Tag Archives: female detective

#BookReview ‘Down to the Woods’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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One thing you know to expect from a DI Helen Grace book; the first theory and suspect she comes up with will not be the killer, usually the second one isn’t either. And you believe her each time. So just when you are wondering who the killer can possibly be, the book races to its conclusion and you never guessed it though the clues are there. Down to the Woods is the eighth in the Grace series by MJ Arlidge. He is expert at twisting, turning, somersaulting the plot and part of the fun as a reader is figuring out the puzzle he has set. MJ ArlidgeIn the New Forest, campers are disappearing from their tents and being chased through the isolated woods before being killed. I didn’t dwell on the gruesome bits; I prefer the puzzle part of crime novels, the answers are always with the people. Apart from PD James and Susan Hill, this is the series of crime novels I keep on reading. Why? Because Helen Grace is an unusual heroine; she is strong but vulnerable, confident yet quaking inside, spiky but desperate for companionship. For the moment that support comes from her team. The secondary story of her DS, Charlie Brooks, continues. Charlie’s daughter Jessie is having nightmares and the household is short on sleep, while Charlie’s husband Steve wants another baby. And there is a new DS, tall, dark, motorbike riding DS Hudson. Local reporter Emilia Garanita is pushing for the big story, overstepping the line, being a nuisance, endangering herself, as usual.
Just when I was beginning to think Helen was less of a livewire, running into danger without thinking first, when she does exactly that. Down to the Woods is perhaps a little less explosive than the earlier books, but this is now a mature crime series and Helen is 45. The challenge for Arlidge is to come up with stories that keep us guessing right until the end without relying totally on Helen. Female characters – Helen, Charlie and Emilia – are undoubtedly Arlidge’s strength and it will be interesting to see if DS Joseph Hudson joins the team on a permanent basis.
One thing disappointed me. More than any previous book, there seemed to be a lot of repetition of stuff the reader can work out for herself; of the ‘if this happens then that might be next’ sort of question. No need for the summarising.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder
‘Nightfall’ by Stephen Leather
‘Hiding the Past’ by Nathan Dylan Goodwin

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DOWN TO THE WOODS by @mjarlidge https://wp.me/p5gEM4-3z6 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Love Me Not’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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Every book in the Helen Grace series by MJ Arlidge is fast-moving, but Love Me Not is the fastest of them all. The action happens, almost exclusively, in one day. It starts in the early morning when a commuter is shot on a rural road. Why kill a respectable wife and mother who has a socially-responsible job? As the day progresses there are more shootings around Southampton, each victim seems completely different from the others. Where is the pattern? MJ ArlidgeThis story is different in that the action is not focussed so much on Helen Grace and, with the exception of a few references to previous books, can be read as a standalone story. There is a gunman on the loose, shooting people at random. Or is it two gunmen? As the victims start to pile-up, a pattern begins to emerge. Will the police identify the shooters in time to stop another murder? Why are the killers staying so close to Southampton? The point-blank callousness of the murders is chilling. When the answers are found, they are unfortunately all too believable. The reader, unlike the police, knows the who but not the why and that’s what keeps the pages turning.
As always with this series, the hunt for a killer is underlain by tensions within the police team. Some of these tensions are caused by Helen herself, as always a challenging, flawed but dynamic character. It is good to see continuing characters such as Charlie Brooks and Emilia Garanita.
I read this in 24 hours.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Darktown’ by Thomas Mullen
‘Jellyfish’ by Lev D Lewis
‘A Mind to Murder’ by PD James

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview LOVE ME NOT by @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2PL via @SandraDanby

