Terror stalks the quiet streets of Cambridge.
When a family solicitor is viciously stabbed to death in his own home, the respectable citizens of Cambridge are shocked to the core. Crimes of this brutality are unheard of in the sleepy university town.
For DI Shauna Holt, it’s as though she brought trouble with her. Newly transferred from London’s Metropolitan Police Service, the burnt-out, jaded detective was hoping for a quieter life, but her experience makes her the ideal candidate to lead the investigation.
Partnered with a cocky young detective sergeant, her first task is to find the victim’s missing spouse. What she encounters is a prickly middle-aged psychiatrist, who is far too personally invested, and her adult daughter with a troubled history.
The mystery deepens and tensions rise as the three women’s lives intertwine. The closer Shauna gets to the killer the more her past rears its ugly head, until solving the case becomes a matter of survival.
Finalist
Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 9 out of 10
Prose: 10 out of 10
Character/Execution: 10 out of 10
Overall: 9.50 out of 10
Assessment:
Plot: The author expertly weaves together multiple plots and sub-plots that strike a perfect balance between creating excitement and leaving the reader wanting more.
Prose: On par with high-profile mystery writers (like Anthony Horowitz or Richard Osman), the prose here is clear, engaging, and highly readable, and the dialogue between characters is especially strong.
Originality: Death No Stranger strikes a fine balance between the conventions of the genre that readers want in a detective novel (red herrings, a cop with a secret, conspiring spouse, well-intentioned citizen detective) and fresh twists that keep readers guessing.
Character/Execution: The characters were so believable and had so much depth to them, especially via their internal monologues and dialogue.
Blurb: Death No Stranger is fast-paced and engaging. Readers will be mesmerized by the mysteries that DI Shauna Holt encounters when trying to solve the murder of a respectable Cambridge attorney.
Date Submitted: May 05, 2022
