In a small town full of secrets, everyone’s a suspect.When a body is discovered, bled dry on a beach, the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare wakes up to a nightmare. For Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell, recently transferred to the town she last saw as a child, it’s her first case on the job.The victim—Veronica Lloyd, an elderly volunteer at a local church—has puncture wounds to her … puncture wounds to her hands. When a priest is found killed in a nearby church in a similarly grisly condition, it becomes clear that Blackwell is dealing with a righteous and bloody murderer. But the victims aren’t random. The killer has a vendetta and is hell-bent on exacting twisted revenge for a dark secret dating back years—and there are more murders planned.
As the body count rises, Blackwell faces a race against time to solve the mystery of the murderer’s identity and put an end to the carnage. She thought she knew Weston, but the town holds more secrets than she’d ever have imagined. Who can she trust and who knows more than they are letting on?
She must discover the crimes that unite the victims—before it’s too late.
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First book in a new series with Louise Blackwell as the lead detective in an old run down place by the sea in England. She was a lead detective with Finch on a horrific case but ended up moved to this town after Finch lied and nearly ruined her career. Louise is one tough middle age woman, living alone, worried about this job and dealing with her parents and brother while still receiving messafes from Finch…..he still wants to destroy her.
First victim is Veronica Lloyd found on the beach, wrists were mutilated and she had broken bones…. once had been a strict Catholic teacher. Then a priest is found murdered in a confessional at church. A case scaring the old pensioners and having Louise rely on her team with Thomas and Farrell and her boss because Finch wants her case.
Solid police procedural with atmosphere of a lonely older town waiting for the sun and tourists. Louise has to deal with the secrets of the Catholic Church and keep the case from Finch.
Atmosphere of gloom and melancholy as the killer Geoff is in plain sight and on a mission to kill five people.
A solid book if a little slow in parts. Good look at the hierarchy of the police and how its run and the relationships between the people that have to protect the public. 3.6 stars
THE CROSSING by Matt Brolly is a police procedural and the first book in the Detective Inspector (DI) Louise Blackwell series. It is set most in and near Weston-super-Mare in England. When the body of an older woman is found on a beach, DI Blackwell becomes the senior investigating officer. As Louise and her team work to identify and capture the murderer there are also personal issues that are weaved into the story line.
While this book is a police procedural, the reader knows who the killer is in the first chapter as some of the chapters are from his viewpoint. The plot is driven by the police working through the clues and the killer’s activities and motivations. There is a lot more going on under the surface. Other themes running through the story line include work relationships, the drive to succeed, corruption, infidelity, loneliness, aging, friendship, family, dealing with grief, and much more. These other themes enhanced the plot.
The characters are compelling, fascinating, and felt three-dimensional. There was enough at stake to keep me engaged throughout the story. The world-building was absolutely fantastic and gave a clear sense of place.
Overall, the plot was creative, absorbing and well-paced. I would recommend it to those that enjoy police procedurals and British crime dramas. I look forward to reading the next book in this series as well as checking out his DCI Michael Lambert series.
Thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and Matt Brolly for a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
The town of Weston super Mare, Somerset, is shocked by the brutal murder of Veronica Lloyd, an elderly volunteer at a local church.
This is DI Louise Blackwell’s first murder investigation since her forced transfer from the Major Investigation Team in Bristol. She shot a killer, but was not supported by her colleague, Tim Finch, leaving a burning sense of injustice inside her.
After a priest is killed in a similar manner to the first victim, it looks like there’s a serial killer on a mission.
The story alternates between the killer and the police. The events that drove the killer to commit murder are revealed, little by little, as the story progresses. Meanwhile, the police investigation struggles on without tangible progress. The threat of the Murder Investigation Team taking over drives Blackwell on, desperate to connect the dots before Finch takes over.
It’s an interesting story that explores the power of religion and how its messages can become corrupted. The killer’s past is portrayed sympathetically, to reveal the injustice he feels, but without overshadowing the brutality of his crimes. DI Louise Blackwell has a chip on her shoulder that affects her judgement, especially towards the climax. She doubts her abilities, her judgement and her behaviour as she struggles with the investigation, revealing the human side of police work.
