Category: DC Maggie Jamieson Page 1 of 2

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Lee Goldberg, M. W. Craven, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Nick Kolakowski, Noelle Holten, The Stonebridge Mysteries

Finally, we’re at the end of my 2021 wrap-up, it feels like I’ve been at this for a month. I really need to get faster at this.
2021 Favorite Crime Fiction
38% of what I read last year falls into the category of “Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller,” so I have to consider it apart from everything else when I put together my Best-Of Lists, or just about everything else would get ignored. Even if I went with a Top 15-20 instead of a Favorite 10, maybe 2-3 books from the previous lists would’ve made it along with all of these (and a couple that just missed this list).

Once again, I’ll note that I limit my lists to things I read for the first time. I’d be willing to guarantee anyone reading this page will enjoy at least 6 of these (which six will vary from reader to reader, however). I’m tempted to say that all the listed books are guaranteed for everyone, but people’s tastes are too varied, so I’ll hedge my bet. Try these, and you’ll be glad you did.

(in alphabetical order by author)

Born in a Burial Gown

by M. W. Craven

My original post
Should I just start calling this list An M. W. Craven Novel and 9 Others I Loved Last Year? This just narrowly beat out the latest Poe/Tilly for this spot. This novel introduces a very damaged detective trying to prove that he deserves to be where he is (and his team does, too). DI Fluke is a great character—well, they all are. The prose just sings, the novel’s well-paced and cleverly put together. The killer, the motive, the victim, the reveals (both in the way they were handled and what was revealed), the fairly satisfying (by design) ending, the sweet and then very satisfying denouement—and anything else I didn’t mention—it’s all just as good as you could hope for.

5 Stars

Gated Prey

by Lee Goldberg

My original post
It was only after I narrowed down this list that I realized that Eve Ronin showed up on last year’s list, too. I clearly have a thing for this series. Eve is still learning how to be a detective while making headlines by being involved in high-profile cases. This book mixes observations about celebrity culture, a couple of great mysteries, continued problems in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Eve (once again) failing to balance work and life (or at least work and health). Rookie detectives aren’t the typical focus of a series, but really should be (at least if this series is any indication)

4 1/2 Stars

The Appeal

by Janice Hallett

My original post
The reader is on the same level with the characters who are trying to solve things in this epistolary mystery—we get to read the evidence at the same time as the trainee lawyers that we focus on do. That alone makes this an inventive read. Then Hallett adds in a fantastic cast of characters involved in a small town’s local community theater and a crowd-funding effort for a small child’s cancer treatment. You start out knowing something criminal happened, and gradually start to figure out what the crime was and how it involves those characters. It’s a truly inventive way to tell this kind of story and a great story. It’s the kind of book that’s easy to overhype as you talk about it, so I’m shutting up now.

5 Stars

August Snow

by Stephen Mack Jones

My original post
Readers here know that one of my greatest weaknesses is a good P.I. novel, and “discovering” August Snow was just a treat for me. There’s something about this book—one of those ineffable things that just sang to me—that reminded me of the first time I read a Dennis Lehane Kenzie and Gennaro book, or Joe Ide’s I.Q., or Crais’ Elvis Cole. There’s something just so right—so absolutely classic P.I. and incredibly fresh about the voice—that I felt at home.

From an atypical beginning with the prospective client that ends up without anyone being hired, through the morass of financial crimes and murder, to the explosive ending—with the increasing sense of dread and apprehension of an ensuring emotional gut-punch—August Snow is a fantastic series debut, that would be an equally fantastic tenth novel in a series. It’s fantastic, period.

5 Stars

Love & Bullets: Megabomb Edition

by Nick Kolakowski

My original post
This is technically a violation of my “only new to me” books, Kolakowski took his three Love and Bullets novellas and added a little new material to turn them into a novel. I found the experience different enough reading them as a novel, that I’m going with it. It’s just a blast to read. I had fun with every novel on this list, but for sheer entertainment value, I think this one tops the rest.

Love & Bullets is a fast-moving thrill ride. It’s funny. It has occasional moments of sweetness (very transient). The story and characters are visceral—you can see the action, you can practically hear Bill’s quips and feel Fiona’s patience evaporating at them (while she does love him for them). It will get a much-beloved (or much-disparaged) band’s music stuck in your head during one fight scene. Really, it covers almost all the senses—and given where they spend a lot of time, you’ll be glad it leaves the other two out.

4 1/2 Stars

The Jigsaw Man

by Nadine Matheson

My original post
DI Anjelica Henley is your typical detective so focused on the job that everything else in their life is a tertiary concern at best, she makes horrible choices in her personal life, and seems to make enemies wherever she goes. One such enemy is a serial killer she put away some time ago, but then new bodies start showing up that look like the work of that killer. Did she put the wrong man away? Is this a copycat? Or something worse? The Jigsaw Man is a dark, unsettling read—there are two pages toward the end that may be the most disturbing pages I’ve ever read. And yet…there’s something very appealing about the novel—it’s gripping and compelling, it’s also entertaining. The pacing was perfect. The characters were well-drawn and felt fresh. It’s the kind of book that makes you ignore responsibilities–and possibly food and hygiene–or at least want to until you finish.

5 Stars

The Curious Dispatch of Daniel Costello

by Chris McDonald

My original post
(really this spot belongs to all Series: The Stonebridge Mysteries, but we’ll use this as a synecdoche (or did I mean metonym? I’m can’t remember)). I’ve been calling this a Cozy for People Who Don’t Like Cozies. It’s about a pair of guys in their twenties, trying to figure out their lives. They’ve spent too much time watching Sherlock and the like, and when one of them discovers a dead body at a wedding they’re attending, they take it upon themselves to solve the murder. Which leads to them doing that again in a few months—and again, and again. They really don’t have any business doing this kind of thing, but it turns out that they have a knack for it. This novella (and those that follow) is a quick burst of fun—a witty whodunit with a couple of unlikely amateurs on the case.

