Book Review: Murder Now and Then by Faith Martin

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Joffee Books via #Netgalley, for review 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, all opinions are my own

ONE OF THE WORLD’S FAVOURITE DETECTIVES RETURNS.

A BRAND-NEW MYSTERY FROM THE TWO MILLION-SELLING AUTHOR.

Synopsis:

Former Detective Hillary Greene and her cold case team are taking a fresh look at the unsolved murder of Michael Beck, found bludgeoned over the head and dead in a river near his home in 2012.

Just twenty-two at the time, he’d recently finished a history degree and had his whole life ahead of him. Everyone said he was a pleasant sort of lad with a passion for the past, quietly living with his parents until he could afford a place of his own. But it quickly turned out that there were at least two people who might have wanted him dead.

The first, his recently-jilted girlfriend Mia de Salle, hadn’t taken the break-up well. The second, his former tutor Dr Timothy Durning, had been accused of sexual harassment by Michael. But the original team could find no forensic evidence linking either of their prime suspects to the crime, nor witnesses placing them in the area when Michael was killed.

Hillary, however, is determined to find fresh leads. But while she and her team get to work, in the city of Oxford two men from the city’s criminal underbelly have been viciously murdered in the last six months.

Are the recent murders and her own cold case linked? More than a decade later, has the same killer struck again? And if so, what’s the connection between the mild-mannered young man and the underworld criminals.

It’s up to Hillary to stop a killer getting away with murder — both now and then.

Perfect for fans of Betty Rowlands, Agatha Christie, LJ Ross, TE Kinsey, J.R. Ellis, Helen Cox, M.C. Beaton, or Clare Chase.

Review:

This is book 19 in the DI Hillary Greene series! Hillary is now a civilian, but gets back to work on unsolved, aka cold, cases. With her great solve rate, it only makes sense. But once a copper, always a copper, and soon she is taking her cold case into modern day and stumbling into a current case. She immediately sees no issue with working both cases, but of course the actual assigned DI does. As she works with her new team, she also has to watch the many toes she's stepping on- something she's not know to be patient with. It's an interesting mystery and a great new step in the series, to back it relevant and breathe new life into it!

About the Author:

Faith Martin is a pen name of English author Jacquie Walton, She also writes under the pen names of Joyce Cato, Maxine Barry and Jessie Daniels.Faith Martin has been writing for 30 years, and JOFFE BOOKS is reissuing all the previous books in this series, along with Jenny Starling and Monica Noble series. 

She was born in Oxford and sets most of her crime novels within sight of the city of dreaming spires. A real nature lover and afficionado of the countryside, descriptions of wildlife and native flora often find their way into her manuscripts.