DEAD LIST (Detectives Calladine & Bayliss #3)

The latest brilliant mystery in the best-selling series, full of twists and turns.

An unlikely serial killer with a bucket list of victims . . .
Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss battle a murderer who is working their way through a list of victims. Each murder is meticulously planned and unique, and a tarot card is left at the scene of the crime.

When two children disappear in the local area, the stakes are raised and the team are baffled by the link between the crimes. Calladine and Bayliss race against time to prevent any more carnage.

If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, Mel Sherratt, Ruth Rendell, or Mark Billingham you will be gripped by this exciting new crime fiction writer.

DEAD LIST is book three of a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ruth Bayliss and D.I. Tom Calladine. Calladine discovers shocking new information on his complicated family background and Ruth has some surprising news for him. A new detective, Stephen Greco, also come onto the scene, provoking competition with Calladine.

Tom Calladine is a single, fifty-one-year-old detective inspector who is devoted to his job. His personal life, however, is not so successful. Having been married and divorced before the age of twenty-one has set a pattern that he finds difficult to escape. 

Ruth Bayliss is in her mid-thirties, plain-speaking but loyal. She wishes she had more time for the gym and a love life. She uses her demanding workload as an excuse not to try too hard with the men she meets. Her hobby is birdwatching.

The series is set in the fictional village of Leesdon on the outskirts of an industrial northern English city. There is little work and a lot of crime. The bane of Calladine’s life is the Hobfield housing estate, breeding ground to all that is wrong with the area that he calls home.

MY REVIEW

I do like the format of the books in this series so far.  With the Prologue providing you with a taster and the story switching between the police investigation and the mind of the killer.

The characters continue to develop and the events in their personal lives makes them more interesting and realistic.  I won’t say too much about the characters and events as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

This book sees the introduction of Greco (he has a series of his own so I wont say much about him at this stage).  When the cases overlap between the different forces Greco and Calladine clash each wanting control of the case/s and Ruth is tasked with trying to persuade Calladine to be less precious which makes for an interesting side story.

The story itself is intriguing and really makes you think outside the box with a very unlikely killer on the loose working through a bucket list.  There is no MO each murder is different and the clues are sparse as the team appear to be fishing in the dark looking for something, anything that could turn into a lead.

Lots of twists and turns and a massive helping of stress for Calladine as he struggles to crack the case before Greco .

Another brilliant addition to a very addictive series.

Helen H Durrant Author Bio

Helen sets her books in the area she has lived in for many years. The towns and villages that sit in the shelter of the Pennine hills. This is an area between two counties, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and between the city and the hills. It offers a rich mix of the industrial and the countryside and all the character therein. 

Helen always planned to write crime novels. But until she retired from full-time work in a local further education college, it had to go on the back burner. Once she did retire – there was no excuse. She now writes full-time. Retirement proper will have to wait! 

Currently there are nine books in the ‘Calladine & Bayliss’ series available – Dead Wrong, Dead Silent, Dead List, Dead Lost, Dead & Buried, Dead Nasty, Dead Jealous, Dead Bad, and the latest – Dead Guilty. There is also a box set of the first three books.

Also available are four books in the ‘DI Greco’ series – Dark Murder, Dark Houses, Dark Trade, and the latest – Dark Angel.

There are two books in the DI Matt Brindle series – His Third Victim and The Other Victim.

The DCI Rachel King series has two books – Next Victim and Two Victim

LINKS

Website: https://booksnall.blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenhdurrant/

Twitter: @hhdurrant

DEAD SILENT (Detectives Calladine & Bayliss #2)

A body is found in a car crash, but the victim was already dead . . .

Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss race against time to catch a vicious serial killer. The first two victims are American university students and both have livestock tags fixed to their earlobes.

Who wanted them dead and what’s the connection? The detectives piece together the forensic evidence and track down the witnesses, to reach a shocking conclusion.

DEAD SILENT is book two of a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ruth Bayliss and D.I. Tom Calladine.

In this second book, Calladine faces personal tragedy and startling revelations, and Ruth’s relationship with Jake Ireson develops. Who wanted them dead and what’s the connection? The detectives piece together the forensic evidence and track down the witnesses, to reach a shocking conclusion.

Tom Calladine is a single, fifty-one-year-old detective inspector who is devoted to his job. His personal life, however, is not so successful. Having been married and divorced before the age of twenty-one has set a pattern that he finds difficult to escape. 

Ruth Bayliss is in her mid-thirties, plain-speaking but loyal. She wishes she had more time for the gym and a love life. She uses her demanding workload as an excuse not to try too hard with the men she meets. 

The series is set in the fictional village of Leesdon on the outskirts of an industrial northern English city. There is little work and a lot of crime. The bane of Calladine’s life is the Hobfield housing estate, breeding ground to all that is wrong with the area that he calls home.

MY REVIEW

I joined the Calladine and Bayliss series at Dead Jealous and reading the series from book 1 has been on my TBR list ever since.  So I was thrilled to find a slot to go back to the beginning.

Book 2 in the Calladine and Bayliss series and another brilliant read.

Calladine is suffering.  His mother has died and Lydia has gone the last person he needs to see at his Mother’s funeral is Fallon, his wayward cousin. Then he is called away to a murder.

Someone is targeting American students and who is Vida?  How can these young women go missing and nobody knows or cares?  Except Alice, a student who has been doing a bit of amateur investigation.

This is a totally gripping twisty turny book with plenty going on:  an abducted child, murder of a witness and the dead/missing young women.  Given that Calladine is short a detective and his DCI is ineffectual the team have their work cut out trying to juggle everything so the last thing Calladine is expecting is to have Pandora’s box delivered from the grave.