4 Stars

Suburban Dicks

by Fabian Nicieza

My original post
A disgraced journalist struggling to find some sort of professional redemption (not to mention a better paycheck) and a pregnant mother of four (who gave up her lifelong dream of being an FBI profiler to raise a family) pair up to investigate their suburb’s first murder in decades because the police department just isn’t up for it (assuming they’re not too crooked to do the job right). You get a great mix of dark comedy, social commentary, and clever mystery as the pair unearth secrets that have been buried for generations on their way to solve the murder of a gas station attendant. From the great opening scene to the fantastic last line (probably the best I read last year), and all points between, this was easily one of my top reads of the year.

5 Stars

Dead Secret

by Noelle Holten

My original post
Like Eve Ronin (above), DC Maggie Jamieson, is driving herself to exhaustion. She’s just that driven. This book features Maggie and the rest of the team on the hunt for a killer and trying to find (hopefully in time) their missing DCI, which means no downtime for Maggie or anyone else. You’ve got a pretty grizzly beating death to start off with and then you the police’s natural inclination to focus all resources on the missing DCI. Just those two storylines would be enough. But then Holten throws in a third storyline—a person in desperate need of help, a survivor of (as far as anyone can tell) of domestic violence—a reminder that policing isn’t about arrests, it isn’t about only maintaining social order—it’s about people like this woman who showed at Lucy’s front door, it’s protecting and serving the public. This is the kind of thing that both (fictional and real) civilians and the (fictional and real) police need to be reminded of, and here it elevates the rest of the novel by its presence.

4 1/2 Stars

The Thursday Murder Club

by Richard Osman

My original post
What can I possibly say about this that hasn’t been said before? This book is just great—it’s about a group of friends in a retirement community who spend a few hours a week looking over police cold cases (one of the group is a retired police officer, and these are her files) and then a murder happens in their community. They trade in their cold cases for this very warm one right away. I can’t think of a thing about this novel I didn’t like—it was touching, amusing, honest about the circumstances that these characters found themselves in, but life-affirming, too. There’s a lot of profundity mixed in with the amusement—and a clever mystery, to boot! This is not one to pass up.

5 Stars

PUB DAY REPOST: Dead Mercy by Noelle Holten: An Apt Title for A Grim Thriller

By HCNewton

On November 19, 2021

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Dead Mercy

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #5

eARC, 416 pg.
One More Chapter, 2021

Read: October 4-5, 2021

What’s Dead Mercy About?

The closing chapter of Dead Secret set this up (as Holten is so good about doing): a business has gone up in fire and a body has been found inside—possibly the body of someone Maggie’s worked with in Probation. From the start, this case has its hooks in Maggie.

It’s soon decided that the body was the source of the fire—and before the victim had been set ablaze, he’d been restrained and had teeth pulled. The killer had wanted to punish him, not just kill him.

Soon another victim is discovered—and the team has to race to find a connection so they can prevent anyone else from suffering this fate.

When the link is finally discovered, it suggests potential new victims as well as several suspects. It also shines a bright light on a striking failure of the criminal justice system.

Bethany and Kat

Back when I talked about Book 3, Dead Perfect, I wrote that they were overworking PC Bethany Lambert, “Miscellaneous errands, thankless tasks, things requiring technological expertise, and more fall to her. I lost track of how many things Maggie threw her way to do—on top of her own assignments. I have multiple notes about how they’re working this woman to death.” They’ve yet to let up on her—however, it’s talked about both as the way she likes to work and as something other people are concerned about. This is efficiently done—the characters around her get to be observant and sympathetic, and they can continue to throw too much work at her so Holten doesn’t have to create 2-3 more characters to keep the stories moving at that pace.

Dead Perfect was also where DC Kat Everett was added to the team—she’s better integrated into the action over the last couple of books now and I really enjoy her. I’m ready to read a spin-off series focusing on her now, either in her same assignment or transferred somewhere. Her brashness would make for a fun protagonist (not that Maggie isn’t brash, but hers is a side-effect of her impetuousness).

A Refreshing Approach

With most police procedurals you get the maverick, lone-wolf detective—maybe with a couple of people they trust. Or (particularly with UK-based procedurals), you get a focus on a detective squad. With the Maggie Jamieson books, we get a good look at her squad, probation services, and other social services.

Not just as a drop-in for a convenient bit of information, either. But characters that matter, there’s interconnectedness between the groups and it’s good to see the flow of information (formally, informally, unauthorized) informing the investigations. I like seeing that approach, and I like to think it reflects reality far more than any lone-wolf thumbing their nose at regulations.

Although, the pathologist still seeming to hold a grudge over one of her staff being (justifiably) questioned a while back seems to be petty. Which, so it’s not all super-professional and mutually helpful.

Let’s Hope This Is Fiction

Not every author spends too much time on the motivation behind the killings, but an author that gives a believable motivation separates their work from the pack. This is another of those areas that Holten excels in.

Yes, this is a work of fiction. Yes, things are heightened. But when you read this, there’s going to be a voice in the back of your head saying, “I could see that happening.”

Not only that, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to be a little conflicted about the crimes. Odds are, you’re not going to be hoping that Maggie and her team fail, or that the killer (killers?) gets away with it. Buuuut…once you understand the motive pushing the killer(s), you may not feel that bad about what happens to the victims.

So, what did I think about Dead Mercy?

