A police procedural and cozy mystery involving SOCO Sukey Reynolds of the Gloucester Police.
What it's about: A woman, known to be a former prostitute, is found bludgeoned to death at Ivy House. She'd been set up as mistress there by Trevor Blackton whose had a couple of run-ins with police in the past. Did he kill Evie Stanton in a jealous rage? The police can't seem to find Blackton nor any evidence that he committed the crime. There are some other factors that lead DI Jim Castle to believe that someone else may be behind the murder. Then another victim is found, one with some strange links to the Ivy House murder. And how is a homeless man, a magazine street vendor, connected -- but they can't find him either. The bodies pile up, there are multiple suspects, and wouldn't you know, it's Sukey who starts piecing it all together. NO SPOILERS.
Should you read it? If you like detective novels that are complicated and require them to chase down a lot of leads, interview many different people, and put all the information together to close a case, then this is a series for you. You have to accept that Sukey Reynolds, divorced mom to teenage Fergus, secret girlfriend of Jim Castle, was meant to be a detective but due to circumstances, ended up being a SOCO, a civilian, instead. Given her interest in helping to solve the crimes, which is definitely beyond her remit, she often goes off and makes discoveries on her own. I like her as a character but she needs to stop listening to her boyfriend and get herself qualified as a police officer or detective in her own right. DI Castle is quite protective and patronizing and Sukey is always getting put down for her efforts even though they always result in her finding something important. I've read all of this series, in order, to date and will continue on with the rest of them as they come available as I like the writing style and the interesting cases. In fact, I'd love to have her job!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC to read and review. Keep them coming! I know these were published years ago, some with different titles, but they are still timely and I'm sure that other readers will love discovering these gems.
This is the 5th book in a long running series. I suggest you read them in order!
Genre -- police procedural, cozy mystery with amateur sleuth
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