Blog Tour ‘n’ Book Review of Death on the Crags

Death on the Crags

Everybody loves Thomas Davies. Don’t they?

When policeman Thomas Davies falls from a crag on a visit to the Lake District in full view of his partner, Mia, it looks for all the world like a terrible but unfortunate accident — until a second witness comes forward with a different story.

Alerted to the incident, DCI Jude Satterthwaite is inclined to take it seriously — not least because of Mia’s reluctance to speak to the police about the incident. As Jude and his colleagues, including his on-off partner DS Ashleigh O’Halloran, tackle the case, they’re astonished by how many people seem to have a reason to want all-round good guy Thomas out of the way.

With the arrival of one of Thomas’s colleagues to assist the local force, the investigation intensifies. As the team unpick the complicated lives of those who claim to care for Thomas but have good reasons to want him dead, they find themselves digging deeper and deeper into a web of blackmail and cruelty … and investigating a second death.

A traditional British police procedural mystery set in Cumbria.

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BB33T34Y

US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BB33T34Y

Author Bio

Jo Allen was born in Wolverhampton and is a graduate of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and the Open University, with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in geography and Earth science. She’s been writing for pleasure and publication for as long as she can remember. After a career in economic consultancy she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young, in genres of short stories, romance and romantic suspense. She wrote online articles on travel and on her favourite academic subject, Earth science. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read — crime.

Jo lives in the English Lakes, where the DCI Satterthwaite series is set. In common with all her favourite characters, she loves football (she’s a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats.

Social Media Links

https://www.facebook.com/JoAllenAuthor

https://twitter.com/JoAllenAuthor

https://www.instagram.com/joallenauthor/

My Review

I haven’t read any of the previous books in this series and did worry that starting at book 9 might be a problem. It wasn’t, in fact it was relatively straightforward to follow the backstory of the main character – DCI Jude Satterthwaite – and, for the most part, I didn’t feel disadvantaged by not having read books 1-8. By the way, can I just add that Satterthwaite is the most delightful surname for a police officer, or anyone really, that I’ve encountered this year. It evokes a sense of tradition, of old school common sense and I felt the case of Thomas’s death was in safe hands.

As the opening line of the book description says – Everyone loves Thomas Davies. Don’t they? – Well, I certainly did. In a story with quite a few unlikeable characters, Thomas stood out as a decent man, a good friend and an honest police officer. So, surely his fall from the crags was an accident?
Apparently not, and as the story develops, there are many twists, turns and revelations, as well as some deliciously suspicious red herrings. All of which lead to a motley crew of suspects… but then the mother of all twists turns things on its head again.

The author’s writing style caused me a few issues and had me flicking back to see if I’d missed something when characters were talking about some of the events that occurred, but generally those issues were cleared up within the next few pages.
Overall, this is an interesting story with plenty of intrigue and all set amid the the backdrop of the lesser-explored parts of Cumbria. The police team worked well together, so I can see why there are so many books in this series, and I hope, many more to come.

For more news and reviews,

As always,