Beck is a police officer with a past. He had been demoted and forced to move stations but the reasons for this are not shared with the reader until the second half of the book. He has also ended a relationship with a married woman. He has to negotiate new relationships with his new colleagues whilst disciplinary procedures make him wonder if he should stay in the police.
A teenager is murdered and Beck is on the team investigating. Will his antagonistic relationship with his senior officer help or hinder the hunt tor the killer?
There are plenty of secrets and red herrings to keep the reader guessing throughout the book. Many of the characters are hiding something but are they involved in murder…?
I really enjoyed this book. The style of writing is easy to read and get hooked! Beck is a great lead character and I liked the way he interacted with his colleagues and friends. I can easily imagine this being made into a TV show.
I felt that the ending was a little rushed (although this could have been because I was enjoying it and didn’t want it to end!) and would have liked a greater insight into the killer’s motives. We saw some chapters written from his perspective and I think this should have been expanded. I liked the use of a newspaper report at the end to draw the case and the book to a conclusion.
Title: Where She Lies (previously titled The Quiet Ones)
Author: Michael Scanlon
Buy Links:
Publication Day: Feb 8th 2019
Description:
In a town full of liars, who can you trust? When Detective Finnegan Beck is demoted from his high-powered job in Dublin and relocated in disgrace to the small Irish town of Cross Beg, he predicts boredom will be his biggest threat.
But then a beautiful, local teenage girl is found strangled in the cold, dark woods a mile from town. The prime suspect is the seemingly-gentle drifter who found Tanya’s body.
Beck seems to be the only person who can’t escape the feeling that Tanya wasn’t killed at random. As he digs deeper into the shadows of Cross Beg, he begins to realise it isn’t the sleepy backwater he’d first believed. Everyone here has something to hide. Tanya had a boyfriend, whose name no one knew. A best friend with a loose relationship with the truth. And a habit she thought she’d kept hidden from everyone.
But, just as Beck believes he is making progress, the body of one of the suspects is found drowned in the river. Is the killer just getting started?
Everyone in the town seems to have something they would die to protect. But who has a secret they’d kill for?
This debut novel from a powerful new Irish voice is the first in a gripping series that will feature the brilliant, haunted Detective Finnegan Beck who won’t rest until justice is found. Perfect for fans of LJ Ross, Joy Ellis and Patricia Gibney.
Author Bio:
Michael Scanlon is a civilian employee of the An Garda Siochana (the Irish police force), but a life threatening undiagnosed illness that struck while travelling in Spain in 2014 has rendered him on long term sick leave. He is married to Eileen and has a daughter, Sarah. He lives in the countryside outside the town of Ballina in County Mayo. The town has arguably the best salmon river in Europe, called the Moy.
Author Social Media Links:
Day 34: we really loved our snowy walk to the river. Love this pic of Zach trailing after the others
Day 35: I know I am incredibly biased but my child is a genius! Two years old, knows letters and phonics, can count to over 100 and write his numbers (yes, I know the 9 is the wrong way round…)
Day 36: stonkingly good homemade risotto! Absolutely delicious: check out the recipe here
Day 37: I’ve been thinking about getting rid of the pushchair and making Zach walk everywhere. The problem is that he takes FOREVER to walk as EVERYTHING is fascinating…
Day 38: so much plastic packaging! At least the kids had lots of fun bursting it!
Day 39: feeling very decadent, a vegan puttanesca pizza from Pizza Express, lunch out with a friend. Zach screamed his head off for 40 minutes 🙁
Day 40: a blogger event at Gloucester Cathedral. The kids had a wonderful time exploring
[inlinkz_linkup id=815906 mode=1]
Sometimes I majorly impress myself!
Cooking with wine always makes me feel very grown up and randomly I have gone off drinking red wine and needed to use it up! I decided to experiment with a risotto which I usually avoid making as Chris doesn’t eat rice and I often think it is too difficult.
But it isn’t!
This recipe is super easy and really delicious. If I were served this in a restaurant, I would be seriously happy but I made it all by myself!
Ingredients (serves 3-4)
1 tablespoon oil
2 cloves of garlic or a teaspoon of minced garlic (or to taste)
150g mushrooms
1 small onion
Pinch or two of dried herbs
200g rice
100ml red wine
A good squirt of tomato purée
1 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 500ml boiling water
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Instructions
Heat the oil in a pan.
Peel and chop the mushrooms and onion. Fry for a couple of minutes then add the herbs and garlic.
Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. The rice will start to turn translucent.
Pour in the wine and add the tomato purée, stirring constantly to prevent any of the rice sticking to the pan.
