“Devil’s Table” by Kate Rhodes is the fifth in her #DIBenKitto series, set on the Isles of Scilly.  Once again the story opens with a truly atmospheric setting, this time on St Martin’s and a veil of fog surrounding the whole island. When a young girl goes missing, her twin who relies on her to communicate, struggles to convey what happened. The whole island is involved in her search but is any of those same islanders responsible for her abduction. Nobody can be trusted and it’s down to DI Ben Kitto to discover who and why, would want to target the island’s most prominent family. 

I liked the intermittent chapters where we learn how Ethan, the remaining twin is coping and as is the author’s traditional writing style, we alternate between Ben’s viewpoint of the case and one of the victim’s side of the involvement. 

As someone whose Grandfather made ships in bottles, I liked how this was a main theme to the story and could picture them clearly when mentioned. Once again Ben’s adopted dog, Shadow, plays his therapeutic duties perfectly and always finds himself the hero of the day. 

These books have a real atmospheric bite to them, naturally and beautifully rugged but hiding a sinister foreboding and although the author always includes distressing themes and brutal murders, I always enjoy reading them and feel good  when finished.

Another superbly written instalment in a satisfying series and I look forward to reading the next “The Brutal Tide”. 

#DevilsTable - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️