Good plot but only had me gripped in the last 50 pages

This book sounded good, but the execution was disappointing. The first 3/4 of the book dragged, it was only the last section that was any good.

After reading the second and third in the series, I realized I had to read the first to get a better handle on the main character, DC Gary Goodhew. Goodhew is a an enigmatic figure to his fellow detectives and a source of annoyance to his boss, DI Marks, because he follows his own instincts even when they bring him to a dead end. He is a university graduate, a young man who had something of a meteoric rise which annoys one of his fellow detectives in particular, Michael Kincaid. Kincaid is a womanizer and a dandy who spends a lot on expensive clothing and regularly cheats on his wife. Goodhew is just the opposite. He hasn't had a long term relationship since his university days and he doesn't care a bit about what he's wearing or how his hair looks. He has a tiny apartment in a building owned by his grandmother and insists on paying her market rates.

The book opens with a clue to some recent rapes that DI Marks finds on his desk. It was delivered by Gary Goodhew who did it very carefully with no trace of DNA. He gets the information from his grandmother although that is left dangling. In the meantime a pretty young woman named Lorna Spence is found murdered. Her boss and lover had reported her missing and the team soon realizes that the body was indeed the same woman.

This was quite a complicated and interesting mystery. I had an idea of the murderer but not why. It's the story of family secrets and a young woman who likes to play with other peoples' lives. I really like this series. The author's last book was 2017. I hope she has a new one coming.

The first installment in a new crime series. I found DC Gary Goodhew a bit too good to be true, and I thought there were a couple of holes in the mystery plot (or perhaps I was just missing things). But overall I enjoyed reading the book, it was a quick holiday read, and I will probably read another in the future.

Great to read about my city, and I really liked Gary Goodhew - but the end was so convoluted and improbable.... Might try the next one to see if things any more believable...

I saw this recommended on Goodreads and was able to pick it up from my local library. I enjoyed it and really liked the sleuth DC Gary Goodhew. He is not a “normal” character…not really a plodder playing by the rules. In fact, the driving force of the story is that he operates outside the rules to solve cases. The cast of possible suspects is well drawn and full of secrets and hidden agendas. I did guess the resolution, but not all the details relatively early on, however it was not with complete certainty.

The story centers around a family with a tragic history, siblings and lovers and a deceased parent’s’ rambling journal. I found it very interesting, especially the long term impact of secrets and lies. There is more than one murder involved and I did have to pay attention to keep the character’s straight.

I would read more by this author, but I will say that fans of police procedurals may not care for it. The whole premise of this is that DC Goodhew uses his intellect, cunning and willingness to break the law to solve cases, sometimes putting convictions in jeopardy. I am not a huge reader of police procedurals, so I appreciated the “thinking out of the box” sleuth, others might argue that he is a loose cannon and should be shut down.

Meet DC Goodhew and his unorthodox way of investigating. Alison Bruce has found a way to make a very complicated story easy to follow while keeping the reader glued to the book because "just one more page" turns into half the book :)

Awesome book, definitely going to read more of her work - love that it's set in Cambridge and I know the places - well written and captivated throughout

It's always nice to read a story that is set in a location you're familiar with. That's what attracted me to the DC Gary Goodhew series. The plot itself was interesting though a little confusing at times, and as a police procedural, I found some things that went on completely unbelievable. But my biggest issue was the characters. They just didn't really come to life for me.