But this is Calladine and with Ruth Bayliss’ help he will put the pieces together and get the bad guys, all of them.

The characters continue to develop and I felt I got to know Calladine a lot more.  He is a realistic character with flaws and good points and his team all work together really well so it is no surprise that they start to untangle the web of lies and secrets and find the way forward to solve the cases.

Another brilliant read.  I am loving this series.

5 stars from me.

Helen H Durrant Author Bio

Helen sets her books in the area she has lived in for many years. The towns and villages that sit in the shelter of the Pennine hills. This is an area between two counties, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and between the city and the hills. It offers a rich mix of the industrial and the countryside and all the character therein. 

Helen always planned to write crime novels. But until she retired from full-time work in a local further education college, it had to go on the back burner. Once she did retire – there was no excuse. She now writes full-time. Retirement proper will have to wait! 

Currently there are nine books in the ‘Calladine & Bayliss’ series available – Dead Wrong, Dead Silent, Dead List, Dead Lost, Dead & Buried, Dead Nasty, Dead Jealous, Dead Bad, and the latest – Dead Guilty. There is also a box set of the first three books.

Also available are four books in the ‘DI Greco’ series – Dark Murder, Dark Houses, Dark Trade, and the latest – Dark Angel.

There are two books in the DI Matt Brindle series – His Third Victim and The Other Victim.

The DCI Rachel King series has two books – Next Victim and Two Victim

LINKS

Website: https://booksnall.blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenhdurrant/

Twitter: @hhdurrant

DEAD WRONG (Detectives Calladine & Bayliss #1)

A bag of severed fingers is found in the playground by a rough housing estate

First a shooting, then a grisly discovery on the common . . .
Police partners, D.I. Calladine and D.S. Ruth Bayliss race against time to track down a killer before the whole area erupts in violence. Their boss thinks it’s all down to drug lord Ray Fallon, but Calladine’s instincts say something far nastier is happening on the Hobfield housing estate.

Can this duo track down the murderer before anyone else dies and before the press publicize the gruesome crimes? Detectives Calladine and Bayliss are led on a trail which gets dangerously close to home. In a thrilling finale they race against time to rescue someone very close to Calladine’s heart.

DEAD WRONG is the first in a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ruth Bayliss and D.I. Tom Calladine.

Tom Calladine is a single, fifty-one-year-old detective inspector who is devoted to his job. His personal life, however, is not so successful. Having been married and divorced before the age of twenty-one has set a pattern that he finds difficult to escape. 

Ruth Bayliss is in her mid-thirties, plain-speaking but loyal. She wishes she had more time for the gym and a love life. She uses her demanding workload as an excuse not to try too hard with the men she meets. 

The series is set in the fictional village of Leesdon on the outskirts of an industrial northern English city. There is little work and a lot of crime. The bane of Calladine’s life is the Hobfield housing estate, breeding ground to all that is wrong with the area that he calls home.

MY REVIEW

I joined the Calladine and Bayliss series at Dead Jealous and reading the series from book 1 has been on my TBR list ever since.  So I was thrilled to find a slot to go back to the beginning.

Usually I expect book 1 to be slow going with a lot of character building but Helen has successfully avoided this and the book moves along at an adrenaline pumping pace from beginning to end.

Calladine is DI, married to the job.  His first marriage broke down in the early stages as Rachel couldn’t cope with coming second.  He is now in a relationship with Monika who works at the Care Home where his Mother lives.  However, he isn’t committed to the relationship.  He is a good detective but he always looks for things that don’t appear to be there and his team find this annoying but what is more annoying is that he is usually right.

Ruth Baylis is his Sargant and a dedicated one at that but she is methodical and deals with the facts in front of her.  She is single and happily so and like Calladine is dedicated to her job.

We learn about the characters as part of the story.  It is expertly done.  The characters gain depth and complexity as the investigation unfolds with events prompting the look back into their backgrounds.

The story had me hooked from the prologue.  It starts with school bullies which lead to a boy dying.  The death is decided to be accidental but someone wants the bullies to pay for the part they played.  When the first body parts turn up it has all the markings of a drug war but the reality is much worse.  Who is killing the bullies and why now?

This is a gripping story full of twists and turns but the ending is a shock I never saw coming.  This is a brilliant beginning to a bestselling series.  Helen has set the foundations on which to build the series and I am thrilled to be along for the ride.

5 stars from me.

Helen H Durrant Author Bio

Helen sets her books in the area she has lived in for many years. The towns and villages that sit in the shelter of the Pennine hills. This is an area between two counties, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and between the city and the hills. It offers a rich mix of the industrial and the countryside and all the character therein. 

Helen always planned to write crime novels. But until she retired from full-time work in a local further education college, it had to go on the back burner. Once she did retire – there was no excuse. She now writes full-time. Retirement proper will have to wait! 

Currently there are nine books in the ‘Calladine & Bayliss’ series available – Dead Wrong, Dead Silent, Dead List, Dead Lost, Dead & Buried, Dead Nasty, Dead Jealous, Dead Bad, and the latest – Dead Guilty. There is also a box set of the first three books.

Also available are four books in the ‘DI Greco’ series – Dark Murder, Dark Houses, Dark Trade, and the latest – Dark Angel.

There are two books in the DI Matt Brindle series – His Third Victim and The Other Victim.

The DCI Rachel King series has two books – Next Victim and Two Victim

LINKS

Website: https://booksnall.blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenhdurrant/

Twitter: @hhdurrant