BLOG TOUR WRAP UP – Best Served Cold (DCI Kirsty Savidge #1) by Pat Adams-Wright #bookreview #crimefiction #detective #BestServedCold @WritePAW

Pat and I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to all the wonderful bloggers who helped with the launch of BEST SERVED COLD. Your help is very much appreciated.

What the bloggers thought:

Sassy Redhead Book Reviews

I liked the plot of the story and the characters worked very well together. I enjoyed the suspense and the unfolding of the story and the crime. It was perfectly paced and the way that the plot unfolded and showed who the murderer was kept me wondering until almost the end of the book. Read more here

Debbie Hipster

It’s full of suspense and I was full of wanting to save the person, but then thinking they kind of deserved it too. I switched from wanting them caught to wanting them to get away, so many times. My head was playing an internal tennis match.  Read more here

Linda Strong Book Reviews

There’s lots of action, well paced suspense from beginning to end. There is a slight cliff hanger still to be solved in a future book. Suspects abound and it seems like everyone has a secret…some darker than others.  Read more here

Joanna Larum’s Reviews

I’m not giving away any more of the story, so you will need to read it to get the results of the investigations but I will say that the action is continuous and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. The characters are all believable and I simply couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait for the next one.  Read more here

Ginger Book Geek

‘Best Served Cold’ is superbly written.  Pat Adams-Wright has one of those writing styles that is easy to get along with and easy to get used to.  She grabs the reader’s attention from the start with an incident that is so shocking and horrific that it will stay fresh in that reader’s mind for a long time to come.   Read more here

Sharon Rimmelzwaan

I will not let any details go, read it to discover the tale skillfully woven together by Pat! Kept me reading well into the night! I thought the characters where great and the development of said characters makes me think we may have at least a follow up, well I for one, will be looking for it! Job well done! Read more here

On The Shelf Reviews

I really liked Kirsty. She’s clever, intuitive and doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone especially her immediate superior Chief Superintendent Alison Fry who seem to butt heads at every opportunity.  Read more here

Black Books Blog

The storyline is very strong, and the action is continuous with us being given little bits of information from the murderer whilst the case is ongoing. I love when authors do this and it gives us as readers an insight into their mindset and we can try and work out what they are doing and why.  Read more here

Big Family Organised Chaos


Best Served Cold (DCI Kirsty Savidge #1) by Pat Adams-Wright

Available from AMAZON

DCI Kirsty Savidge and her team (MCTF – Major Crimes Task Force) are tasked with solving the murder of Avril Webb, the third member of a vicious, bullying school gang from twenty-five years ago, to be killed in a matter of weeks. Although two previous deaths are brought to her attention by pathologist Dr Benedict Aldredge (Benny),  they have been ruled a drowning and a gang-related murder in another district. Once Kirsty is aware of them, her detective instincts begin to kick-in, but because of the different Modi Operandi, she’s not sure she’ll be able to convince her superior Chief Superintendent Alison Fry, of a connection. The two women have history and cooperation is rarely a given.  However, during the interviews into Avril’s death the remaining members of the gang are adamant about a link between the deaths and press Kirsty to investigate further. This gives Kirsty a legitimate reason to ask for the other two cases to be reviewed although none of those in the higher echelons would want to hear the term ‘serial killer’.

Another murder occurs quite soon, again with a different MO. At the same time, Kirsty becomes aware she’s had an intruder in her home, but she and DS Danny Hewitt decide to put off any investigation until the current case is finished. Also, Chief Superintendent Fry appears to be having some personal problems when Kirsty spots her wrist wrapped in bandages and bruising on her neck. The inclement weather is also having an effect on the investigation, as some people are having to work from home, including Savidge and Fry, who finds herself stranded at Kirsty’s cottage because of the heavy snowfall. Fry brought news Kirsty could proceed with linking all the cases.  Members of the now covert group (nobody is aware in the present that these people are still linked and running false businesses for their leader, Chris Shaw), are now beginning to take care of their own security turning down protective custody. The police become suspicious.

Throughout, there is a running commentary from the murderer, about his methods and reasoning. Kirsty has her suspicions and is convinced one of the gang members is carrying out the murders. Only  when information from those badly bullied at school does the method of the killings fall into place. Background information on two of suspects is proving illusive. A failed copy-cat attack narrows Kirsty’s choice to one and covert surveillance is set-up. At the time of Avril’s funeral the next day, it’s revealed the man watching the suspect has been murdered and the suspect has disappeared. He’s gone to Plan B – murdering the rest of the gang at the funeral. He kills two more using sniper-fire, then escapes. At the airport he is apprehended and held at gunpoint by two armed response officers, but is then shot himself when one officer mistakes a remote-control for the handle of a gun. The suspect’s lap-top reveals all, in the form of two books so all questions can be answered at a meal supplied by the Chief Superintendent. At the end of the book we are left wondering whose Kirsty’s intruder was  and also who had leaked information to allow a copy-cat attack.


My Review

This is a very gripping book on many levels.  If you like detective books then you will love this one it gets into the nitty gritty of detective where there are no clues and the only way to make any progress is to keep trawling through paperwork looking for anything that may have been missed.  This makes for a very interesting book.  It may not be as fast paced at some but certainly kept the pages turning as I became totally engrossed in the story.

The balance of description and investigation is perfect there is enough well written description for the reader to envisage the scene but not enough to be ‘padding’.

Kirsty Savidge is DCI but is a very hands on one who likes to be out and about with her team.  Her superior is Alison and we soon learn the two women have history.  If I have a minor gripe it is that I would have liked some answers to questions about the two but hopefully there will be more to learn in future books.

I love the characters they are realistic and develop their unique characters well over the course of the book.  I particularly liked the way Kirsty encouraged Paul and gave him the opportunity to show his initiative and play an active part in the investigation despite him not being a permanent member of the team.

The story itself is very different as the investigation progresses the reader learns about the background to the murders which goes back to events over 20 years ago which makes the investigating even more difficult but it all works perfectly as the different strands eventually link together and the reader is taken on a twisty turny ride to the end of the story with many shocks along the way.

An excellent read and well worth the 5 stars.

Thank you to the author for the ARC this is my unbiased review


Pat Adams-Wright Author Bio

Pat Adams-Wright was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK, on the 15th October 1954, in Wellesley Barracks, to a sergeant major father and a working mother. Teacher trained in Liverpool, she actually taught very little during the austere period for practical subjects, doing any work she could find to keep the wolf from the door. However, this did provide plenty of experience and writing material. Finally settled into a teaching job, disaster struck after an accident left her disabled. After many years of using writing to distract her from pain, she successfully completed her debut novel, Run, which was published on the 18th April, 2015.

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