This is my first Joy Ellis book. I have a few more in my TBR pile.

I'm enjoying the storyline - it's fresh and I can't see where it's going and it's avoiding being exploitative.

I quite like the two detectives, each with their "secret" pasts that they share with each other before the book is halfway through.

I can see that this would make good television. 

But where was Joy Ellis' editor? How could s/he let so much boiler-plate, cliché-ridden text through just to keep the story moving? Do we need to know that one of the policemen has steely-grey hair? Or that another "slips like a shadow across a wall" or have a description of a major character's interior dialogue that reads like stage directions?

I can see how all of these things might be there in a first draft as the writer fully imagines the action. That they made it to the final draft is disappointing. I'm hoping the next books are better.

It also doesn't help that the narrator of the audiobook can clearly see the pieces of flat prose and tries either to speed through them or give them an inflection-free delivery.

If you've read Joy Ellis, let me know, does it get better?

A woman found dead on a footpath in a Dorset coastal town is the first case for a new DCI - Sophie Allen. I love the setting (Swanage) plus the other familiar places in Dorset, so I would read other stories for that reason alone. I liked the team and the way they worked together to solve the crime but although the villain did horrible things to the victims didn't really come across as frightening or menacing which is a pity and when arrested it was an anticlimax which left me thinking "is that it?" as the character did or said very little afterwards. A promising start and I shall look forward to meeting DCI Allen again!

DARK HOUSES a gripping detective thrille...

Three and a half stars
Another case for DCI Stephen Greco and the team. Two young girls have been killed in a particularly cruel and horrible way by someone without an ounce of kindness or goodness. You would not want to come across this particular individual - ever! Greco is still not a people person but is trying his best, both at work and at home. Although this book began with a good pace, it definitely went up a gear or two later as the team began to piece it all together. I found myself racing through the pages in my haste to see who had done it and why. I've enjoyed all this authors' books and this is no exception - perfect for those who enjoy crime/police novels.

Blood Lines (Detective Kim Stone crime t...

Wow - what a winner! A book which starts off at a gallop and doesn't ease off the whole way through - if you want a slow burner, then choose something else. DCI Kim Stone has her hands full this time what with a series of apparently unconnected murders and the return of her nemesis, Alexandra Thorne, who is truly a thorn in Kim's side. What a thrill of a ride as the team work out what is happening and by who. I didn't want the novel to end as it was so enjoyable - really gripping and certainly entertaining. Loved it and this is one series which gets better with each succeeding book - more please!!