A dead body with a bullet in the the head, unidentifiable as it hasn’t been found for a year. A fresh corpse in the adjacent room. Is one of them a missing gangster who disappeared after a diamond heist?
Dig Two Graves is the first book in a new series of police procedural/crime thrillers featuring Detective Superintendent Hedley Sharpe.
Chloe is unhappily married to a bully with dealings with Dean Rawlins and together the men stole diamonds. She is devastated after the stillbirth of her daughter and now she has been uprooted to a new house. She is also being threatened by Dean’s ex. How much more can she take?
Hedley Sharpe is a great new detective. He is overweight, middle aged, sarcastic, cynical. There is pain in his past due to the murder of his wife. He is tenacious and is determined to bring gangster Dean Rawlins to justice although he won’t be too disappointed if someone else disposes of him first.
Hedley barely seems to appear in the first part of the book but, as more bodies are discovered, the police investigation becomes more prominent. The pace of the plot races along and the writing style is quite dialogue driven.
Dig Two Graves is an enjoyable start to a new series and I look forward to catching up with Hedley soon.
Book Description
MEET DETECTIVE HEDLEY SHARPE IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES FULL OF STUNNING TWISTS.
A brand-new mystery from #1 bestselling author Helen H. Durrant that will have you gripped from start to explosive finish.
Day 1. Chloe Todd believes her baby daughter is sleeping peacefully in her pram in the back garden. She lifts away the blanket to check on her — and gasps in shock.
Chloe’s neighbour calls the police. But all is not as it seems . . .
Day 2. Superintendent Hedley Sharpe is called to a murder scene in the city centre. A body is discovered in a cellar beneath an empty shop. A single shot to the head. The victim has been dead at least a year.
Day 3. A second body is found in the cellar next door. Again a single bullet wound in the head. But this time the body is fresh.
Hedley Sharpe doesn’t believe in coincidence. The two murders must be linked. Then he uncovers a connection to young mother Chloe Todd — and the case takes an extraordinary twist.
Hedley’s investigations will unearth a series of dark secrets. Secrets that reach back into his own troubled past.
Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, Joy Ellis, J.D. Kirk, Rachel Abbott, Elly Griffiths or J.M. Dalgliesh.
READERS LOVE HELEN H. DURRANT’S ADDICTIVE POLICE PROCEDURALS:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Full of suspense with a storyline that kept me guessing right up until the end.’ Annette T.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A really good read . . . the perfect balance of investigation versus personal drama for the lead.’ Linda B.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The start of a fabulous new series from Helen H. Durrant . . . Brilliant book — I loved it!’ Charlotte M.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A very enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.’ Sandra G.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This is a gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller that will have you turning page after page all the way to the end. Absolutely brilliant.’ Jill B.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Another stunningly good police procedural from Helen H. Durrant. Fabulous plot and great characters, with everything I want from a whodunnit.’ Amanda P.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Thoroughly gripping and suspenseful with an astonishing surprise. Not one to be missed.’ Carol S.
THE DETECTIVE Superintendent Hedley Sharpe is a long-serving detective working for Manchester’s Major Crime Division. He is something of a rough diamond, but has an excellent clear-up rate. A widower, Hedley lives a lonely life, existing on fast-food takeaways. His wife Emily was murdered some years previously. Her killer was never caught.
HELEN H. DURRANT
OVER 1.5 MILLION BOOKS SOLD!
Helen is one of the ‘baby boomer’ generation and began writing when she retired from her job at a local college. Born in Edinburgh to an English father and Scottish mother the family settled in a Pennine village between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is an environment which has shaped her stories. Writing is a second career and, despite having a bus pass, keeps her busy, and tuned in.
Helen’s children are all grown-up and she has five grandchildren.
Happy 17th birthday to Tanzi! She had a tough start in life being a teen mum, her brother drowning and then the next week she was run over and had her tail amputated, all by the time she was 14 months old! Despite that initial bad luck, she is now a little old woman, shouting a lot and to boss my parents around!