While it took me a while to get into the story, it grew on me as the book progressed towards a race against time climax.
I received a free electronic ARC copy of this British police procedural from Netgalley, Matt Brolly, and Amazon Publishing UK. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I will happily add Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell to my must-reads list. This is the first of this series by Brolly – I can’t wait for number 2.
DI Louise Blackwell is thirty-something, has one brother, a recent widower, and the father of a five-year-old daughter, Emily. Her brother Paul isn’t handling life well at all, and Louise and their parents are often required to step into the breach at the home of Paul and Emily. Louise is historically not catching many breaks.
Two years ago Louise’s partner at MIT in Bristol and surrounds, is DI Finch. Together they worked the case of serial killer Max Walton, a trail they had been investigating for over a year. It is at last solved, but Finch has placed Louise in a career-killing position. Knowing they are at the scene of a fresh kill and they are finally closing in on their serial killer, Finch indicates Walton is carrying and asks Louise for cover as he moves in to restrain him. Tripping and falling, Finch shouts that Walton is holding, and as the killer’s hand comes up from the shadows Louise shoots him. These were the facts, details that later Finch will deny. Under Oath. Of course, Louise takes the hit for killing an unarmed suspect and is lucky to be allowed to stay on in the police force at all. She gets transferred to the small rural coastal precinct of Weston-super-Mare and will most likely be stalled as a DI for the next twenty years. Her friend Tracey Pugh gets a job advancement to DI and takes Louise’s place at MIT, and Finch receives accolades and advancement to DCI for his part in capturing Walton. And he is currently texting her most evenings with snips and challenges and signing them ‘a friend’.
But Louise has to get past all that. Eighteen months later and despite its size and level of obscurity, Weston has its own killer running amuck. And he is vicious as he brutalizes his elderly victims for days before he finally kills them.
We know our bad guy fairly early into this tale. Geoff was a bullied and abused child who worshiped his father and was exposed to and leaned heavily upon the ceremony and rituals of Saint Bernadette’s Church to comfort himself. Geoff goes off his rocker when his father commits suicide. Suicides never get to heaven, they are in purgatory forever… This is unacceptable. Knowing they will eventually be back together is all that keeps Geoff sane.
Geoff’s obsession with the stations of the cross is not apparent during the investigation of the first and second victims, Veronica Lloyd and Father Mulligan. Veronica was a single retired school teacher. Father Mulligan, formerly the priest of St. Barts, was semi-retired and assisted Father Riley, the current priest at the second Catholic place of worship in Weston, St. Michael’s. Father Riley is young, green and new to the area, but Monsignor Ashley was more helpful, as he had been working in the Weston area for many years, and as Louise uncovers the only fact that their two victims seem to have in common was their place of worship, St. Bernadette’s, back in the 1980s, Monsignor Ashley brings into play other possible witnesses/or/victims from that era. Father Lanegan, who was the young priest at St. Barts in the 1980s had subsequently left the priesthood and settled into civilian life in the nearby community of St. Ives. But he has been missing for some time – a couple of weeks anyway, according to his elderly cleaner who reported him as a missing person. And it was rumored, Louise is told by older, mostly widowed parishioners, that Father Lanegan and Veronica Lloyd were involved in an affair back then.
And Finch, now a DCI with the Major Investigation Team in Bristol, comes calling, undermining Louise at every turn and attempting to squeeze her out of the investigation altogether. Because this will be a headline-grabbing criminal case and those headlines should be all his…
Parts of this story relies on a bit of back knowledge of the workings of the Catholic Church 40 years ago. It is all explained well but it helps if you understand the Stations of the Cross and the process of bringing children into the pageantry of traditional Catholic services. It is not, however necessary, nor is it a religious book per se.
Highly recommended. Continuing my day of crime books with a religious link/back story to them, The Crossing is a fabulous offering from Matt Brolly. Great new detective series, can’t wait to read more. Nice to see a setting in the south west of England beyond the big cities. If you love Ann Cleeves, you’ll love this.