suspense, law-enforcement, small-town, England, murder-investigation, murder, rural, crime-thriller, grief, grieving, grim, procedural, friendship, office-politics, relationships, relatives, secrets, lies, unputdownable, unpleasant-co-worker, twisty*****

Hillary has had an impeccable career with a truly impressive solution record but is suffering the mind crushing grief known to those of us who have weathered the sudden death of a loved one at close range. She goes back to work but can't quite feel anything. Add in that the widow of her best friend is pregnant and unreasonable about finding and dealing with the man who assassinated the DCI beloved by all in his department. The civilian murder case come in just as Hillary returns and is just baffling, but the team manages to get it all together despite all odds.
Gemma Dawson is the voice actor who really brings even more credibility to the story. ( )

It was okay and it served the purpose that I got it for...another challenge. There were far too many side issues in the book and too little about the main crime. DI Greene’s relationships with the other characters seemed to be the main focus of the writer. Poor dead as a doornail, Edward... was almost forgotten and DI Hillary didn’t appear too interested finding out who killed him. Maybe I’m being too critical since I am not a cozy mystery fan. There have been very few of this genre that I have read that can say I truly liked or ever wanted to continue with...the exception being Josh Lanyon’s Scruples and Scramble (Pirate Cove) series. Anyone that really likes cozy mysteries will more than likely find things to like about this series that I just couldn’t see. ( )

Two months have passed and DI Hillary Greene is back at work. Only to be given a case straightaway. Edward Philpott has been found dead in his garden. Still not feeling her usual self and no apparent motive, and with the continuing case of her friend Mellow she feels at a lose in the case.
Another good story in this well-written series. Again I look forward to the next. ( )

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Not one of the better instalments in this series. The plot is divided between Hillary (being uncharacteristically alternately angry and disinterested) investigating the murder of an elderly man in his garden, and the attempt by the outside investigating team to prove Clive Myers murdered Mel. Hillary is dragged into the latter by her attempts to prevent the widowed Janine from interfering. I have read each of the previous instalments, so I'm not sure how well this novel would stand on its own, but I have my doubts...

The murder plot was fairly uninteresting and the solution underwhelming. The Myers story was more interesting, but we kept being torn away from it. I'm glad Hillary confronted Gemma about the dirty money. I need Keith to ditch his hideous boyfriend already. One of the attractions of this series for me is that Hillary is unapologetically good at her job, so her faltering here - what an error of judgment in the way she treated Ross, for example - was disappointing.

Still, I will keep going. ( )