Death in the Woods

By: Bernie Steadman

Narrated by: Greg Wagland

Meet Detective Inspector Dan Hellier, a man who needs to redeem his career and catch a killer.

Soon after DI Hellier returns home to Exeter under a cloud, the body of a talented young singer is found in the woods. When her death reveals links to the boss of a recording studio, a predatory gang and a school music teacher, Hellier knows he has his work cut out. Before more innocent people are put in danger, Hellier will need to untangle the web of lies and work out which of many suspects are guilty of murder.

If you are a fan of Joy Ellis, Faith Martin and LJ Ross, then you'll love Bernie Steadman's new West County Crime Mystery Series.

©2015 Bernie Steadman (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd

Had to “binge-listen”

Well written. Engaging characters & propulsive story line. Not so graphic as to be offputting. Would read more by this author.

The opportunity to take another look instead of first impression is a lesson for us all.

I love detective work and mysteries and this was a great book with all the things I enjoy in a good listen!

Who did what to whom?

The characters were well written and holdone's attention. The way the story unfolds, the different ways the victim was as seen by others.

Disappointing

In the epilogue, the author admits that her police consultants mentioned her taking of "poetic license" in the telling of this story. But before hearing that admission, I was already deeply disappointed with this book. It is not a good sign when you want to rip out your earbuds and delete the book from your library when you are 8 hours in to an 8-hour-51-minute listen! Ultimately the fact that the author knows little about the actual operation of police detective work and likely has never really known a working detective at any level (other than the aforementioned consultants) becomes more and more clear as the book goes on. Ultimately this is a book where the teenagers seem to have no problem acting like adults and at least some of the adults have no problem acting like teenagers. It is all rather absurd.

I listened to this book in hopes that I'd found a new author whose work I could support. But unless the reviews I read for future stories in the series suggest a big improvement over this debut work, that is not to be.

Tw

Sensitive subject matter this was not a favorite read for me but the narrator was great