cold-case, grieving, England, law-enforcement, health-scare, retired-cop, procedural, friendship, due-diligence, small-town, teamwork, consultant, retired-military, extortion, clergy, unputdownable, secrets, lies, envy, suspense, crime-fiction*****

Retired DI Hillary Greene is still grieving the deaths of loved ones but still doesn't know how to be retired. Now she gets to investigate cold cases with her incredible abilities, and this one is thirty years old. Not an easy time distance to investigate, but there is still no lack of suspects alive or dead. Who would have expected the murder of a well-liked vicar in a small town to be so fraught! And with current extortion! Well done!
As usual, the story does stand-alone quite nicely.
Not an unbiased review as I really enjoy the Hilary Greene series!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )

This is the twentieth in the DI Hillary Greene series and I have read a few of them.

Now retired, and due to her outstanding solve rate, Hillary has been hired by Thames Valley police as a consultant for cold cases. Her partner has died and she is back living on her longboat, but still driving her beloved “Puff the Tragic Dragon”. Her team consisting of an older investigator and a younger one who is a disabled veteran is charged with looking into the case of the murder of a handsome young vicar thirty years ago. Hillary is also having some medical issues that are of concern.

A solid police procedural, there are no real surprises here (although some will find the ending surprising!), yet it is an engrossing, entertaining read. I particularly enjoy the humor displayed in Martin’s writing. Hillary is a strong, capable, female leader and it is a pleasure following her as she solves this case.

I recommend this book (and series) for anyone enjoying lighter police procedurals with enduring characters. I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

Thanks to #netgalley and #Joffebooks for the ARC ( )

Another cold case for ex-DI Hillary Greene and her team. Thirty years ago the Reverend Keith Coltrane, 35, of Lower Barton, was murdered. The weapon, suspected to be a spade was never recovered. With many of the possible suspects dead how will the team uncover the guilty party.
An entertaining and well-written modern mystery with its likeable main character. Another good addition to this enjoyable series ( )