Review: THE RAILWAY MURDERS, J. R. Ellis

• 
  this edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09WTDGPHW
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (November 9, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 271 pages 
• A Yorkshire Murder Mystery #8
  

SYNOPSIS (Amazon)

A puzzling locked-room mystery that puts someone Oldroyd loves in terrible danger…

When a film shoot on Wharfedale’s vintage railway turns into a grisly crime scene, DCI Oldroyd’s idyllic visit to the countryside with his partner Deborah is well and truly stopped in its tracks. One of the film’s stars has been shot dead in a train carriage while the cameras rolled outside. But nobody else went in—or came out. Has the killer really pulled off the perfect, impossible crime?

Scouring the victim’s past for clues, Oldroyd soon unearths a string of heartbroken lovers and a mountain of unpaid debts, each adding to the growing list of suspects. But before he can determine who the culprit is, there’s the small matter of figuring out how they did it. A potential connection to a previous tragedy offers Oldroyd a much-needed lead…

Whoever the perpetrator is, they are ruthless and determined to avoid detection, and when a railway worker starts joining the dots, they are quickly silenced—for good. But as Oldroyd gets ever closer to the truth, it’s only a matter of time before he is given a chilling warning to back off.

Perhaps Deborah should have stayed somewhere safe… 

My Take

This is another of those small British crime fiction e-book series which I thoroughly enjoy reading. There are a number of characters who have been in the series from the beginning, and others recently introduced. The plots are generally engaging, credible and well fleshed out.

Strictly speaking the murder of an actor at Wharfedale is not really a case for DCI Oldroyd but the local police feel a little out of their depth and ask Oldroyd to take charge. And then as the case looks like it won't be wound up in a hurry, Oldroyd has the idea of getting his partner Deborah to book into the local hotel. There is a second murder and Deborah is snatched while out on a walk in the hills.

The first murder takes place in a railway carriage and has all the features of a locked room mystery. No-one apart from the victim is seen going into or coming out of the railway carriage. As Oldroyd is forced to step back from the case he works out how it was done, and then why the second murder was committed. There are still some surprises for the reader.

Rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE DALES - #1
• 4.3, THE QUARTET MURDERS - #2
• 4.4, THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL  - #3
• 4.6, THE ROYAL BATHS MURDER - #4 
  
• 4.5, THE NIDDERDALE MURDERS - #5
• 4.5, THE WHITBY MURDERS - #6
  
• 4.6, MURDER AT ST ANNE'S - #7

Review: THE WHITBY MURDERS, J. R. Ellis

• 
  This edition on Kindle from Amazon
• A Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08P1J6SR3
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (May 27, 2021)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 283 pages  

Synopsis (Amazon)

A murder with three witnesses. But one of them doesn’t believe what she saw…

Halloween, Whitby. DCI Jim Oldroyd’s daughter Louise is in town with friends for a goth festival. But their visit to an escape room ends in bloody murder when one of the group stabs his girlfriend and flees the scene. It’s a crime with three witnesses―but Louise refuses to take what she saw at face value.

Oldroyd and DS Carter are called in to solve the case, assisted from the sidelines by Louise. But the closer they investigate, the more complex the web of deceit appears. This is no straightforward crime of passion.

With a violent murderer on the loose, it’s only a matter of time before they strike again. And this time it’s personal. Oldroyd must expose the truth, protect his daughter and stop the horror before it’s too late. 

My Take

As a tourist, I've always enjoyed my visits to Whitby, and this crime fiction visit evoked great memories.

Bram Stoker created Dracula in the town of Whitby and apparently it has become the home of Goth Festivals.

This story comes very close to home for Jim Olryd and his team when his daughter witnesses one of her friends murdered in an "escape room". Louise feels that there is something unbelievable about what she has seen, although her girlfriend is undoubtedly dead.  She contacts her father and he arranges to come to Whitby to assist in the investigation. I think in reality Olroyd would seem to have a "conflict of interest" and not be allowed to be involved.

Like Louise, Jim Olroyd finds the scenario hard to take at face value, particularly when the murderer is still at large.

There are a number of side plots carefully woven into the story: plagiarism in university courses, deception in the jewellery business centred around Whitby jet, stolen art works, tourist activities.

I did think there were a couple of unnecessarily complicated scenarios, such as the duplicate sarcophagi which I found it hard to see the point of. I also thought the author may have changed his mind about the motivation for the murders, or were they just red herrings?