Holten’s got this down now—the characters and world are well established, as are the relationships in them. Despite the relatively brief chronology between books 1-5, there’s been some decent character growth on several points, too. So a new Maggie Jamieson thriller is a chance to spend some time catching up with new acquaintances while getting to go for a pretty intense ride as those acquaintances try to stop a brutal killer.

Okay, maybe that’s not the ideal way to catch up and check in on anyone, but it’s a pretty exciting read.

Crime Reads had that piece a couple of weeks ago discussing “all crime is cyber crime,” which was ringing in my ears as I read this. This very visceral series of murders is evidence to support that thesis—cyber-policing wasn’t enough to stop the series, either, but it played its part. Holten’s always been good at balancing the computer-work and the boots-on-the-ground policing but might have outdone herself here.

The accent does fall on the physical world, of course, given the nature of the crimes. If your stomach doesn’t church a little at the description of the murders (likely both as they’re happening and as the pathologist breaks them down), you’re made of pretty stern stuff. Thankfully, Holten’s narration doesn’t ever seem to relish in the disturbing details as too many do.

Basically, this is a top-notch thriller with a lot for the reader to chew on as they’re burning through the pages.

It does appear that this is going to be the last Maggie Jamieson book–at least for a while. I’m hoping it’s just a break, and we get back to Maggie and the rest of the Major and Organised Crime Department soon. If not? These five books are a great set and I (again) strongly recommend them to you.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from HarperCollins UK via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

Dead Mercy by Noelle Holten: An Apt Title for A Grim Thriller

By HCNewton

On October 18, 2021

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Dead Mercy

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #5

eARC, 416 pg.
One More Chapter, 2021

Read: October 4-5, 2021

What’s Dead Mercy About?

Soon another victim is discovered—and the team has to race to find a connection so they can prevent anyone else from suffering this fate.

When the link is finally discovered, it suggests potential new victims as well as several suspects. It also shines a bright light on a striking failure of the criminal justice system.

Bethany and Kat

A Refreshing Approach

Let’s Hope This Is Fiction

Yes, this is a work of fiction. Yes, things are heightened. But when you read this, there’s going to be a voice in the back of your head saying, “I could see that happening.”

So, what did I think about Dead Mercy?

Okay, maybe that’s not the ideal way to catch up and check in on anyone, but it’s a pretty exciting read.

Basically, this is a top-notch thriller with a lot for the reader to chew on as they’re burning through the pages.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from HarperCollins UK via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

Dead Secret by Noelle Holten: Maggie Has to Juggle Several Balls at Once—Can She Keep it Up AND Catch a Killer?

By HCNewton

On May 3, 2021

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Dead Secret

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #4

Kindle Edition, 448 pg.
HarperCollins Publishers, 2021

Read: April 23-26, 2021

Before I dive in, I’d fully intended on having this posted five days ago, but I had to keep trashing paragraphs because I’d wander into a spoiler or three, and by the time I’d sanitized them enough to post, they were worthless. This has resulted in a shorter post than I expected, and one that may not feel up to my typical thoroughness for this series. There’s a lot to chew on in this novel—more than anything since Dead Inside—but this isn’t the place to talk about it.

The team were deflated – long nights, no solid leads – morale down – they needed to catch a break.

While they waited for more information, Maggie spent the majority of her day chasing up the curfew company, cross-referencing the prison tattoos – which was proving to be a very tedious job – and chasing up Social Care.

While waiting on hold, she recalled a conversation she’d had with her brother about how funny she found it that a large majority of the public believed that everything in a murder investigation was so exciting and moved quickly because of the way that it was portrayed in movies and TV – however a big part of her job focused on calls, computer work, research, and reports. She wished it was the opposite!

What’s Dead Secret About?

The book opens in the final fleeting moments of a young man’s life, he’s scared, beaten, bloody, and desperate for help. And then he’s no longer scared or desperate again. Found in a woody area near an industrial estate, his face has some dots drawn on it, but aside from that, there are no other clues—assuming they are one.

Maggie and the rest of her team have barely begun to get into this investigation when their DI drops a bomb on them—their DCI has gone missing. It’d been a couple of days since anyone had heard from him, so some officers went to check him—they found no one at the home but did find evidence that a violent crime had been committed there. Given their staffing levels, they couldn’t have some detectives work the missing persons cases and others focus on the homicide, so each detective on the team would be involved in each. Watching the detectives try to balance these cases—which primarily means not dropping everything to focus on DCI Hastings and his family—is good to see, and a needed reminder that actual detectives frequently have to juggle multiple cases at once—unlike their fictional counterparts.

Meanwhile, the domestic abuse shelter that Lucy Sherwood has been trying to start is on the verge of opening. But days before, a “battered and semi-conscious woman in her doorway” led her to get an early start. The young woman doesn’t speak at the beginning and appears to be reading lips when dealing with the paramedics. She won’t interact with the police, however. It is impossible not to feel all kinds of sympathy toward this woman—and Lucy definitely feels that way. This storyline is a fantastic way to follow up on Dead Inside, the first book in the series, and show how far Lucy’s comes since then and why her center is needed.

Realism

One thing that seems to jump out at the reader of this series is how authentic the procedural elements feel. Sure, events and characters are heightened, clearly played for greater narrative tension, and the like. But you can’t avoid how real this world, characters, and situations seem. Like the general public in that quotation above, novel readers are frequently given just “the exciting” portions of the procedural, but here, we see the drudgery, the combing through reports, and endless research before substantial advances in the investigation are made. While showing the reader that research and paperwork characterizes modern policing, Holten still allows her characters to have small maverick streaks that propel the action forward a little faster than the actual procedure can.

