Debby Morris, mother of two, goes to a Christmas party at historic Hollyhock Manor in Marlow, and never comes home.

A MISSING MOTHER.

Her phone, handbag and Santa’s elf hat are found in a park near the River Thames. The police issue a nationwide search, but Debby is nowhere to be found.

Three weeks later, Debby’s body, still in her elf costume, is discovered five miles downstream from where she disappeared.

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A DETECTIVE ON THE BRINK.

Detective Rob Miller is pulled from compassionate leave and put in charge. He’s still reeling from his last botched case, and he knows all eyes are on him — waiting to see if he’ll crack.

Meanwhile, another body is found with their throat slashed . . . and a link is discovered between the two cases that changes everything.

A RACE AGAINST TIME TO STOP A KILLER.

Rob and his team will need to pull out all the stops to catch a twisted killer before anyone else dies.

My Review

I haven’t read all of the books in the series, but I read The Soho Killer (Rob Miller #6), so the references to the botched case and Jo’s life-threatening injury made sense.

Following the disastrous outcome of the previous case, Detective Rob Miller was put on compassionate leave, while his team was suspended until a decision was made regarding their future. But when mother-of-two Debby Morris goes missing and her body is washed up in the River Thames three weeks later, Miller is pulled back from leave to take charge of the case.

He is ably assisted by his old team, plus PC Trent, a young constable from Marlow, who was first on the scene when the body was discovered, and also has a lot of local knowledge of the area, which Miller does not. Trent also knows (even if it’s just gossip) about the local ‘celebrities’ like Dame Constance Blanchard and dodgy arms dealer Roman Petrovic.

Not long after, a second body is discovered, this time with their throat slashed, and it appears there could be a connection between the two killings. But why would anyone kill Debby? What possible motive could they have?

This was a very fast-paced story, no messing about. I love that this book is so to the point, without any ‘padding’ that seems to be so common nowadays. You are not shouting ‘get on with it’ at the author, because she does. And it’s more exciting because of it.

Many thanks to Biba for inviting me to be on the blog tour.

About the Author.

Biba Pearce is a British crime writer and author of the DCI Rob Miller series. Biba grew up in post-apartheid Southern Africa. As a child, she lived on the wild eastern coast and explored the sub-tropical forests and surfed in shark-infested waters. Now a full-time writer with more than twenty-five novels under her belt, Biba lives in leafy Surrey and when she isn’t writing, can be found walking through the countryside or kayaking on the river Thames.