My instincts have paid off. This is the fourth in this series set in the fictional pennine towns outside Manchester where DI Calladine & DS Bayliss ply their investigative trade. I am rewarded at last with a story that matches the skill of the author and allows me to write my most positive review to date. Alice knows this case is a poisoned chalice. Not least because she has a new team to contend with — who don’t like being bossed around by a woman. The surprises found in the story adds to the story’s suspense quite a bit. The dialogue and characters are well done, with Calladine and his team feeling like old friends already. The series is set in the village of Leesdon on the outskirts of Manchester, English, on the Hobfield housing estate, a “cesspit” breeding ground to drug rival gangs and crime activity. Was there a turf war raging on the Estate?

DS JESS WILDE is in her early thirties. She is unattached and keen to progress in her career. She gets on well with Harry. He doesn’t have much time for protocol, and this suits her. She is critical of how he lives. She has recently bought her first property locally. DI HARRY LENNOX began his career in Glasgow, but due to a traumatic incident, transferred to West Yorkshire and then Ryebridge. He blames a Scottish villain for what happened and is afraid that he’ll catch up with him. Harry is single, thirtysomething and has a chaotic lifestyle. One of the men is not what he appears to be. He is hiding a secret that he would do anything to cover up. Once Bayliss and Calladine start investigating, they find that the crimes take things much further than they could have imagined. I had an inclination as to who the culprit was, but to be sure, I just had to read to the end as you get left in doubt with your suspicion now and again saying "am I wrong? am I right?"

Publication Order of DI Matt Brindle Books

The brutal and hideous crimes against the bodies of the two victims make Tom believe he is NOT dealing with the usual gang war. This is someone who takes a personal pleasure in meting out retribution. If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, Mel Sherratt, Ruth Rendell, or Mark Billingham you will be gripped by this exciting new crime fiction writer. The setting is the village of Leesdon, but the author has taken some artistic liberties to enhance the novel. There are a couple other situations happening at the same time ... the death of Calladine's mother, an old girlfriend reappears, Bayliss is having her own problems...mostly person with a man she's been dating who is having a real hard time being delegated to third place, after her job and her stress-relieving bird watching. I can't quite put my finger on what was missing from this read for me. And I have pondered it for the past 24 hours.....Whatever it was, it won't put me off reading more from Helen Durrant. It appears that this was her first book, and for that stellar effort I have awarded her the extra half a star!

D I Calladine believes it is nothing to do with the drug war, that the answers lie buried firmly in the past, but his boss disagrees. So not only does he have a boss who can't see the wood for the trees to contend with, but there is the problem of Monika, his on-again/off again girlfriend, and friend of his DS Ruth Bayliss who seems determined to keep them together. The characters continue to develop and I felt I got to know Calladine a lot more. He is a realistic character with flaws and good points and his team all work together really well so it is no surprise that they start to untangle the web of lies and secrets and find the way forward to solve the cases. Calladine's old adversary and cousin, Ray Fallon, is still making waves for him and now there is a new DCI to contend with, whilst Bayliss is slowly winding down getting ready to take maternity leave.This is the fourth book in the Calladine and Bayliss series. I've read and enjoyed the previous three, and this one was equally good. The story follows an investigation into what is perceived to be a serial murder. Both victims are young thugs/criminals who spend their time on a low income housing estate selling drugs and worse. The Hobfield estate holds out little optimism for the youth who live there. They all seem sullen and antagonistic towards police. Tom e Ruth (i detective) costituiscono tutto sommato un buon tandem, anche se la più sveglia sembra lei (e anche maliziosetta, ma leale). Lui, invece, l'ho trovato alquanto suggestionabile, indeciso e insofferente e ha reso un po' insofferente anche me. A brand-new mystery from #1 bestselling author Helen H. Durrant that will have you gripped from start to pulsating finish.

