Looking for a brilliant murder mystery with a feisty female detective?MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation … is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.
Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?
This is a crime mystery full of well-observed characters, which will have you gripped from beginning to end.
MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL is the first in a series of page-turning crime thrillers set in Oxfordshire.
Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter, or Ruth Rendell.
What readers are saying about MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
“A great story and a great read. Likeable and interesting characters and I hope to read more about DI Hillary Greene and her team.” Nerys Roberts
“This book is a real page turner and I cannot wait for the next book in the series.” Barbara
“Drew me in from first pages, an excellent mystery.” Rhonda
“DI Hillary Greene is a force to be reckoned with.” Ray George
“An excellent read from beginning to end.” Jeremy Ball
THE LOCATION
The Oxford Canal meanders through the beautiful county of Oxfordshire, sometimes joining up with the rivers Cherwell and Thames, and flows past the world-famous university city of Oxford. Unlike many canals which are practically ruler-straight commercial waterways, built to help transport goods and heavy traffic before the advent of the railways, the Oxford Canal is a more winding and natural-looking body of water, and is a haven for wildlife and wildflowers. It has several romantically-named locks on its length (such as the Three Pigeons Lock, and Dashwood Lock) and boasts the ominously-sounding Somerton Deep Lock, which often terrifies first-time boating holiday-makers.
THE DETECTIVES
DI Hillary Greene
An attractive woman in her forties, Hillary Greene is a police officer of many years’ experience, and came up through the ranks. Consequently, she knows how the system works, and is fiercely loyal to the force without being blinkered to its faults. She is a long-standing friend of her immediate superior officer, ‘Mellow’ Mallow and enjoys a rather enigmatic relationship with the steely Superintendent Marcus Donleavy. Popular with the rank and file for her no-nonsense attitude and competence, she is currently under investigation on account of her recently deceased, and definitely corrupt husband (Ronnie Greene). But adversity has never stopped her from doing her job.
DCI Philip ‘Mellow’ Mallow
Mel appreciates Hillary’s first-rate ability to solve her cases, and isn’t happy about her harassment by the officers from York. Known for his sartorial elegance and laid-back manners, he has a sharp mind, and an eye for the ladies. A good friend and ally for Hillary in her recent tribulations, he’s determined to keep his best investigator focused on the problems at hand.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A REVISED EDITION OF A BOOK FIRST PUBLISHED AS A NARROW ESCAPE
The first 11 DI HILLARY GREENE books will be published by Joffe Books in new updated editions.
DI HILLARY GREENE SERIES
BOOK 1: MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL
BOOK 2: MURDER AT THE UNIVERSITY
BOOK 3: MURDER OF THE BRIDE
BOOK 4: MURDER IN THE VILLAGE
BOOK 5: MURDER IN THE FAMILY
BOOK 6: MURDER AT HOME
Books 7-11 coming soon!
more
This is the first in the Detective Hillary Green series. Once you read it, you’ll want to read more.
I’d read one later in this series some time ago and enjoyed it, and decided to go back to what I think is the beginning. It’s an interesting set-up – promising police officer dealing with the fact that not only has her husband died, but he was a corrupt copper, too, and investigations will follow. In the midst of this a body is found in the canal, and off we go for a fairly entertaining read and the start to a long series. There’s a fair amount of jumping between points of view, but actually it sort of works, and the intertwining of the two kinds of investigation makes for a decent plot.
I’ve just finished the third book in this eighteen book series and I’m thoroughly enjoying them.
The main reason I like them is because I like the protagonist D.I. Hillary Greene.
I strongly dislike kick-ass, sweary, female detectives and find Hillary refreshing and feminine. She’s had some problems in the past; her late husband was a bad cop who’s left her penniless and under internal investigation for corruption. In addition to this, she’s currently living on her uncle’s canal boat on the Oxford canal.
Yet despite her domestic privations, she remains cool, calm and collected at all times. She’s extremely empathetic with her colleagues – and many of the suspects, too – and conducts her interviews with great intuition.
If you enjoy a good solid mystery with likeable, realistic men and women rather than kick-ass super heroes, then I think you’ll enjoy this series.
After finishing a novel, I like to wait a few days before writing a review. It can be a couple of days, or a couple of weeks if I’m not sure what to say about the book. This in one of the latter.
Overall, I enjoyed Murder on the Oxford Canal. It had some interesting characters and the story had enough suspense and pace to keep me reading to the end. Essentially, it’s a routine police procedural that starts with what could be an accident in the canal, but turns out to be murder. The victim works for a drugs baron who always remains one step ahead of the law.
Time to call in Hillary Greene, who has a few problems of her own. Her dead husband, also a police officer, was on the make and died, leaving a fortune tucked away somewhere. Internal affairs are investigating her, the rumour mill is at work, and she’s been kept off major cases as a result. Mixed in with this are the usual petty battles between officers looking for promotion and the need to work and share resources with Vice to solve the crime.
With all the ingredients and conflicts established, I looked forward to an interesting and twisting story. Unfortunately, the suspense and tension were diluted by too many petty jealousies and hostilities, too much detail about the love lives of officers and Hillary’s tendency to bend the rules to score points. She was also vain and sexually obsessed, thinking several of her colleagues were attracted to her. None of these qualities endeared her to me or explained why men found her attractive or such a good detective.
The climax was also a little pedestrian, but the final twist was terrific and easily the best bit of the story.
As it can take time for characters to develop, I’m going to read the second book in the series, which I have on my Kindle. I know plenty of readers enjoy the series from the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, so I’m happy to give the author another try.
I would not recommend this book .It only begun to get interesting 2/3s of the way into it. Not my type of book.
I bought and voraciously consumed the audio version of this series. If you’re looking for a classic British detective series, these are your books. Faith Martin is our modern day Agatha Christie. I love her writing! Highly recommend.
An English Mystery with real characters. A modern view of the London area.
law-enforcement, procedural, international-crime-and-mystery, interpersonal-problems, detective, england
Police work is mostly the same the world over (except for terminology) and especially Internal Affairs investigations. The good detective is still getting screwed over by her divorced and dead police crook husband because the filth need to be sure that she wasn’t working with him (particularly since they never knew about his 10 year involvement in International crime). The good and bad about cops and their interpersonal problems is well depicted, and the mystery (not just the murder) investigation is worth reading and paying for.