Overall though, I found it a very satisfying read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE DALES - #1
• 4.3, THE QUARTET MURDERS - #2
• 4.4, THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL  - #3
• 4.6, THE ROYAL BATHS MURDER - #4 
  
• 4.5, THE NIDDERDALE MURDERS - #5
• 4.6, MURDER AT ST ANNE'S - #7

 

Review: THE ROYAL BATHS MURDER, J. R. Ellis

• 
  This edition from Amazon on Kindle
  
• A Yorkshire Murder Mystery Book 4
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07QRSP8J1
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (August 29, 2019)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1542015421 

Synopsis ( Amazon)

A murdered crime writer. An idyllic Yorkshire town. Can DCI Oldroyd separate fact from fiction?

A famous writer is found murdered at the Victorian baths in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate. In a crime worthy of one of his novels, Damian Penrose, who was appearing at the town’s crime writing festival, has been ruthlessly strangled. But with no trace of the murderer and no apparent means of escape, how did the killer simply vanish from the scene of the crime?

There’s only one mind capable of unlocking this mystery: DCI Jim Oldroyd. But as he and his team quickly discover, while Penrose was popular with the reading public, he had made plenty of enemies. Feuds over money, accusations of plagiarism, a string of affairs…His route to the top left a trail of embittered rivals—and suspects. But which of them was willing to commit murder?

When Penrose’s shocking death proves to be just the first of many, it becomes clear to Oldroyd that he is dealing with a calculating criminal hell-bent on revenge. He must find and bring them to justice. Before the truth becomes more chilling than fiction… 

My Take

I am thoroughly enjoying this cozy series. Regretfully I only have one title to go.

I was fascinated because this story is set at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, and there are several threads woven together. I have attended crime fiction literary events and so this scenario rang many bells - but there has never been an actual murder at one, that I am aware of.

Damian Penrose is an author of some note, not particularly popular amongst fellow writers, but certainly a draw card at the festival.
It appears that Penrose in the past has used his masculine charms to lure female writers in particular into relationships, but also to convince them to let him read their work. He was often cutting about their writing, but later on they discovered he had stolen their ideas.

Back at HQ. one of Olroyd's team, DC Steph Johnson, is being sexually harrassed by a male colleague and she finds that she is not his only victim. In addition she is convinced he is using his position as a DI corruptly, coming to an agreement with people accused of deception and dropping charges that should be pursued.

We get more glimpses of Jim Olroyd's personal life as he decides, at his daughters' prompting, to look for someone to go out with, through a dating agancy.

So I found this a well constructed novel with lots to keep me interested. It filled in some gaps between novels #3 and #5 in the series too.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE DALES - #1
• 4.3, THE QUARTET MURDERS - #2
• 4.4, THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL  - #3
• 4.5, THE NIDDERDALE MURDERS - #5
• 4.6, MURDER AT ST ANNE'S - #7

Review: THE NIDDERDALE MURDERS, J. R. Ellis

• 
   this edition on Kindle from Amazon
• #5 in the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0847NMGY9
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 303 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1542017432

Synopsis  (Amazon)

In a Yorkshire Dales village everyone has a motive for murder—except the killer.

A retired judge is shot dead outside the Dog and Gun Inn in the remote Yorkshire village of Niddersgill. There’s a witness who saw everything, and the gunman’s on the run; the case should be open-and-shut for DCI Jim Oldroyd. But the murderer had no motive for wanting Sandy Fraser dead and, what’s more, no trace of him can be found.

As Oldroyd and his team cast the net wider, they discover that Fraser wasn’t without enemies in Niddersgill. As the wealthy owner of a grouse moor, he’d clashed with farmers, debtors, hunt saboteurs and blackmailers. But none of them were at the scene of the murder. And when a local shopkeeper is gunned down in a second senseless attack, it’s clear that these killings are anything but random.

Surrounded by the dramatic beauty of the Yorkshire Dales, Oldroyd faces a race against time to connect the crimes and find who’s behind them. But with all the evidence sending him down dead ends, can he get one step ahead before someone else is killed?

