A man is found murdered among the ruins of a medieval monastery. The weapon used is an ancient sword belonging to the nearby Hall. It is obvious that the culprit must be found among its inhabitants, domestics or guests.

This is a strange one,everything points to a country setting in the ,say thirties (gardeners,butler,youngster down from Eton…)but the inspector and his sidekick are using cell phones,e-mails, hi-tech DNA research. The thing is,it doesn’t enrich the story,it has no real added value.

And it just drags on an on(I can imagine the reader tapping her or his fingers on the table!)

And to top it off, the denouement leaves one with a whole list of questions…unanswered questions…

Someone is trying to kill Thorn Loxley,the estranged youngest son of a farmer dynasty. And then they try again and he decides to deal with this ordeal all by himself. This rural community is somewhat in turmoil,There are developers on the horizon and Thorn owns the deeds to a piece of land that is needed so this company can create a housing estate. The other grounds are owned by another farmer dynasty, the Crook family and needless to say,they are at daggers drawn. And so the attempts to murder Thorn continue… The storyline is not bad and it has a certain potential but none of the characters feel real,they are all so shallow. The book(not really the story)feels immature. And the end is absolutely over the top. Really over the top. Sometimes a good editor is a blessing…

Ruth Galloway,a forensic archaeologist,goes to Italy at the request of a Italian colleague (and a former one-night stand). Bones have been found at an excavation that raise a lot of(historical)questions. While Ruth stays in a medieval village in the Lazio region,she is confronted with the strange behaviour of certain characters and of course,murder.
This is the 10th book in this series and as with all series,the quality is somewhat variable. The mystery of the Dark Angel feels like a frame story to the story of Ruth’s relationship with the father of her daughter,a married D.I.,who’s wife is pregnant but perhaps not by him(on/off,on/off, I want you,no,I don’t….)Perhaps closure of this particularly relationship might be a good thing for both the characters and for the storyline.

Two men are found dead on a little cruiser moored in the Norfolk broads(small waterways surrounded by marshes,meadows and woodland).
At first sight it looks like a suicide pact,although a strange one as both men don’t seem to have a lot in common. Alex Devlin,a not so very successful journalist,is intrigued by the setup and starts digging….the past has an ugly habit to emerge when you don’t expect it…
What makes this a fabulous read,apart from a very good storyline that keeps you guessing,is the personality of the main character. Yes,she is a nosy journalist,but she is not a monster,she feels guilt,empathy,compassion. It is a welcome change to all the detectives,inspectors,reporters,amateur sleuths who are arrogant, so sure of themselves, rude or absolutely obnoxious…I really liked it !