- 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
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