Along the same lines, all I know about the British probation system comes from this series and Helen Fitzgerald’s Worst Case Scenario. I think if I did, I’d have a better appreciation for scenes in each of these novels. Lacking that (and the drive to do research), I just have to assume that Holten was paying attention during the almost two decades she worked as a probation officer and is giving us something fairly reality-based.

One Random Thought

There are six times in the novel that “youths” is used, like: “youths in the area”, “gang of youths”, and so on. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but I couldn’t help but laugh. It was like Maggie had been replaced by Schimdt. It’s not worth mentioning, really. But in a book as grim as this, you take the smiles where you can get them.*

* See also two surprising, but effective, TV references. I don’t remember this series doing that.

Give Her a Break

Several times throughout the novel, Maggie thinks about how tired she is—and how little downtime she’s had between major cases. She didn’t get a lot of time between these cases and the previous books (although she had even less between Books 2 and 3). Maggie needs to catch her breath if she’s going to be any good to anybody. Her personal life is a mess, and I’m worried that her professional life is close it one, too. Her physical and mental reserves have to be beyond spent—and you can’t help but wonder as you read this book (and the previous one) if she wouldn’t have picked up on something sooner if she’d been coming at things with a fresh mind.

It’s not much of a spoiler to say that Maggie isn’t going to get a whole lot of downtime before Book 5’s case takes over her life. But what comes after that? As far as I can tell*, this is intended to be a five-book series—so hopefully Maggie gets to take that holiday she’s been thinking about. Even more hopefully, we get to have at least a few more books with her.

* I’m prepared to be shown that I’m wrong—and hope I am.

So, what did I think about Dead Secret?

I’m a fan of this series—so obviously, I went into this book expecting to like it. But any reader knows that sometimes those expectations aren’t met. Thankfully, it wasn’t long at all before I knew Holten had, once again, provided her readers with a great read.

You’ve got a pretty grizzly beating death to start off with and then you the police’s natural inclination to focus all resources on the missing DCI—and them not necessarily wanting to follow all the evidence that points to the DCI not being the kind of man they all thought. Just those two storylines would be enough. But then Holten throws in that third storyline—here’s a person in desperate need of help, a survivor of (as far as anyone can tell) of domestic violence—a reminder that policing isn’t about arrests, it isn’t about only maintaining social order—it’s about people like this woman who showed at Lucy’s front door, it’s protecting and serving the public. This is the kind of thing that both (fictional and real) civilians and the (fictional and real) police need to be reminded of, and here it elevates the rest of the novel by its presence.

I’d largely figured out who the killer was and how it was happening pretty early on. I wasn’t prepared for the motive behind the killing until it was clear. Holten also did a good job of revealing enough for readers who wanted to identify the killer early while at the same time writing things clearly enough that even people who didn’t want that revelation would be able to enjoy the novel.

This is Holten at her best—I also see this having better commercial appeal than the previous novels in the series and I hope I’m right. Can you read this without having read the previous three novels? Yes. I think you’d be better off starting with the first book, but the important thing is that you start somewhere with this series.

4 1/2 Stars

The Friday 56 for 4/21/21: Dead Secret by Noelle Holten

By HCNewton

On April 23, 2021

In Currently Reading, DC Maggie Jamieson, News/Misc., Noelle Holten, Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it

from Page 56 of:
Dead Secret

Dead Secret by Noelle Holten

(a little long, but couldn’t see a way to shorten it)

When the steam came out of the spout, Ronnie picked up the kettle and then poured the boiling water on her arm.

What the hell?

Ronnie didn’t even flinch. It was like she didn’t feel any pain. She placed the kettle back, used a tea towel to dry her arm, and covered it up with the sleeve of the cardigan. Vicki turned and looked at Lucy. They waited until they saw Ronnie leave the kitchen, and Lucy stood and headed to the kitchen.

Maybe I was wrong.

At the counter she touched the kettle.

Ouch!

She sucked her index finger and turned on the cold tap, holding the sore digit beneath the running water. Lucy looked up at the camera and raised a brow. She knew Vicki would be watching.

Dead Perfect by Noelle Holten: A Desperate DC Races to Save Her Friend’s Life

By HCNewton

On January 15, 2021

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

This is one of those that I struggled for over a week to finish. I can only hope it’s coherent. The short version: Get this book. Read this book.

Dead Perfect

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #3

Kindle Edition, 449 pg.
One More Chapter, 2020

Read: December 30, 2020-January 2, 2021

What’s Dead Perfect About?

So, Dead Wrong left us with:

‘Just had a call come in. Police are on the scene. Body of a female has been found. Initial description sounds just like your friend Dr Moloney. I’m so sorry, Maggie …’

Obviously the important thing there is “sounds just like,” because it isn’t Moloney* but the body looks so much like her, that no one can be blamed for assuming it was Moloney. It’s quickly determined that it’s not her, but Maggie and Kate Moloney’s colleagues are having difficulty finding her. Making sure that the tension is as high as it can get in a first chapter.

* That’s not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb, which I should’ve read before diving in.

But even before we get to that, there’s the Prologue. It seemed ominous but fairly typical. Then I looked up one word that I didn’t know, orbitoclast, “A surgical instrument for performing transorbital lobotomies, resembling an icepick.” Then I reread the Prologue and got seriously creeped out.

Kate’s located (and given a talking-to about keeping her phone with her), the body is identified, but that just clarifies the issues at the heart of the investigation. We knew Kate had a stalker, and it seemed like the stalker was getting more intense, more threatening. There’s almost certainly a connection between the murdered woman, the stalker, and Kate. But Maggie has to prove that before they can act on it.