I started a new series today. Yup… another one! A British police procedural (my favorite kind) set in the Pennine foothills of northern England on the outskirts of Manchester. In DEAD LOST, Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss face one of their toughest challenges yet. A group of homeless people have set up camp in the grounds of a disused cotton mill belonging to local businessman Damien Chase. But one of the men is not what he seems. He has a secret he will do anything to cover up. And once Calladine and Bayliss investigate, they find the crimes go much further than they could have ever imagined. Will Ruth be able to juggle her personal and professional lives, and can Calladine deal with their new boss, a woman he neither trusts nor likes? Willing to do anything to bring terrible suffering to an end, Calladine make an astonishing move . . .As I mentioned above, figuring out the who and the where was easier for me than in some of the other books, but the why I struggled with more. We get a mention of some things that happened in the past, and we get a very unsatisfying reason - but I don't really feel like it made sense for the killer to make the jump that he did. I was also very annoyed with one of the couples mentioned that they didn't think something was worth reporting - perhaps had they done so this would have been wrapped up sooner. I do like the players in these books: Ruth, Imogen, Rocco. I don’t like Lydia or DCI Jones. Lydia is just slutty and Jones is a cheap-skate, too concerned with saving money than solving crimes. Once again Helen Durrant takes us on a merry chase trying to discover who is doing what to whom and why with a bit of a twist. Keeping you guessing trying to figure out how all the different threads fit together. The story has several strands. The homeless camp seems to be the central point but a very unlikely one. When homeless men go missing will anyone care? Well Calladine and his team do and when their investigations turn up other possible crimes the team are struggling to work out what is going on.

Dead Silent is the second novel in the Calladine and Bayliss series and is a very pleasant read. The detectives are hunting a serial killer, a missing child and trying to sort out their chaotic personal lives, where it's the old cliche of the job getting in the way of romance. The plot is fairly standard with the reader getting an insight into the killer's motivations the police don't have and Tom Calladine making intuitive leaps to move the investigation forward. Normally I don't go for this as I like to follow the investigation through the facts to its logical conclusion but it works well in Dead Silent so hats off to Ms Durrant for pulling it off. Detective Inspector Tom Calladine and Detective Sergeant Ruth Bayliss were called to a gruesome find at the local playground in Leesdon, England. A plastic bag with human fingers inside was the beginning of a horrific and brutal crime spree by a psychopathic killer who had no thought for his victims. Calladine and Bayliss were sure the crime was connected to the Hobfield housing estate where drug sales, criminals and the poor came together in one big area of poverty and illegal activities. Detectives Harry Lennox and Jess Wilde have never seen anything like it. The dead woman is dressed up like a Victorian doll. She’s wearing a long, white dress, a bloodstained blonde wig, and a mask with red, cupid-bow lips. I just found some explainations a little irritating as it was just over done. Apart from this, I enjoyed the plot. This is a totally gripping twisty turny book with plenty going on: an abducted child, murder of a witness and the dead/missing young women. Given that Calladine is short a detective and his DCI is ineffectual the team have their work cut out trying to juggle everything so the last thing Calladine is expecting is to have Pandora's box delivered from the grave.

Publication Order of DCI Rachel King Books

The author always had a desire to write her own crime stories in the form of full novels. Like many, she put it off thinking that she would have time to do it. She was working in a local college in the department of further education. When she decided to finally retire from working on a full time basis, she at last had the chance and the time to take up writing. MEET DETECTIVES HARRY LENNOX AND JESS WILDE IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES SET IN THE PICTURESQUE PENNINE FOOTHILLS IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. In this instalment DI Tom Callandine and DS Ruth Bayliss have their work cut out. There is a group of homeless people who have set up camp on the land belonging to a local businessman Damien Chase. Someone is targeting American students and who is Vida? How can these young women go missing and nobody knows or cares? Except Alice, a student who has been doing a bit of amateur investigation. This is the second book featuring DI Calladine and DS Bayliss. I haven't read the first book but I do think this can be happily read as a standalone novel.