A woman’s body is discovered in a botanical garden with Roman coins in her eye sockets. The victim is identified as a Chinese student from a prominent family and the pressure is on for the police to catch the killer quickly…
Nighthawking is the second book to feature DS Adam Tyler. I recently reviewed the first book, Firewatching.
Tyler and Rabbani are supposed to be reviewing cold cases. But they are ordered to join a current case when Chi’s body is found. Rabbani discovers Chi’s identity and finds flaws in the original missing persons investigation. Now the whole team are urged to focus their efforts as the victim’s family prepares to arrive from China and demand results. Could the Roman coins be a vital clue and is there a link to the local metal detectorist group or does Chi’s family have their own secrets?
Adam Tyler still has big family issues going on with his missing brother who he is trying to find, and the mystery surrounding his father’s alleged suicide. He isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers among his superiors but is protected by the longstanding family friend who is the senior investigating officer Meanwhile, Mina Rabbani has been promoted to CID but is struggling to fit in as her superior officers go AWOL and she has to cover for them as well as investigate using her instincts.
This book had a different feel to the first book as we see less of the peripheral characters and the structure has also changed (not explicitly divided into days). Most of the book focuses on the police investigation but some sections show the nighthawkers (metal detectorists secretly searching for treasure). Once again the chapters are quite long and meticulously detailed and this slows down the pace of the plot. The ending has a shocking twist and I can’t wait for the next book to find out what happens next!
Nighthawking is an enjoyable police procedural and I liked the development of Tyler and Rabbani’s characters.
Book blurb
When a nighthawker on the hunt for antiquities instead uncovers the body of a foreign student, Detective Adam Tyler is pulled into a serpentine mystery of dangerous secrets, precious finds, and illegal dealings.
You are a trespasser. You are a thief. You are a Nighthawker.
Under the dark cover of night, a figure climbs over the wall of the Botanical Garden with a bag and a metal detector. It’s a dicey location in the populous city center, but they’re on the hunt–and while most of what they find will be worthless, it takes only one big reward to justify the risk. Only this time, the nighthawker unearths a body. . . .
Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler and his newly promoted protege, Detective Constable Amina Rabbani, are officially in charge of Cold Case Reviews. But with shrinking budgets and manpower in the department, both are shunted onto the murder investigation–and when the victim is identified as a Chinese national from a wealthy family, in the UK on a student visa, the case takes on new urgency to prevent an international incident.
As Tyler and Rabbani dig further into the victim’s life, it’s becomes clear there’s more to her studies and relationships than meets the eye, and that the original investigation into her disappearance was shoddy at best. Meanwhile, someone else is watching these events . . . someone who knew the victim, and might hold the key to what happened the night she vanished.
Smith and his team investigate a spate of murders. All of the victims are killed in their green Ford Fiestas…
The Hitchhiker is the 29th book in the DS Jason Smith series. The books all work as standalone cases but events from earlier books have a huge impact on Smith and his family. Plus the series is FAB-U-LOUS so I think you should read them all!
A series of violent murders inside cars. Police warn the public not to pick up hitchhikers but it soon becomes apparent that the killer is targeting a particular type of car and has a specific purpose. Smith wants to warn the other owners and begins a race against time to protect the next potential victims.
The writing is fast paced, driving the plot forwards thanks to the focus on dialogue. As usual for this series, the tension is high, the action relentless and the plot gripping. There are a limited number of motives and suspects but I still didn’t figure out all the twists. I love the police characters and their relationships. There has been more upheaval in Smith’s personal life but he maintains his wonderful outlook on the world which lightens the tone of the book overall.
The Hitchhiker is another great book in this addictive series.
THE HITCHHIKER (Detective Jason Smith #29) by Stewart Giles
From bestselling author: Stewart Giles comes another brilliant addition to the Detective Jason Smith series.
In the wake of a global pandemic, nobody in their right mind would pick up a hitchhiker.
But what if this hitchhiker is already in your car?
