A Poison Tree

A DCI Will Blake Novel, Book 1

By: J.E. Mayhew

Narrated by: Owen Welsh

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Would you forgive your child anything?

The murder of a young girl found barefoot in a country park and the re-emergence of shoes from the victims of a serial killer from over 40 years ago. A coincidence or a connection?

Will Blake is determined to find out, but as he unearths the past, questions are raised about the original investigations, and it becomes clear that The Wirral has a killer on the loose, once again.

Victor Hunt, father of Drucilla, the last victim back in the '80s, lies in a hospice, with weeks to live. The truth lies hidden in Hunt’s tangled family tree and the actions of his wayward daughter. Time is against Blake and his fractious team. If they don’t get to the root of past crimes, then innocent blood will flow again.

A Poison Tree is the first thrilling mystery in the Will Blake crime series. A great listen for fans of Luca Veste's DI Murphy and JD Kirk’s Jack Logan series.

Discover A Poison Tree and get involved in this exciting investigative series today.

©2020 Jonathan E. Mayhew (P)2020 Jonathan E. Mayhew

Variety of Twists and Turns

Author J.E. Mayhew creates an interesting character, DCI William Blake as he launches this new series. In many ways I found it to be an interesting, complex crime story with a variety of twists and turns. A once beautiful dead teen is found barefoot in the park. Though she is identified early, the clues to her character are shared in pieces. Details of the brutal current and past murders are tied to shoes that find their way into a secondhand shop.

Blake is a complex character that takes care of Serafina, his dead mother’s cat. He takes care of the house, while the cat runs the roost. Their contentious relationship helps clue you in on the man and his approach to solving the case. As the senior investigator of the murdered girl, he directs his team on the investigation while also being hands-on. The details of police procedure appear correct, but in some places slow the story.

The descriptions of the locations, people, and interactions provided a good framework for the story. I liked the descriptions home life of the various families pulled into the investigation.

As the story unfolds the connections between this murder and past murders add a level of suspense and interesting dark secrets which can no longer remain buried. The action is good and keeps the listener moving along with the story. It is one of those murder mysteries which require you to go all the way to the end.

The narration is clean without issues. I found good distinguishable accents by the narrator Owen Welsh. The pace up front was almost too slow yet pick up after a dozen chapters. I enjoyed the faster pace and race to the end.

It seems a good start to a series with a lead character like Will Blake whom I hope will continue to evolve. If you like the darker side of murder mysteries this may be just the ticket to start your new series.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook, it was clear and well produced.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Awesome Twists

A Poison Tree by J.E. Mayhew pulled me in from the very beginning. I have been enjoying police procedural books and found this one to be captivating. The narrator, Owen Welsh, gave an authentic sounding accent to my ears for the setting. At times I could not clearing hear who was speaking though. The ending was very well done and had a satisfying outcome.

Great start to a new series

I was excited to start a new series, especially when the detective is named William Blake, a genius idea. Within the first few sentences I was intrigued. The action starts straight away and doesn't let up until the final word. The story is quite complicated with a number of people involved, and a few times I struggled with who was whom and where they fit in. However, that never impacted on my enjoyment of the book, as all the cards in the deck were displayed clearly at the end. We learn that Blake has an interesting back story but we will have to be patient as dark secrets were alluded to but not revealed. Serafina provided us with some light relief so the darkness of the book was never overwhelming. Owen Welsh narrates well although I'm not expert enough to distinguish between different Liverpudlian accents so they all felt spot on to me. An action packed book with credible police officers who I hope I'll have a long relationship with as this series should run and run. Get in at the ground level - I have a feeling this is going to be BIG.

Good but …

I liked it but so many characters to keep up with made it hard to love the story.

I just couldn't get past the narrator...

I'm giving the story the benefit of the doubt when I give it three stars. It might have been good if the narrator didn't sound like a 12 year old boy, and all the characters versions of that 12 year old boy. Women sound like a 12 year old boy trying to sound like a woman. One of the older characters sounded like a 12 year old trying to sound like a old person. All the other characters simply sounded like the same 12 year old boy. It was just so off-putting, that I can't tell you whether I liked the story or not.