#Bookreview ‘Hide and Seek’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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Different from the preceding five books in the series and even faster-paced, Hide and Seek by MJ Arlidge is a relentless page-turner. DI Helen Grace is in prison, awaiting trial. Unsurprisingly, as a copper she receives brute treatment from her fellow inmates. And then one of them is killed and the prisoners don’t know who to fear – Grace, who is accused of murder; a fellow prisoner; or a prison guard. MJ ArlidgeThe action switches viewpoint as Helen tries to identify the killer and prevent him killing again. Her friend DC Charlie Brooks is on the outside, trying to prove Helen’s innocence and find the real murderer, the prison governor can’t cope, and the killer is planning the next attack. Meanwhile the aggressive journalist Emilia Garanita is somehow getting photos from within the prison. While Helen is struggling to survive from one day to the next, the prison guards are under-staffed and under-pressure.
Helen uses a few old prisoner tricks to unlock her cell door and move around the prison, I don’t know how realistic this is but it certainly moved the story along. How often do murders happen in a prison wing at night when the prisoners are locked in their cells?
This is a series to read from the beginning if you are to get the most out of Helen Grace’s ongoing story.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘The Nationalist’ by Campbell Hart
‘The Pure in Heart’ by Susan Hill
‘The Black Tower’ by PD James

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview HIDE AND SEEK by @mjarlidge via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2mH

#Bookreview ‘Little Boy Blue’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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Little Boy Blue ends on such a cliffhanger I wanted to start reading the next straightaway. As the end approached I kept thinking ‘it won’t end like that, it can’t end like that.’ Hide and Seek, sixth in the DI Helen Grace series by MJ Arlidge, is published in September, so not too long to wait. MJ ArlidgeThis is a chilling tale, one that pulls you in and turns the pages. I’d just finished a heavy literary book and needed a contrast, this book certainly provided it. As a television writer, Matthew Arlidge certainly knows how to manage tension and the pacing of his series is managed like television episodes. So perhaps it is not a surprise that Little Boy Blue ends on such a cliffhanger that it could actually be called part one of a two-part series.
The murders – yes plural, isn’t it always? – take place in Southampton’s shady world of BDSM, the world of sexual role play, bondage, dominance and submission. The first victim is someone known to Helen Grace and her instant reaction to hide this acquaintance is at the centre of this hurtling story of murder and secrets. What sets this series apart? The character of Helen Grace is intriguing and complex, we learn more about her in each book. She has a complicated, damaged past but instead of turning to the dark side, she always strives to do the right thing.
The stories are not standalone narratives, each book ramps up the tension and intrigue from the previous novels as the twists in Helen’s complicated life, her relationship with her colleagues and the politics of policing contribute to future tension. Events described in book one become relevant in book five. To get the best out of Little Boy Blue you need to understand the back story to Helen Grace and her team.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If like this, try:-
‘The Silent and the Damned’ by Robert Wilson
‘The Blood Detective’ by Dan Waddell
‘Blood Med’ by Jason Webster

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview LITTLE BOY BLUE by @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1ZB via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Liar Liar’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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I loved the ending… a tasty titbit to make me anticipate the fifth book in the series by MJ Arlidge about Southampton detective Helen Grace. Don’t start reading an MJ Arlidge novel, unless you have nothing to do but read. Because the story moves so fast you won’t want to put it down. Liar Liar is the fourth in Arlidge’s Helen Grace series set in Southampton, UK. MJ ArlidgeArlidge is an expert storyteller, he has created two likeable female detectives – DI Helen Grace and DC Charlie Brooks – and put them in a real, gritty, believable setting.
The writing is graphic. The theme of this book is fire – there’s an arsonist on the loose in Southampton, setting serial fires – so the description of fire in all its stages and its after effects is at times graphic. Is someone trying to cover up a crime? Could it be a revenge attack on one person disguised by multiple fires? Or is it an insider with a grudge?
It is a quick read, 448 pages. Arlidge writes TV drama and his skill at keeping the tension going is clear on every page.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Big Sky’ by Kate Atkinson
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder
‘An Uncertain Place’ by Fred Vargas

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview LIAR LIAR by @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1PW via @SandraDanby