My Take

Another relatively cozy series that I'm enjoying on my Kindle. The plot has plenty of red herrings, and I've enjoyed the character development from book to book. The Yorkshire Dales makes a good setting.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE DALES - #1
• 4.3, THE QUARTET MURDERS - #2
• 4.4, THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL  - #3
• 4.6, MURDER AT ST ANNE'S - #7

Here is the series as listed by Fantastic Fiction

Yorkshire Murder Mystery
   1. The Body in the Dales (2017)
     aka The Body in Jingling Pot
   2. The Quartet Murders (2017)
   3. The Murder at Redmire Hall (2018)
   4. The Royal Baths Murder (2019)
   5. The Nidderdale Murders (2020)
   6. The Whitby Murders (2021)
   7. Murder at St Anne's (2021)
   8. The Railway Murders (2022)- November 2022

Review: MURDER AT ST ANNE'S, J. R. Ellis

• 
  this edition a Kindle e-book (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0953L1WP9
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (December 7, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 283 pages 
• Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7

Synopsis (Amazon)

Winter, snow, murder—and a centuries-dead suspect.

In the chilly depths of a Yorkshire winter, a well-liked rector is found bludgeoned to death in her own church. With no sign of a murder weapon, local superstition quickly pins the blame on the ghost of a medieval monk believed to haunt the building…

Well accustomed to unusual murder investigations, DCI Jim Oldroyd takes on the case, along with his assistant, Sergeant Andy Carter, but they are hampered at every turn by the deepening snow and the threat of the supernatural. Even as possible motives and opportunities begin to reveal themselves, Oldroyd struggles to find a better suspect than the hooded phantom.

Has Oldroyd really found himself in the midst of a Gothic ghost story or is there a very real killer at large? Spectre or otherwise, it soon becomes apparent that the murderer is not yet finished. And, for Oldroyd, it’s about to become personal…

My take

Another reader wrote "Murder at St Anne’s is the seventh book in the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries series featuring DCI Jim Oldroyd and his loyal DS Andy Carter. These are gentle old-fashioned detective stories, usually with some form of locked-room puzzle, set in and around the small towns of Yorkshire."

I'm inclined to agree with the "gentle, old-fashioned" descriptor, but that doesn't mean that I enjoyed it any less.  There are really a number of modern aspects to the plots too - pressures from administrators to work more efficiently, to solve crimes faster, but at the same time Oldroyd and Carter try to present the face of personalised policing.

The plot is full of red herrings, a number of locals come under the spotlight and their alibis and possible motives are tested. Back at headquarters members of the investigative team search newspapers and websites for background to the list of suspects, and eventually this strategy is what makes the break through.

I've found that I have actually skipped 3 books in the series, and I am re-assured by readers commenting that it is possible to read these as stand-alones, although obviously there must be character development from one book to the next.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.3, THE BODY IN THE DALES - #1
4.3, THE QUARTET MURDERS - #2
4.4, THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL  - #3 

About the Author

John R. Ellis has lived in Yorkshire for most of his life and has spent many years exploring Yorkshire’s diverse landscapes, history, language and communities. He recently retired after a career in teaching, mostly in further education in the Leeds area. In addition to the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series, he writes poetry, ghost stories and biography. He has completed a screenplay about the last years of the poet Edward Thomas and a work of faction about the extraordinary life of his Irish mother-in-law. He is currently working on his memoirs of growing up in a working-class area of Huddersfield in the 1950s and 1960s.

Review: THE MURDER AT REDMIRE HALL, J. R. Ellis - audio book

• audio book from Audible.com
• Narrated by: Michael Page
• Series: Yorkshire Murder Mystery Series, Book 3
• Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 09-13-18
• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Synopsis (Audible.com)

An impossible murder behind a locked door. Can DCI Oldroyd find the key to the mystery?

Lord Redmire’s gambling habit has placed him in serious debt. Determined to salvage his fortune by putting Redmire Hall on the map, the aristocrat performs an impossible locked-door illusion on live TV. But as the cameras roll, his spectacular trick goes fatally wrong....

Special guest DCI Jim Oldroyd has a front-row seat, but in all his years with the West Riding Police he’s never witnessed anything like this. He sees Redmire disappear - and then reappear, dead, with a knife in his back.

As Oldroyd and DS Stephanie Johnson soon discover, nearly everyone at the event had a reason to resent the eccentric lord. But how did the murderer get into the locked room - or out, for that matter?

When the only other person who knew the secret behind the illusion is brutally silenced, the case begins to look unsolvable. Because as Oldroyd and Johnson know, it’s not just a question of who did it and why - but how?

My take

This is the third, for the moment, the last,  in the cozy mystery series featuring DCI Olroyd and his colleague DS Stephanie Johnson. The audio book is well produced and is engaging listening.