So Maggie and her team dive into the murder investigation, but Maggie’s attention is divided between finding out what happened to this woman and preventing the same thing from happening to Kate. This is probably not the best way to tackle the problems, but it’s not like Maggie is going to let either objective out of her hands.

And then another body is found.

Maggie’s State of Mind

It’s been a while since things were stable for our series protagonist, she’s been caroming off emotionally and mentally challenging cases for so long that she’s got to be close to unraveling. She’s barely had her chance to catch her breath from the events of Dead Wrong before she’s plunged into this race to save her friend’s life.

Add in the pressure of the press, getting used to the shift in the dynamic between her and friend/new boss, and her personal life—she’s not in the best headspace for this (or any) investigation. I think it’s starting to show, she makes some errors in judgment, she’s not dealing well with people, and unless this series is about the downfall of DC Maggie Jamieson, something’s going to have to change.

Although I can totally see Holten pulling off Maggie hitting rock bottom and trying to recover from that, come to think of it. So maybe that’s what we’re starting to see.

Supporting characters

I’ll touch on this more later, but one of the best things about the series is this great world that Holten’s creating. And it’s filled with some great characters, I have a few thoughts about some of the more prominent from this book.

We’ll start with DS Nathan Wright, he’s trying to acclimate to his new position and the way that changes the way he relates to and interacts with his team and friends—and seems to be doing it as well as you can hope. But he’s not perfect, and the transition isn’t smooth. It’s a minor thing, and I don’t imagine many authors would spend the time to do it, but I think it says a lot about the world that Holten’s creating that we see this.

That said, his team needs some more blood. and there’s a newly minted DC he’s got his eye on to help. Everyone’s very excited when Kat Everett is seconded to the investigation, and then she largely disappears. She’s eager, she’s bright, and then it’s like she doesn’t exist until the end when she plays a decent-sized role. It felt a little strange, is all I’m saying. Also, I’m not sure anyone needs a series where a “Kat” and a “Kate” play a major role, I’m just thinking someone needs a new nickname.

A reporter that made few friends, and probably a couple of enemies in Dead Wrong resurfaces. Julie Noble is well on her way to being a regular feature of this series, but for the moment, I don’t know what to think of her. I expect books four and five will solidify my impressions. She promises to be interesting—but I’m not sure in what way yet.

Lastly, there’s poor PC Bethany Lambert. She’s the unit’s go-to worker. Miscellaneous errands, thankless tasks, things requiring technological expertise, and more fall to her. I lost track of how many things Maggie threw her way to do—on top of her own assignments. I have multiple notes about how they’re working this woman to death, and even tweeted Holten about it. I’ve been assured that Bethany likes to be overworked, and that it’ll be addressed soon. But I’m telling you now if she snaps and takes out a lot of pent-up aggression on Maggie, I’ll be cheering her on.

The Killer

I’ve spent more than a week trying to write this post and failing because of this section right here. I still don’t know how I’m going to write something that I like and that doesn’t give anything away.

Sure, I could not talk about The Living Doll Killer, but Holten does something here that I feel compelled to write about. So I’m stuck. You’ll have to read the book to get the unsettling reason for the name, but that won’t keep me from using it.

We get a lot of information at some point in the novel from LDK’s own mouth. Now, I’m not sure the reader or police are supposed to believe everything told to them by LDK, but for the moment, I’m going to pretend I do.

Holten comes as close as possible to giving us a serial killer that the reader can empathize with. Sure, that’s not that close at all, but that doesn’t disprove my point.

I can say that I picked out the LDK straight off, but that’s all I got right. The “how” of the killings is bad, the “what” (abducting and killing) is disturbing, but the “why” will cast everything in a different light and somehow make it all worse (and, at the same time, almost understandable).

I can’t think of a serial killer with this kind of backstory and motivation. And for a fictional serial killer, there’s a strong “Yeah, I can imagine reading about this in the paper” kind of vibe. When I talked about her debut, I said that “Holten writes humans, not caricatures or types.” That applies to LDK, too.

The World Around Maggie Jamieson

This is the Maggie Jamieson series, and she is the core of it. But Holten has put her in the middle of a complex world. We touch base in this book with characters from the first two books—particularly from the first book, and we see a lot of growth and development. These people have put in the time and effort to change their lives and move on from the nightmares we met them in.

The way Holten has set up the series guarantees it won’t just be DC Jamieson and her boss (and the rest of her team) bouncing from investigation to investigation, they’ll brush up against these people, focusing on them for significant periods.

I really appreciate this design and am eager to see how it’s developed.

So, what did I think about Dead Perfect?

I got sucked into this story fast, and if anything above sounds critical, it’s only because I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about them (and talking about three or four niggling points out of one hundred is more interesting to write about than fanboying over the other 96 or 97). I was quickly invested in what was going on—and was soon thankful that it wasn’t Kate’s body in the opening chapter.

And yes, I was convinced that Holten had killed her off at the end of Dead Wrong.

I had many, many opinions about how Maggie and Kate were behaving over the course of this investigation (positive and negative), and sincerely wished that DS Wright would have sat them down in his office and talked some sense into both of them. I’m not sure that I usually spend quite as much time talking back to books about what protagonists are doing/thinking as I did in these pages.

And then the reveals about LDK? Didn’t see any of them coming (other than the one I mentioned). I love it when an author does that.

And then, just like she did last time, Holten doesn’t let you fully absorb and reflect on the conclusion of the novel without hitting you with an image that makes you want the next book now, not in a few months.

So what did I think about it? It was great. I need Book Four next week, and probably Five a couple of weeks after that.