Detective Sergeant Jason Smith has his hands full trying to come to terms with huge changes in his home life, so when he hears about a gruesome double murder, he’s happy for the distraction.
But what he finds in the car, a stone’s throw from his house is beyond comprehension. A man and a woman have been beaten so badly they no longer have faces.
No sooner has the investigation into their murders begun, another victim is taken in her car, and her injuries are much, much worse.
Smith is baffled. And when another victim is murdered he reluctantly agrees to be the face of a public appeal warning drivers not to pick up hitchhikers.
But this hitchhiker is different – this one doesn’t grab a ride by the side of the road, and this one is hell bent on killing until someone says otherwise.
Stewart Giles – Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.
Final week of the summer holidays. It feels really odd (as it always does!), too short and too long, time racing by and crawling along.
Chris and I have been watching all of the Alien movies over the past fortnight (I had only seen the original previously) so that we could watch the latest instalment at the cinema and this week we enjoyed a night out. Note Chris’ t shirt 🙂
I have been a bit frustrated with Monopoly Go recently so tried downloading an alternative. Carnival Tycoon has many similarities and is reasonably enjoyable. However, I have almost deleted it several times as progress only seems possible once a day. I doubt I will still be playing it by next weekend 🙁
A double murder in the past and now in the present day a family is held hostage and a police officer is haunted by his missing brother. Can Jack stay focussed on his policework and save the family?
Wolf is the 7th book in the Jack Caffery series but the first that I have read. I watched the TV adaptation last the summer and wanted to read the book too.
The book begins with a girl finding a dog in the woods but then goes back in time to show the Archer-Ferrers family as they make a sinister discovery in their garden and two police officers arrive. Meanwhile Jack has a new lead in his brother’s disappearance but he needs to locate the owner of a missing dog in order to find out more and get peace of mind.
I think the TV version had more of the wow factor as the twists were stunningly revealed and the baddies are vividly depicted. The book is more of a slow burn but the tension of the trapped family is highly dramatic. I preferred the Caffery plotline in the book as he is more focussed on the missing dog. The ending is terribly sad for Jack but I liked the conclusion for the house-based characters.
Wolf is dramatic and has a fabulous dark tension. I now want to catch up on the earlier books and see Jack’s character development over the series.
Book blurb
SHE’S LOCKED THE DOOR BUT THE KILLER’S INSIDE
I believe, from what I can hear, that either my daughter or my wife has just been attacked. I don’t know the outcome. The house is silent.
Fourteen years ago two teenage lovers were brutally murdered in a patch of remote woodland. The prime suspect confessed to the crimes and was imprisoned.
Now, one family is still trying to put the memory of the killings behind them. But at their isolated hilltop house . . . the nightmare is about to return.
May is caught stealing bread and is ready for any punishment. Except one that no one could have expected. She is branded as a sin eater, destined to eat the sins of the dying and dead so they can get to heaven. Her new role takes her to the court of Queen Bethany and uncovers a deadly plot…
The Sin Eater is a mix of history and fantasy. The characters are based on real life people from the sixteenth century, in particular the Tudor and Elizabethan courts.
There is a lot of darkness in this book as people repent their sins and try to atone for the past. There are big secrets as people confess: I liked the supernatural elements of the book and the hope this brings to the people. Alongside this are the secrets of the court that have been hidden for years and could bring down the queen.
Poor May is desperate and alone. Her new role brings her into contact with many people who despise her and I felt dreadfully sorry for her situation. There is plenty of mystery and danger as May negotiates her way through this alternate Tudor realm.
As you may know from many previous mentions on my blog, my degree is in history and I am addicted to the Tudors. The history depicted is very familiar to me and also credible but I like the fictional additions and fantasy embellishments. I felt immersed in the story and the history and geography have been well researched as well as expanded upon.
The Sin Eater was a curious mix of unique and familiar, full of life and death, hope and darkness.
Book blurb
For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.
Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.