Lord Redmire's father was the one who had the locked room trick installed in his house, but once performed, it was forgotten for over 30 years. now his son wants to use the trick to bring tourists to the house.

He invites DCI Oldroyd to be an official witness at the operation of the trick, but that actually has the effect of ensuring that the police  are at hand to begin the investigation into Lord Redmire's death.

I certainly hope there are more titles to come in the series.

My rating: 4.4

See my other reviews in this series
4.3, THE  BODY IN THE DALES
4.4, THE QUARTET MURDERS

Review: THE QUARTET MURDERS, J. R. Ellis - audio book

•  Narrated by: Michael Page
• Series: Yorkshire Murder Mystery Series, Book 2
• Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 08-09-18
• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• available from Audible.com

Synopsis (Audible.com)


A priceless violin. And a dark secret someone is prepared to kill for.

DCI Oldroyd has seen his fair share of victims, but he has never witnessed a murder - until now. When world-famous violinist Hans Muller is shot and killed during a concert, the detective is faced with a case beyond logic. The culprit is nowhere to be found - and the victim’s priceless violin has disappeared too.

As Oldroyd investigates the mystery of the murderer’s identity and the motive for the killing, he enters the ruthless world of wealthy instrument collectors and stumbles upon a dark path where shocking secrets have been buried in the past. But the secrets will soon take centre stage.

Oldroyd must use all his cunning to recover the priceless instrument. But can he also solve the mystery of a murderer who vanished in front of his own eyes?

My Take

Oldroyd's offsider is again DS Carter, the new man from London, But I think his character was better drawn than in the first novel in the series.

I liked the further fleshing out of Oldroyd's character and I thought the mystery was better plotted.
Narrator Michael Page again does a good job of his voice presentation.
This series is engaging enough for me to look for another audio book.

My rating: 4.4

I've also listened to
4.3, THE  BODY IN THE DALES

Review: THE BODY IN THE DALES, J. R. Ellis - audio book

• format: audio book (Audible.com)
•  Narrated by: Michael Page
• Series: Yorkshire Murder Mystery Series, Book 1
• Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• published 2017
• Release date: 08-09-18
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• aka The Body in Jingling Pot

Synopsis  (Audible.com)

An unpopular victim. An impossible crime. A murderer on the loose.

A body is discovered deep in a cave beneath the Yorkshire Dales. Leading the investigation into the mysterious death are experienced DCI Jim Oldroyd and his partner DS Carter, a newcomer from London.

The deceased is Dave Atkins, well known throughout the village but not well liked. While there is no shortage of suspects, the details of the crime leave Oldroyd and Carter stumped. How did Atkins’s body end up in such a remote section of the cave? When someone with vital information turns up dead, it becomes clear that whoever is behind the murders will stop at nothing to conceal their tracks.

Oldroyd and his team try to uncover the truth, but every answer unearths a new set of questions. And as secrets and lies are exposed within the close-knit community, the mystery becomes deeper, darker and more complex than the caves below.

My Take

This story certainly takes most of us to places we have not been - underground into a cave system.
In reality this is something I would much rather do vicariously. Getting stuck underground would not be my idea of fun. Nevertheless I learnt a lot about caving

The first mystery to be solved is how the body got there? a remote section of a cave that is relatively difficult to get to. Did somebody carry the body there? It doesn't seem that the location was where the murder was committed. And then what was the motive for the murder?

DCI Jim Olroyd is an interesting character, and one can't help thinking of Andy Dalziel, and his treatment of newcomer DS Carter is kindly. I could have done without Carter's phone conversations with his inane London mate, although I suppose they do emphasis how very different life in Yorkshire is.

There were some inconsistencies in the mental picture of the deceased Dave Atkins who is described as both attractive to women, and a difficult person to like, but perhaps the last was from the point of view of cuckolded husbands.

The final solution to the first mystery was similar to my first thoughts on the topic, although the actual motive was harder to guess.

The narrator was set a hard task in this reading in that he attempts to reproduce an incredible number of voices. In the main he manages to make most voices distinctive.

My Rating: 4.3

About the author
John R. Ellis has lived in Yorkshire for most of his life and has spent many years exploring Yorkshire's diverse landscapes, history, language and communities. He recently retired after a career in teaching mostly in further education in the Leeds area. In addition to the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series he writes poetry, ghost stories and biography. He recently completed a screenplay about the last years of the poet Edward Thomas and he is currently working on his memoirs of growing up in a working class area of Huddersfield in the 1950s and 1960s.