Bromgrove folk are dying to join Fitness for All. A friendly little gym where everyone’s welcome. And everyone’s a suspect.

Paralympian Jack Donahue has always been the gym’s devastatingly handsome poster boy. Until now. Jack is found dead in the weights room. Bludgeoned with the same dumbbell that helped sculpt his world-class biceps!

Detective Gil Markham is called to investigate, with his loyal — and gloriously tactless — sidekick George Noakes never far behind. But the deeper they dig into Jack’s secrets, the more suspects they find.

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Behind his spotless public image, Jack wasn’t short of enemies. A spurned student with a grudge. A bitter ex-trainer. A girlfriend hiding secrets of her own.

Markham fears it all links back to a spate of attacks on the ladies of the Silver Swans barre group.

Before long, a second body falls. Then a third . . . both paid-up members of the gym.

Whoever’s behind these killings, they’re only just getting warmed up.  Can Markham solve the case before they return to make it a personal best? 

My Review

Crime in the Gym is Book 24 in the Detective Gil Markham series. While I know it is written as a standalone, it did take me quite a while to get to know the established characters like Markham himself, his ex-girlfriend Olivia, his possible love interest Detective Kate Burton, and of course his very un-PC partner George Noakes, to name just a few.

This time the victim is paralympian Jack Donahue. Jack is found murdered in the weights room, where he was training, bludgeoned to death with his own dumbbell.

Jack was a controversial figure, who had lots of fans, but also a few enemies. He could be arrogant and rude, but most people admired his determination and resilience after an accident left him in a wheelchair. And he happened to be drop dead gorgeous to boot.

In the meantime, three members of the mature ladies Silver Swans barre group have been sexually assaulted near the Fitness for All gym. But is there a connection? The MO is totally different and the victims have nothing in common with Jack. Except they all trained at the same gym. Then more bodies turn up.

It’s a complicated case for Markham and the team. And are they looking for more than one perpetrator? It’s a great holiday read, with plenty of humour and brutal characterisation at times. Just don’t be in a hurry to get to the end and enjoy for its own sake.

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT  for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

Catherine Moloney is a Liverpool writer of Irish-American heritage. After graduating in Jurisprudence from Jesus College (University of Oxford), she was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn. Despite qualifying as a barrister, her first love was English; this led to a PhD in English Literature at Birkbeck College (University of London).

In her academic career, she lectured and published widely on the subject of tuberculosis and nineteenth-century literature, but somehow managed to avoid contracting galloping hypochondria and turned her attention to crime fiction.

Connect with Catherine
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Website: https://www.catherinemoloney.com/

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Purchase Links:
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