Murder on the Moorland (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries) by Helen Cox
| Murder on the Moorland (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries) by Helen Cox | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: It's the third book in the Kitt Hartley series and if you enjoy cosy crime then it's a book for you. What seems to be a cast of thousands is handled well and I didn't guess the ending. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 320 | Date: March 2020 |
| Publisher: Quercus | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1529402278 | |
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DI Malcolm Halloran and Kitt Hartley's relationship is developing nicely: they're even into a spot of bandage now, although the details are (mercifully) scant. After a night of passion Halloran is called away in the early hours of the morning. There's been a murder in Irendale, where Halloran used to live and where his wife, Kamala, was strangled five years ago. There are sufficient details of the current murder to make Halloran suspect that the man who murdered his wife - and others - is in some way involved, despite being in prison. The DI heads off to speak to Jeremy Kerr.
It was never going to go well. Halloran is too personally, too emotionally involved for it to be other than a farce - and Kerr is a former police officer, so he doesn't need to be told the score. Amber Downing was strangled in her own home with a guitar string and a rune mark was carved into her skin. Superintendent Ricci knows - as does everyone else but Halloran and Kitt Hartley - that Halloran shouldn't be involved in the case at all, so she sends him home on stress leave. What better excuse is there for Mal and Kitt to head off to a holiday cottage close to Irendale?
You're sighing, aren't you? They really shouldn't do this, but then this is cosy crime, so get over it. Kitt's all for supporting her man, but Halloran is seriously out of control and acting like one of those kids that teachers know have a brain: they just haven't discovered the on switch yet. He might be a DI, but he's certainly not acting like one and clinging on to unfinished business in his old life was preventing him from properly starting a new one. He's determined that Kerr is involved and that he's going to get him - and there's no way that he's going to let what happened to Kamala happen to Kitt Hartley. Of course, the obvious answer to this is to keep her away from Irendale, but that would ruin a good story.
Helen Cox evokes the Yorkshire countryside well, although I was a little surprised at how early the heather flowers in Irendale, but that's me being very picky. Her great strength, which we discovered in A Body in the Bookshop is to handle what seems like a cast of thousands with aplomb. I usually have to flick back to remind myself who's who with this number of characters but I never had to do that - and Cox does deliver credible suspects by the busload. I didn't guess whodunnit, despite all the clues being there and there was an ending to keep you glued to the edge of your seat.
I'm not a great fan of cosy crime - I prefer something rather meatier and more complex - but if cosy crime is your bag then you'll find a lot to enjoy in this book and there are a couple of earlier books in the series for you to read. I'd like to thank the publishers for making a review copy available to the Bookbag.
For more Yorkshire-based crime, have a look at Broken Silence (DS Nikki Parekh 2) by Liz Mistry.
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Helen Cox's Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries in Chronological Order
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