#Bookreview ‘The Doll’s House’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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Vulnerable women are disappearing and Detective Inspector Helen Grace suspects another serial killer. If so, it will be her third, and her success is causing tensions amongst her team in Southampton. In The Doll’s House, MJ Arlidge tells a taut story about girls, captured and confined in dark, dismal places. MJ ArlidgeIn the first chapter, a woman wakes in a dark cellar, and a young family on a day trip to the beach finds a body buried in the sand. This ticks so many boxes for me: the real Southampton setting, the believable Helen Grace, the police politics, Helen’s continuing relationship with fellow officer Charlie.
This is a convincing portrayal of Ruby, a troubled young woman with family issues, who wants to put things right. She was adopted and had a happy childhood, but a reunion with her birth mother sours her life and she disappears. Her mother receives only brief texts and tweets, saying she is trying to sort out her life.
This is a clever killer who keeps his victims alive beyond their grave.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Cover her Face’ by PD James
‘No Other Darkness’ by Sarah Hilary
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE DOLL’S HOUSE by @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1B8 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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Fog creeps up the Solent and into the city from the sea, casting a shroud over the streets, driving the population indoors at the end of the day and pulling the streetwalkers out into their night domain. This is the beginning of Pop Goes the Weasel by MJ Arlidge. Empty backstreets, dirty abandoned industrial estates, overgrown riverbanks. Murder will take place this night. MJ ArlidgeThis is second in the Helen Grace detective series and a great follow-up by Arlidge to his first novel about the Southampton-based detective inspector. But please read Eeny Meeny first or you will be a bit baffled by the back story. These two books tick a lot of boxes: gritty realistic drama, lead female detective with a raw damaged personality, in fact a lot of female characters, set in Southampton [not London, not Edinburgh] with flawed heroes and damaged villains. Arlidge is an accomplished TV writer and author; whether he is writing about police procedure, or the nasty druggy backstreets of a port city where the population rises and falls with the tide, I believe him.
The murder scenes are graphic and anatomical, a bit too much for me, so I admit to skipping a few paragraphs. I don’t like blood and gore, but I do like Helen Grace and DC Charlie Brooks. I didn’t take to Emilia Garanita , the reporter from the local paper, or the new Detective Superintendent Ceri Harwood. Woven through the chase to find the hooker who kills her victims are stories continued from Eeny Meeny: why is Helen Grace driving to Aldershot to spy on a boy, what happened to Helen’s sister, can Charlie have a baby and stay in the force, and how does Garanita always know where Grace is?
Helen Grace’s story will run and run.

Read my reviews of the following books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Jellyfish’ by Lev D Lewis
‘Due Diligence’ by DJ Harrison
‘Lord John and the Private Matter’ by Diana Gabaldon

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview POP GOES THE WEASEL by @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1d5 via @SandraDanby

#Bookreview ‘Eeny Meeny’ by @mjarlidge #crimefiction

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MJ Arlidge has worked in television, most recently producing crime serials for ITV, and so it is no surprise that Eeny Meeny is an accomplished debut crime novel. I found it disturbing from chapter one which takes you straight into the head of one person, looking at another person sleeping, wondering how to kill him. For one to escape their prison, the other must die. They have been imprisoned with a loaded gun and a message on a mobile phone: ‘when one of you kills the other, the survivor will walk free’. MJ ArlidgeFor Detective Inspector Helen Grace, this first case of murder is quickly followed by another kidnapping/murder, and another. Hiding her own demons beneath a veneer of efficiency and emotional self-sufficiency, Grace is out-stepped again and again by a killer who seems a master of disguise as well as being that most rare of things: a female serial killer. Grace fits the profile of a modern literary detective: a loner, with a troubled past and full of guilt. The investigation seems to twist and turn in on itself, turning attention on the police, and on Grace herself. I found myself rooting for her, until finally at the end we understand her guilt. I look forward to reading another novel about DI Helen Grace.

Read my reviews of the following books in this series:-
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘One False Move’ by Harlan Coben
‘Due Diligence’ by DJ Harrison
‘Wilderness’ by Campbell Hart

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview EENY MEENY by @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-Ot via @SandraDanby