Not as good as I hoped

After a forced sick-leave, DI Blackwell returns to work. Her first case feels like a joke. Someone has killed 3 feral sheep in Cheddar Gorge, a picturesque village in an area of outstanding beauty. It’s not a case that normally involves the CID, but there’s pressure from some councillors that are golfing buddies of the Chief Constable and they have to take it seriously. The matter escalates when a couple of days later, a dog walker is attacked at the same location with a similar knife. It’s now a case of attempted murder. Then, an 11-year-old girl goes missing. There are several groups of with various interests in the area: an investment company wants to build luxury flats, the National Trust wants to keep things as they are, local landowners like to make a killing selling their land, and the local tourist industry sits amid all this. Louise’s nemesis, DCI Finch turns up and tries to snatch this case away from her.

While all that is going on, Louise is told that the murder investigation into her brother’s death is going to be shelved as there are no leads or tips. Although she’s warned to keep out of it, she does her own bit of investigating.

I requested this book after reading a raving review. Unfortunately, I’m a bit disappointed as it took me a while to get into the story. At first, I had trouble connecting to the main character but that changed when she more or less adopted the dog of the assault victim.

A character that piqued my interest is Richard Hoxton. Although he works for the property developer, he seems to have a moral compass. Not only does he understand the grievances of the local people, he genuinely believes that his boss is the best choice to build houses in the area. I’m not so sure about Walsh’s intentions but I developed sympathy for Jennings when he asks Louise to go on a date. He does have a drinking problem; he’s a functioning alcoholic but suffers from blackouts. This is not in his favour as far as Louise is concerned as she has more than her fair share of alcoholism in her family history.

The story moves but slow and meanders about without much happening, apart from the crimes that is.

Although this is the 3rd book in this series, I could follow the narrative without any problems. There’s a lot of information about the previous cases that give an insight into the problems Louise has. But I would advise the author to use a different editor as I found several plot holes (what happens to the dog, does he go back to his owner, where and when or where does he stay when she’s working? At a given time Hoxton calls Louise and needs to meet her to give info but this doesn’t seem to happen and in the next line she seems to act on some undisclosed information) Rather shoddy work. I’m sorry to say that it’s rather mediocre as far as the intrigue as well. It feels as if he used a template and a checklist but couldn’t sew the whole thing properly together.

I liked the description of the area and the local history, which seems to be authentic as far as I know. The picture on the cover depicts the gorge in question, I suppose.

I thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the free ARC, this is my honest and unbiased review of it.