4 Stars

The Friday 56 for 1/1/21: Dead Perfect by Noelle Holten

By HCNewton

On January 1, 2021

In Currently Reading, DC Maggie Jamieson, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Noelle Holten, Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it

from 56% of:
Dead Perfect

Dead Perfect by Noelle Holten

…I apologize if this is slightly repetitive. Remember when we were talking about strange people you may have come across or who’ve made you uncomfortable? Can you just remind me of them again and maybe what made you feel weird around them?’

‘Erm … All right. Is this one of those times I have to just give you what you ask and trust that you have your reasons?’

‘I’m afraid it is.’

A Few Quick Questions With…Noelle Holten

By HCNewton

On March 13, 2020

In A Few Quick Questions With..., DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Struck by inspiration a couple of days ago, I hit Holten up with a last-minute request to participate in this, which she graciously agreed to and found time in her busy schedule. Hope you enjoy this half as much as I did.

In case you haven’t read my posts about her books, Dead Inside and Dead Wrong, you should before (or after) you read this, so you have a clue what we’re talking about.

So what was it that flipped the switch for you to move from Award Winning Book Blogger to Crime Fiction Writer?

I’ve been an avid reader of crime fiction for so many years – too many to mention. In the back of my head I had always wished I could write a book but never thought I could string a story together. I was encouraged by other writers who I had met at various festivals and then in 2017 I attended Crime & Publishment run by Graham Smith with Michael J Malone. All I had was the prologue to Dead Inside and when I finally showed it to both of them (separately) and got the same reaction – ‘Wow. That’s powerful’ I thought maybe I could actually write a book… 12 weeks later, the draft for Dead Inside was complete!

If that draft prologue was close to the published version, I can easily see why they’d react that way. I did. 🙂

Technically, Dead Inside was a Maggie Jamieson book, but it was Lucy Sherwood’s just as much (if not more). Was the plan all along to slide into Maggie’s series like or did Dead Inside evolve into a story focusing on Lucy?

Dead Inside had always been Lucy’s story. In fact, Maggie had originally only played a small part in the book and the whole series I had mapped out in my mind. I always saw this as an ensemble series – many, if not most of the main players would be introduced in Dead Inside and then each of the following books would focus on someone else – with the police & Maggie solving any crimes that came up. My publisher felt that a police procedural would be a better focus and so I brought DC Maggie Jamieson more into the story. Dead Wrong was/is her story and we see much more of her in the other books that follow.

How was the experience of writing Dead Wrong different than Dead Inside? Having the confidence from one under your belt, was it easier? Or was it like starting from Square One again?

I think writing Dead Wrong was much harder. Although I had an idea mapped out, I had Dead Inside in my head for a few years – or at least an outline of it. I also didn’t have deadlines to meet! That makes a huge difference no matter how disciplined you are! I still feel very much a newbie to the game and love learning more about writing as each book comes alive. I don’t think it will ever get easier for me as I am always worried that I won’t write a story that people will want to read – the whole imposter syndrome sets in.

Obviously, you’re a Crime Book Junkie, but is there another genre you’d like to try your hand at?

If I had to choose another genre it might be horror – as I definitely would have no chance at writing a rom com or sci fi – I know I couldn’t do it! I do have an idea for a stand alone psychological thriller – so I might try that one day.

Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I’ve recently invented). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like Dead Inside? [N.B. I meant to ask about Dead Wrong, whoops.]

Oh this is a tough one! Ok, I have some series in mind so I will choose one book from those I guess!
Silent Scream by Angela Marsons
Somewhere to Hide by Mel Sherratt
A Suitable Lie by Michael J MaloneI can’t really think of others off the top of my head but the above I think each have a similar feeling to Dead Inside that I think readers would enjoy if they enjoyed these books.

What’s next for Noelle Holten, author?

I have a few crime festivals I will be attending either as an avid fan of crime fiction or on a panel. I am currently editing the third book in the series (cover and title to be revealed soon I hope – woohoo!) and that should be out towards the end of this year. I’m also about 20k into writing Book 4. I work full time as well and although blogging itself has taken a back burner, I am still reading and reviewing too. Somewhere in between all that I try and sleep too!

It’s Release Day Eve for Dead Wrong. How nervous are you? How’s it compare to Dead Inside?

I am EXTREMELY nervous. I think I feel exactly the same as I did when Dead Inside came out but maybe even a little more nervous. I mean, what if people don’t like Dead Wrong?! What if they were expecting something exactly the same as my first book – and it’s not the same – oh my god, the nerves!! So yeah, I don’t think it gets any easier.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Dead Wrong, I’m really enjoying it, and hope you have plenty of success with it.

Thank YOU for having me and after your incredible review of Dead Inside. I am SO NERVOUS to hear what you think of Dead Wrong.

(Revised and Updated) Dead Wrong by Noelle Holten: A Detective Struggles to Prove She Made the Right Arrest with Lives on the Line

By HCNewton

On March 13, 2020

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Updated: I was dead tired last night when I finished this, and ended up not saying everything I meant to. I still haven’t, but it’s getting too long. But still, I missed a couple of points yesterday, and have got them covered now.

Be sure to come back in an hour or so for A Few Quick Questions with the Author, Noelle Holten! Also, this book releases tomorrow–be sure to grab it (still time to pre-order). While you’re at it, get the first in the series, too!

Dead Wrong

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #2

eARC, 432 pg.
One More Chapter, 2020

Read: March 8-12, 2020

Last year, Noelle Holten blew my socks off with her debut, Dead Inside. It was the first of the Maggie Jamieson novels—although, I mentioned at the time “you’d be excused if you didn’t pick that up until the last chapter,” because it focused so much on a side character. This time out, the focus is almost exclusively on Maggie—her professional side as well as her personal life.

