Vivien Morse, a young social worker is discovered battered to death in Silver Lady Woods. Everyone assumes she was attacked by her estranged husband until her supervisor disappears. The connection appears to be Vivien’s last client. A damaged and disturbed girl who believes a bundle of rags is her lost baby and never leaves the family farm while she awaits the return of her lover.The matter is … confused by the arrival of a stranger to the area clearly searching for something or someone and an escaped convict with connections to the area.DCI Hatherall has to separate fact from fantasy to discover who did kill Vivien Morse.
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Who Killed Vivien Morse? is the 4th book in the ‘DCI Peter Hatheral Mystery’ series written by Diana J. Febry. I enjoyed the book a lot, but I’m kicking myself now for breaking one of my normally cardinal rules — Don’t read a series out of order! Truthfully, you can read this as a standalone novel; I just prefer to read them in order, and I don’t know what possessed me not to do it here. That said, I can confidently say I will go back and pick up the others later this year, so I’m current and caught up on author Febry’s clever and fun series before a new one (hopefully) comes out.
Written in third-person POV, our perspective shifts from not only the main detectives on the case but to the criminal and a few other people involved in the case; it’s done by chapter, so you won’t be confused at all. A police-procedural of sorts, we follow Hatheral and his team while they try to find who killed a young social worker in a small English town. While I wouldn’t exactly call this a cozy, it’s within such a range but also has a nice foray into a bit darker and more visceral (all in a good way). I liked the puns and balance between light and heavy; it clearly shows the author’s vast range.
As for plot… we’ve got a prison escape, a missing fortune, a young girl who was run down by a car, a mysterious social worker’s client visits, an odd family hiding secrets, and a stranger who is snooping in people’s cottage windows. What could they all have to do with one another? At first, I thought I’d figured it out, but by 2/3 of the way, I was thrown for a nice loop and rethought my guesswork. The characters are vivid. Some are flighty, a few are mean, and another group are purposefully misleading. It keeps you on your toes as a reader trying to decide what they know that we don’t know. I like these kinds of tales because we can play detective or sit back and watch it unfold ourselves. I did a little of both!
Febry’s first few chapters are extremely well-written. I’m only focusing on those because that’s what often makes or a breaks a book for me. It’s not necessarily about whether the plot is good, but how well the author paints the picture for a reader. It flowed quite well, and I found myself immediately immersed in the detective’s life, the victim’s tragedy, and the various clues being dropped about. I connected with the writing style as a fellow author and felt we had a similarity in sentence structure and flow… hence why I probably found this such an easy read. Kudos to the author for nailing the first few chapters, so that readers know right away they’ve found a solid one!
When young social worker Vivien Morse is found battered to death in Silver Lady Woods, suspicion immediately falls on her estranged husband. However, when Vivien’s supervisor also disappears, the case begins to get a little complicated. Police follow the trail to Vivien’s last client – a disturbed girl who carries a bundle of rags around with her, believing it to be her lost baby.
This is the fourth book featuring DCI Hatherall (a detective with the obligatory difficult home life). As I haven’t read the others, I thought that might be a problem but the novel works very well as a stand-alone mystery. There are plenty of clues, but the murder trail seems to lead everywhere but the truth. Throw in some strange characters (like Dick the Druid) and the abusive husband (who, naturally, has an alibi), and you’ve got a nice mix of suspects. And then there’s the escaped prisoner…
This is a well thought-out story with plenty of twists that somehow manages to pull all the loose ends together just in time for the end.
The impeccably dressed Peter Hatherall returns to the page in Who Killed Vivien Morse (DCI Hatherall Book 4) by Diana J. Febry and I’m into this read on page one, which is peppered with humor and whit as the story starts out at a good clip with a visit from Glenys Pitman, a neighborhood busybody who has seen a dog-walking man wearing a dress with open sandals showing dirty feet. Taken for a prowler this Druid-priest-appearing male and Pitman’s design to enlist Hatherall to take care of him, has me laughing. It’s the mark of a talented writer who can start a serious murder mystery with humor that works. This is one of the things I love about this author and a big reason I keep coming back for more; the storylines are great mysteries but also done in a light tongue-in-cheek manner that works. I know that the levity will end and soon enough it does when Hatherall’s partner, Fiona Williams enters and announces that a woman’s body has been found. The victim—a late twenties, smartly dressed, professional—is a social worker: Vivien Morse. One of the officers fancies her and is upset to see the body.
Some investigating reveals that she is getting a divorce from her abusive husband that she’s recently filed an injunction against. The investigation starts with a visit and questioning of the victim’s husband and moves along to her workplace where clients are prisoners, people with mental health issues, etc. This lead to an interview with the last client Vivien saw, an abused woman violently victimized by a con man who left her physically and emotionally wounded, virtually living in an unreality. Nothing of note came from that interview, or the one with the nurse who found the body, or a search through the victim’s house. The hunt continues and while it does the witty dialogue and relationship between Hatherall and Williams moves the story along at a rapid pace. It’s hard to put this one down. The list of possible suspects widens and attention shifts back to the husband, could there be a secret lover and his wife, the family, anyone who might have a grudge against the victim, the friendly likable Vivien Morse. There is no lack of pace to the storyline as the reader learns that her house was broken into recently with nothing ostensibly disturbed but the detectives wonder if she brought a client’s file home that might incriminate someone, thus widening even further the search and the mystery glue holding me to the page. And oh it gets really good when a clue about the break in is revealed: dog hair has been left at the scene. More clues, more potential witnesses, more twists and turns, with sharp dialogue moves this right along to a satisfying ending. I’m reaffirmed and hooked on this series and the author.
A woman’s body is found, a strange Druid priest has arrived in the area. Is there a connection? DCI Peter Hatherall and his partner Fiona are running around in circles with this case, with several suspects.
Another brilliant murder mystery by one of my favourite crime writers; highly recommended.
Great English Who Done-it!
Standing in a class of her own, I loved every bit of Diana J Febry’s wonderful English charmer, Who Killed Vivien Morse. Right away I was amazed reading her novel for it’s pure function of entertainment. She made it real easy in how she brought all the characters to life, giving them each their own independent voice with natural flowing dialogue. Albeit, I was absolutely blown away by her smooth usage of the English language, and a relentless attention to every detail, giving life to each and every page; the kind of attention that was not over bearing but almost perfectly embedded structurally in the fabric of the story. Greatness only comes along sparingly, and this is one of those Authors. What a fantastically written crime mystery, 5 Stars!