I finally made it to the hairdresser after about a year! No massive change, just a lot shorter. Of course, it might have been nice if I’d brushed it before taking this pic…
A group of unlikely friends forms in France, united by a love of books and wine. Gradually they get to know each other and learn their secrets…
The Bordeaux Book Club is a book about the complexities of friendships and relationships.
Grace starts a book club in the aftermath of splitting up. Leah is having problems at home with her husband potentially having an affair and her daughter being constantly embarrassed by her. Monica is a young mum whose husband is a pilot so is often away. George is a gregarious but lonely builder and Alfie is a shy young man living with his mum.
I felt sorry for the band of unlikely friends. Leah and Grace have made sacrifices for their husbands but this has been unappreciated. Now Grace is alone and throwing herself into social events while Leah finds herself worried about her husband’s strange absences. Monica is struggling to cope with her baby and feels like a terrible mum.
I enjoyed the inclusion of the discussions on the books including Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights. The characters discuss the books and relate their own experiences to what they have read. We gradually find out more about the main characters as they explore the books and get to know each other better.
There are some wonderful descriptions in the book and the setting in France feels realistic. The main characters are easy to like and I liked how their friendships develop over the course of the book. They felt very authentic and I could easily imagine their emotions and thought processes. In particular, I identified with Monica and Leah as they consider their roles as mother, and I liked the contrast between the baby and teen years.
The Bordeaux Book Club is a gently emotional book about friendship.
The Bordeaux Book Club
Love books? The Bordeaux Book Club is seeking new members!
When Leah and her husband moved to France, it was with the dream of becoming self-sufficient. But in truth, it’s not the ‘good life’ she’d imagined, as three hours of digging barely yields a single straggly carrot. Worse, her teenage daughter is acting up, and her husband seems to find every strange excuse under the hot French sun to disappear.
So when her friend entreats her to join the new bookclub she’s forming, Leah decides it’s something she will do for herself. The chance to make new friends, to drink a few glasses of wine, and to escape into stories that take her miles away from the life she’d thought would be her own happy-ever-after.
But the book club is a strange group of misfits. There’s prickly Grace, who lives alone and seems to know everybody and like no-one. Buttoned-up Monica, who says her husband is away and appears to be parenting her baby all alone. Handsome builder George, who has barely read a book before. And Alfie – who is a full two decades younger than everyone else, and is hiding a devastating secret…
As the stories they read begin to bring the new friends closer together, Leah is about to discover that happy-ever-afters don’t always look how you expect them to…
A gorgeously escapist read from the bestselling author of A Year at the French Farmhouse, perfect for fans of Veronica Henry, Jo Thomas and Fiona Valpy.
Holly was devastated after the death of her husband. They couldn’t have children so she is now trying to find a new purpose to focus upon. She starts to volunteer at a cafe for homeless people and tries to heal herself by helping others…
The Saturday Place is an emotional yet feel-good book about finding hope during the darkest times.
Holly is almost overwhelmed by grief for her late husband. She finds a new purpose by helping out at a cafe where the other volunteers as well as the clients have their own issues to contend with. In particular Angus and Lauren make Holly think about the aspects of her life that she should be thankful for, and inspire her to want to make a positive difference.
There are some big emotional issues covered in this book. Holly is dealing with her grief as well as her childlessness. Angus is despairing at the collapse of his marriage. Lauren is living in a shelter and has obviouslty experienced trauma. Many peripheral characters have mental health needs, are homeless, or face adversity.
Despite the heaviness of the emotional turmoil experienced by the main characters, there is an underlying hope that shines through the pages. The capacity of the human spirit to want to help others is highlighted whilst they try to move on from their own pain. The characters were authentically written and I felt invested in their converging plotlines.