Before Dead Inside, Maggie had been part of a Homicide investigation team but had been reassigned to help her decompress after a stressful investigation that resulted in Bill Raven, a confessed serial killer, getting a life sentence. It ended with Maggie getting a voice mail from her old boss:

‘Your secondment is over at the DAHU. Raven has appealed his sentence, claimed he’s innocent. Timely I’d say as there has been another murder. Either a copycat or the real killer picking up where they left off. Get your arse in here.’

It turns out that it’s a bit more than “another murder.” It’s actually the murder of the woman Raven claimed was his first victim. Which doesn’t seem like a big deal, everyone knew she was dead. The twist comes when the report comes in that she’s been dead two days.

Say what you will, being locked up already for someone’s murder is a pretty good alibi for their actual murder. Many people—including fellow police officers and detectives–and the Press are outraged. Maggie’s previous work is being scrutinized, she’s having to defend her actions in the past while investigating the new murder (okay, it soon becomes murders—including more women that Raven claimed to have killed). She’s also doing everything she can to keep Raven behind bars—but that’s an unofficial goal. Officially, she’s supposed to stay away from revisiting the original investigation.

Now, the idea of a detective having to deal with an old investigation being re-opened because the convicted killer is making a case for their release isn’t new—Bosch had to deal with it in Two Kinds of Truth, Poe dealt with it in Black Summer, even the great Capt. Raymond Holt had to endure this kind of thing. But none of them had to explain how some of the victims turned out to have been recently alive. There’s more to differentiate Maggie’s challenge than that, but it’s a good start. Whoever is behind these killings is clearly some sort of monster, and sussing out the motive and means may prove as difficult as finding whoever’s responsible.

While the brass are inclined to believe Raven’s claims that he was delusional from drugs and a psychiatric condition when he confessed, Maggie only has a couple of sympathetic colleagues—an old friend who is now her DS and a psychologist she befriended on her temporary assignment, Kate Moloney.

Kate ends up consulting for the investigation for the new murders, helping the team think of their evidence in new ways, and helping Maggie better understand Raven and who he may have been working with while incarcerated to do the killing.

We see both women at work and at home—their home situations are almost as troublesome and stress-inducing as the hunt for the “real killer.” But, relying on each other, and their respective strengths, they’re able to muddle through—and even have a little fun. It’s an early Tony Hill/Carol Jordan-type relationship (I want to stress the “type,” because they’re all very different people and Holten isn’t trying for a clone in any sense).

I should add quickly that we do get to see Lucy, who is still working through the issues revealed in Dead Inside, but seems to be doing really well (all things considered). We don’t spend much time with her, but the way it’s done leaves the possibility for her to return to the books.

What about Bill Raven, our potentially falsely-convicted killer? It’s pretty late in the book when the reader gets a firm answer about his guilt. But we learn a few things about him right away. He’s arrogant, confident, enjoys playing with Maggie (and other detectives), and there’s just something about him that’s “off” (for lack of a better description). Whether or not he’s ultimately found to have committed the crimes he enjoys the attention and is hopeful for what the new murders mean for his release. The source of his derangement, and exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing is hinted at—and I think he alters his approach during the novel (or maybe I just don’t understand him enough).

Unlike most of the British Police Procedurals I’ve read the last few months, Dead Wrong primarily uses three characters for the Points-of-View (Maggie, Raven and Kate)—making it really easy to keep track of everyone. We do see a little from Maggie’s DI, and a couple of the victims in their last moments, too.

Speaking of the victims, and I mention this because I know the tastes of a lot of my readers. I should spend a minute talking about what befalls these women (and they are primarily women). However, and isn’t this a pleasant change, there’s nothing sexual about what happens to them. There’s not a hint, suggestion or implication of any rape or similar abuse. They are held captive—and what happens to them is truly horrifying, make no mistake, but it’s not your typical fictional serial killer thing. There’s no torture, either. At least not as you normally think about it. (what happens has to be tortuous, I assure you) we get a couple of pages’ worth of the female victims point-of-view, but even it isn’t as fear-filled as typically portrayed. There is soul-crushing despair, but done in a way I rarely, if ever, see.

I have an idea or three about where Holten is going with this, and if I’m even close to being in the right ballpark, let me say that I’m not a fan. Not that I don’t think it’ll be gripping reading, I’d just like things to go a little better for Maggie than I think they’re going to.

There are a couple of things I’m not crazy about. Once or twice, Maggie’s reaction to something feels a little over-dramatic/melodramatic. And there are a few things that I would have preferred given to us with greater detail (for example, someone is arrested for their role related to the investigations—and we’re only told that and have to make ill-informed guesses about what their actions have done to alter the police’s work).

That said, I really enjoyed this book—it’s a real slow boil of a book, things start bubbling pretty soon, but you have to wait and wait and wait for that to become a full-fledged rolling boil. Holten’s great at making sure you know there’s tension and malfeasance afoot, even if she doesn’t allow it to take over the novel. It’s well-plotted and well-executed, allowing the momentum to build so the reader is fully hooked before the plot really gets moving. Dead Inside concluded with a sentence or two past that voicemail. Dead Wrong ends on a similar note, propelling the reader on to the next book.

Dead Wrong didn’t wow me as much as its predecessor did—for one thing, I now know what Holten is capable of, and expect it—also, the nature of the story was is a bit more traditional than the last one was. While my theories while reading were wrong more often than right with Dead Wrong, I still had a pretty solid idea where the plot was going all along (until the very end, that is)—so it took a little of the luster off. Not much though, I’m still sure this is going to go down as one of the best things I read in 2020. I’ll wager the same is true for you.