When the wine is almost all absorbed, add the stock all in one go and the chopped tomatoes.
Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes depending on the cooking time for your rice.
Many risottos add the stock a little at a time but I found it fine to add all of it. I did find that I stirred it every 3-4 minutes for the first 10 minutes but it started to stick a little in the final minutes so stirred every 30-60 seconds.
Dollop on a plate or arrange artistically! You could pimp it up with some fresh herbs sprinkled on top or a little vegan parmesan.
The search for a lost dog leads to the discovery of a woman’s body in an disused mine in Wales. Local police are ordered to accept advice from Crow, a murder expert officer from London, but resent being told how to conduct their enquiries.
Halfway through the book, the case seems closed after a confession but Crow’s advice is ignored when he wants further investigation. Can the case really be so straightforward? What other secrets are being kept by the people in the valley?
In the second half the book, the preliminary court case begins and it quickly becomes apparent that the police have not been thorough enough in their original investigation. Crow is sent to find out the truth about the suspect and uncovers a dark secret from the past but is the alleged murderer innocent after all…?
I loved the setting of the book, having visited Wales last year on holiday. I found it very easy to imagine the places described in the book as well as the Welsh tone of the dialogue.
The book is set in the 1970s and has a gentleness that modern gritty police novels lack. The focus of the book is on the police discoveries not on the character of the lead detective or the grisly details of the murder.
This is the 5th book to feature DI Crow and the first one that I have read. It works well as a stand alone novel.
I loved the twist in the middle of the book as the investigation changes direction and momentum. I found it quite refreshing to have the main focus not be on a dysfunctional detective so that the plot developments are allowed to drive the book.
MURDER IN THE MINE (Inspector Crow #5) by Roy Lewis
Looking for a classic murder mystery from an acclaimed crime writer?
Discover Inspector Crow of Scotland Yard. Enjoy a beautifully told story from a time before smart phones and DNA testing. Full of twists and turns, this will have you gripped from start to finish.
THIS BOOK WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS “A QUESTION OF DEGREE.”
“Roy Lewis can always be counted on for precise, original, interesting environment…yet his characters and settings always interact.” Financial Times
A hunt for a missing dog leads to a gruesome discovery down a mineshaft.
Not just the injured dog, but a valuable piece of jewellery . . . and the decaying corpse of a woman.
Detective John Crow is called in to run the investigation in this South Wales mining community. He discovers flaws in the dog owner’s account and a visit to the north east of England reveals the dead woman’s identity.
Then there is a surprise confession. But the skeletal Inspector Crow is not convinced, and he pursues the investigation into the dead woman’s complicated life. New suspects emerge.
But as Crow closes in on the killer, complicated questions remain. Full of intrigue, this mystery will have the reader guessing until the very end.
Set in England in the late early 70s, this is the fifth book to feature Inspector John Crow. More coming soon.
DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FAVOURITE MYSTERY WRITER
Perfect for fans of Peter James, Ruth Rendell, P.D. James and Peter Robinson.
Roy Lewis is one of the most critically acclaimed crime writers of his generation.
PRAISE FOR ROY LEWIS MYSTERIES
“Each Lewis seems to better the last. Here is an intriguing puzzle and likely police work and a fine picture of Northumbrian society and countryside” The Times
“Roy Lewis has demonstrated an enviable range both in geography and style…a nice neat story” The Financial Times
“Lots of cunning complications embracing conservation and financial fiddles” The Guardian
“A thorough, unpretentious and immensely solid piece of work with an interesting and likeable hero” Times Literary Supplement
“Chilly drama with some stirring cliff hanger” Sunday Telegraph
THE DETECTIVE
Skeletally-built, mild-mannered Inspector John Crow is established in the
Murder Squad in London and constantly meets hostility when he is called upon to work on murder cases in regional crime squads in Wales and the Midlands. He displays strong moral feelings, and a sensitivity which brings him into conflict with regional staff as he doggedly and successfully pursues the truth in cases where he is called in.
INSPECTOR CROW BOOKS
Book 1: A LOVER TOO MANY
Book 2: ERROR OF JUDGMENT
Book 3: THE WOODS MURDER
Book 4: MURDER FOR MONEY
Book 5: MURDER IN THE MINE
MORE COMING SOON!
Roy Lewis Author Bio:
Roy Lewis is a well-established crime writer with 60 novels to his name. He lives in the north of England where he sets many of his books. He is a former college principal and Inspector of Schools who now runs business training programmes and has business interests in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. He has three children – all of them lawyers.