The Saturday Place is a heartbreaking and heartwarming novel.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
‘A tender story of hope, friendship and the power of community.’ – Emily Houghton author of Before I Saw You
‘A warm, wise and really special book… I absolutely loved it.’ – Katy Regan author of Little Big Love
Three perfect strangers who help each other to believe in love again
Holly’s husband died, and she’s lonely. She needs to do something to save herself, quickly. Next thing she knows she’s interviewing for a voluntary cooking job, surprised to be ambushed by a scruffy man who looks like he has a past.
Angus has messed up. He’s lost the respect of his family and has none for himself. If it weren’t for his brother and friend who run the café, he’d be sleeping on the streets. Angus is about ready to give up – until he meets Holly, who sparks something in him.
Then Lauren arrives from the homeless shelter. She came to London with nothing but an old train ticket, a teddy bear, and the clothes on her back. With no family, no home, no friends, she doesn’t know what love is. People scare her. She’s terrified of Angus and Holly. At first.
Each of them finds themselves in the Saturday café at a time when they need something to grab hold of. It might have to be each other…
I have been a huge fan of Susan HIll since I read the seriously spooky The Woman In Black 30 years ago. So I was thrilled to be invited to join the tour to celebrate 20 years of her detective series featuring Simon Serrailler. I have read most of the books in the series but not recently and I was given book 9 which I haven’t read before.
Simon has suffered life changing injuries and goes to a remote island in Scotland to recuperate. The tranquility of the island is shattered by a murder and Simon agrees to help with the investigation…
The Comforts of Home is the 9th book in the Simon Serrailler police procedural series.
Simon needs to adapt to life following a catastrophic incident during his last case. I am assuming that this book follows directly from the previous one. There are no spoilers about the culprit but Simon’s situaton has been significantly impacted by recent events. His father has also been affected by accusations which I presume featured in an earlier book.
Simon is recuperating on a remote Scottish island. He is giving thought to his future with the police when he is asked to assist with a suspicious death investigation. There are personal elements to the book as Simon’s sister marries his boss and is thinking of a big career move. Her son needs to make a decision about the future and Simon’s father also faces a change in circumstances.
The writing style is easy to read and engaging. I really cared about Simon’s recovery and the personal family aspects. These are introduced strongly at the start whilst the murder isn’t disocvered until a third of the way through the book. Simon’s brother in law/boss is investigating a cold case of a missing person and this adds another layer to the plot as well as more connections between the characters.
The Comforts of Home is an enjoyable detective novel with a strong lead and supporting characters.
Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler novels are in a league of their own – well-written and full of drama. At their heart is a very English setting, the idyllic fictional cathedral town of Lafferton, and a very English Detective, Chief Superintendent Serrailler, in the pursuit of classic whodunits. But there’s nothing old-fashioned about the crimes and nothing cosy about the lives of the characters, including Serrailler’s.
‘Hill’s Serrailler novels are as addictive as Rankin’s’ Scotsman
‘Eagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fiction’ P. D. James
‘Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when Susan Hill does the result is stunning’ Ruth Rendell
The Comforts of Home book blurb
Recovering on a remote Scottish island, his peace doesn’t last long. He is pulled in to a murder inquiry by the overstretched local police. A newcomer, popular with the islanders, has died in perplexing circumstances. The community’s reactions are complicated and fragile.
It’s good to be back on the job. And when Simon returns to Lafferton, an arsonist is on the rampage and a woman whose daughter disappeared some years before is haunting the police station seeking closure. She will not let it rest, and Simon is called in to do a cold-case review.
At home, Simon is starting to get used to having a new brother-in-law – in the form of his Chief Constable Kieron Bright. His sister Cat has embarked on a new way of practising medicine, and his nephew Sam is trying to work out what to do with his life. And then their tricky father, Richard, turns up again like a bad penny.
In this gripping new Serrailler thriller, Simon’s personal and professional lives intertwine in more complex and demanding ways than ever before.