Can a rookie cop stop a serial killer before another life is lost?

Three months after moving out of uniform, DC Izzy Wilde wants to make an impression. But sometimes she can’t help going off track. It’s got her in trouble before. As first responder to a monstrous death at a remote farm, she discovers a slain wife whose eight-month-old daughter is missing.

And there is a stranger abandoned in the kitchen who cannot be woken. Seconded to the Murder Team with her partner, DS Jack Ward, Izzy fears they may never crack the case. The dead woman has a torrid secret that puts her husband in the frame for her murder. Izzy endeavours to uncover evidence as she fights her own demons. And all the while the killer is choosing his next victim.

When the identity of the abandoned girl is discovered it reshapes the investigation. Relentlessly pursuing what evidence, Izzy and Jack uncover more secrets. As they do the boldness of the killer is made clear. Can Izzy and Jack unmask the killer whose only plan is to slay at random, or will they become his next victims? 

My Review

I read this with my online book club, The Pigeonhole. We were warned there would be typos, as this was a proof copy. Unfortunately there were a lot of inconsistencies, not just typos, which hopefully will be picked up in the editing.

It’s a good story – it has the bare bones of an excellent one. I just wish it paid more attention to modern policing and how young officers behave. It feels a bit stuck in another decade.

But enough of the negatives. DC Izzy Wilde has recently come out of uniform and is now a detective in Preston. She is partnered with DS Jack Ward. But she is the first to respond to a horrific murder at Caxton Farm. Rosie Wilson lies dead in a pool of blood, cradled in the arms of her husband Mike. Eight month old Grace is nowhere to be found, but another child is unconscious on the sofa.

Rosie had some dark secrets, so did Mike kill his wife in a fit of temper? Izzy doesn’t think so. She thinks this is the work of a cold-blooded killer. And who is the child on the sofa? DNA can tell us most things these days, so it doesn’t take long to discover her identity. And that makes everything so much more complicated.

Izzy wasn’t popular with my fellow Pigeons. She struggles with procedure and often goes out on her own, causing havoc in some cases. She doesn’t have any patience, but she’s no Harry Callaghan (look it up). In fact she often messes up the whole case by failing to involve her colleagues. However, we like Jack and civilian IT wizz Priya.

Izzy also has her secrets, which have formed her detachment and often blunt, unsympathetic attitude. She’s not a team player. She probably needs to get a cat (so long as the author doesn’t kill it off – us Pigeons hate that). In the follow up book in the series, I hope she starts to thaw, and we see a nicer side to her.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. 

About the Author

David Penny is the author of the Thomas Berrington Historical Mysteries set in the chaotic final years of Moorish Andalusia in Spain and the early Tudor period. After being traditionally published in his 20s with four science fiction novels, he chose to publish independently on his return to writing. David’s work is available in eBook, print and audio, as well as translations into Spanish and German.David’s forthcoming release is The Murder Trail, the first in the Izzy Wilde crime thriller series, written under the name DG Penny.