – The body count is rising, the clock is ticking. Is this a classic page turner – a race against time?
When a young woman is attacked, but not quite killed. Can the police find her killer before she dies? What does her tattoo mean?
Then another woman disappears. Is there a serial killer trawling the streets of Brighton?
Detective Francis Sullivan and his team suspect Alex Mullins, the son of Francis’s lover. Oh lord… What does Francis do? Yep, read it, you will turn the pages.
One Fatal Mistake by Tom Hunt Orion. pb £8.99
I find this sort of crime far too realistic to read with equanimity. Because … because … Would we all cover up, if our son killed someone in an accident, and ran away from the scene? Joshua Mayo and his mother do just this – but that never works, does it. Or does it? Will someone find out, if so what will they do? Will the weight and increasing complexity of the deceit ruin them anyway. Read it, and find out.