Their Fatal Secrets by Janice Frost is the 4th in the DS Merry/DI Neal series. I haven't read the previous books, but this one works fine as a stand-alone. From the blurb: "Two students coming home from a drunken night out see something strange in the river. It is a young woman’s body.
Hours later, a second young woman’s body is discovered on another stretch of the same river."
DS Ava Merry and DI Jim Neal are assigned to both investigations. And they’re joined by a new detective, Tom Knight. There is an interesting premise in this novel involving the backstory behind the murders. The villain (the standard woman-hating lover of violence for this kind of novel) is revealed almost immediately--and although a frightening character, he is both despicable and strangely uninteresting.
The main characters are not especially developed, but since this is the third entry in the series, for regular readers this probably isn't necessary. The connection between the women makes the plot interesting and persuaded me to finish it.
NetGalley/Joffe Books
Crime/Police Procedural. Oct. 21, 2017.
Sounds like a great mystery! I love a good police procedural.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting, but would have been better if I'd felt a real connection to the protagonists.
DeleteI love the cover art, although not so much the font and lettering. This sounds like an interesting mystery. It's good to know it can stand well on its own, although I wonder if one would get a better feel for the characters starting at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the font and lettering on the cover--it completely cancels the mystery of the illustration!
DeleteI'm intrigued by the mystery and am glad to hear it works as a stand-alone. Will see if the library has the first installment of this series; sometimes they don't and only carry the latest installments.
ReplyDeleteFrom a character development point of view it sounds like it might be best to start with the first book in this series.
ReplyDelete