Book Review: Twisted Crimes by Michael Hambling

Dislosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge,from Joffee Publishing, for blog review and giveaway purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it

And now for a book for the adults!

Full of twists and turns, this is a crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the exciting conclusion.

Synopsis:

Sylvia and Ted Armitage, a retired couple, attend the wrong funeral service by mistake. A month later their daughter returns from holiday to find them missing. The police make little headway in tracing their whereabouts until their bodies are found in their car, abandoned in the middle of a copse in a tranquil nature reserve. They appear to have committed suicide, but some of the forensic evidence suggests otherwise. The police slowly make progress and find several links to a shady business organisation that owns a string of bars, clubs and cafes. Why did this couple really die?

If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, Colin Dexter, Ruth Rendell, or Mark Billingham you will be gripped by this exciting new crime fiction writer.

About the Series:

DCI Sophie Allen is Dorset’s acknowledged expert on murder and violent crime. She is 42 as the series starts, and lives with her husband and younger daughter in Wareham. Her elder daughter is studying in London. Sophie has a law degree and a master’s in criminal psychology. Her brilliant mind conceals some dark secrets from her past.

DS Barry Marsh is based at Swanage police station. He's quiet, methodical and dedicated, the perfect foil for Sophie's hidden fragility.

THE SETTING Dorset. A beautiful English county which includes a stunning section of the coastline, but whose beauty belies darkness beneath the surface.

Review:

This is the fifth in a series of best-selling detective thrillers featuring DCI Sophie Allen, head of the Violent Crime Unit in Dorset, but the first I have read. Sophie reminds me very much of Anne Holt's Hanne Wilhelmsen. She's younger, but like Hanne she keeps a lot to her self, but also let her team run with clues and bring the info back to her, to formulate her theories. In this case, what appears to be a missing person case quickly turns into what appears to be a dual suicide. But is it? And why is an organized crime group involved? As the bodies pile up, the case gets stranger and stranger, and the twists and turns lead the reader back and forth on who the suspect is! I'm off to read the rest of the series!

The rest of the DCI Sopie Allen series: 

Book One: DARK CRIMES, the first best seller featuring Sophie Allen. A young woman’s body is discovered on a deserted footpath in a Dorset seaside town late on a cold November night. She has been stabbed through the heart.

Book 2: DEADLY CRIMES: A young man’s mutilated body is found on top of the Agglestone, a local landmark on Studland Heath

Book 3: SECRET CRIMES: The body of an attractive festival-goer is discovered on the rocky shoreline at Peveril Point.

Book 4: BURIED CRIMES: Devastating family secrets from the past. Sisters with a murderous rivalry . . 

About the Author:.

I live in the West of England, and set the location of my novels in this area. The early novels in the series are based in the Isle of Purbeck, a beautiful coastal area. But the rest of the county of Dorset does get a look in, and there are scenes set in other locations in the central south of England. 

I write because I constantly create scenes, people, imaginary conversations and unusual situations in my head. I have always done so, ever since I was a child. Using the richness of the English language to set down these creations in words is a great joy. Maybe by the time I've edited a passage for the umpteenth time it's beginning to lose some of its sparkle for me, but I do believe in reshaping and polishing until it's as good as I can make it. It then becomes something about which I can feel some justifiable pride.

Check out Michael's website for more info!