4 1/2 Stars
Disclaimer: I received this eARC from HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter via NetGalley in exchange for this post and my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

Dead Inside by Noelle Holten: Wherein I babble about a smidgen of the fantastic elements of this book

By HCNewton

On June 7, 2019

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Dead Inside

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #1Kindle Edition, 293 pg.
Killer Reads, 2019

Read: June 1 – 3, 2019

I honestly don’t know what to say about this gobsmackingly good mystery. There are so many things I want to say, but I’m quite aware that no one will stick around to read all of them (and, well, I have to go to work, too — I don’t have that much time). I’m very tempted to leave my mid-point check in to stand, I inadvertently hit the essentials that I’d want to talk about now. I’m also thinking of a rant about the really lousy book blurb (no offense to anyone) because you keep waiting for all the events it describes to occur, and it was late in the book for all of it to happen — which I found distracting. But what do I know, might be too hard a sell without it. There’s no way I can do justice to all the characters — we’re talking a cast the size of Abercrombie’s The First Law or Martin’s A Clash of Kings. I could talk about how this could be an extremely preachy, issues book — but Holten so skillfully dodges that, letting the circumstances do the work while she tells a compelling story — and ultimately that’s more effective (and affecting) than the alternative. I could go on and on about the way that Holten constructed the mystery component of this novel — with enough suspects to satisfy Agatha Christie or Rex Stout, cleverly placed clues (and red herrings), and a very satisfying reveal or two. Or I could speculate about why someone who so clearly knows what she’s doing could introduce a series character with a book that doesn’t focus on the series character.

See what I mean?

Let me start with this and see where I go from here…yup, that’s right. It’s stream of consciousness time, boys ‘n girls. Outlines are for wimps.

The day this released, I wrapped up reading another book — which had this great ending (that I didn’t expect) — a wistful, romantic, ending to a fun, funny and exciting read. I was in a great mood, and noticed that I had more time before dinner would be ready, so I decided to dip my feet in the water with Dead Inside. I read the prologue — a first-person near-nightmarish description of fearing what her drunk husband would do to her when he got home and pretending to be asleep to delay the inevitable (all for the sake of the little girl on the other side of the wall). So much for that happy mood — this prologue is one of the best bits of writing I’ve had the pleasure to encounter this year — it can compete with some of the best of The Power of the Dog — culminating in two sentences that shattered me. I remember practically dreading returning to the book after that, I wasn’t sure I could handle 400 pages of intensity. Thankfully, I was able to get back to that good mood by remembering the other book (and, sure, spending time with the people in my life that aren’t fictional creations). But that prologue stuck with me until I was able to get back to the book (although, almost a week later, I haven’t totally shaken it).

A quick, but important, aside: I know several of my readers have a pretty strict “No Rape” policy — and I’m not one to convince anyone against that. Rapes happen in this book — but you don’t get a play-by-play. It’s all either in past tense (e.g., “my husband raped me,” “sex was forced”), or an expression of fear that it might happen. It’s all matter of fact, completely un-exploitative, and necessary. If that’s too much, so be it — spare yourself putting this aside and don’t pick it up. But speaking as someone who has DNF’d in the past because of rape scenes, I’m telling you this is the way it should be dealt with in fiction.

Now, following the Prologue, the book drops the first-person narrative, pulling us back to a more detached third person as it introduces us to a large cast of characters (the comparison to Martin was hyperbolic, but it doesn’t feel that way) — domestic abusers, domestic abuse victims, people in denial about being either of those, probation officers, police officers, police consultants, and so on.

The novel largely focuses on two characters — and I will, too — but there are plenty of other candidates. First, we have DC Maggie Jamieson — temporarily reassigned from a Homicide team (for reasons alluded to, but not really made clear — for her good, though) to a new team focusing on domestic abuse. The whole “reassigned to get away from homicide” part doesn’t work out too well for her when the domestic abusers her team is supposed to be working with start being killed. She’s smart, ambitious, haunted — an interesting combination, to be sure. She’s a good cop, and it’s nice to see that when it happens. Maggie happens to be the series protagonist, but you’d be excused if you didn’t pick that up until the last chapter. Our other person of focus is Lucy, a tough, no-nonsense probation officer working with the same population (largely). At home, however, that toughness disappears to be replaced with a timid spirit focused on placating/not angering her husband so he won’t beat her (or worse). The two “versions” of Lucy really couldn’t be more different from each other without an MPD diagnosis (or an origin story by Stan Lee). The Prologue, we quickly learn, was from her Point of View and things haven’t gotten better for her since then.

These two are surrounded by compelling, damaged, and well-fleshed out characters. Not every man is depicted as an abuser/potential abuser — and many of those who are depicted in that way are done so with a little bit of empathy for what made them that, while not flinching from condemning their actions and the pleasure they derive from it. Similarly, not every woman is depicted as an abuse victim or enabler. Some are — and they’re shown with the same kind of empathy. Thankfully, some of the damaged men and women are shown as hard workers, trying to make the world better, despite their own circumstances. It’s good to be reminded those people exist.

In short, Holten writes humans, not caricatures or types.

Not only is the cast of characters large — so is the suspect list. The only people in the book not worthy of suspicion were the murdered themselves (and at least one of them would’ve were on the list for a bit). Holten did a great job of giving the reader reasons to suspect everyone. There was a pretty significant clue introduced about one character and I put in my notes that it was a goof on her part, or the most scarlet of red herrings you could imagine. My favorite candidate turned out not to be the one — I didn’t figure they would be, I was just relishing the idea of one particular dark horse. The perpetrator/perpetrators (I’m not telling) is/are the only real possibility(ies) at the end of the day, everything clicked for me about the time it clicked for the police — and yes, I’d considered the correct solution, but liked my idea better until I saw what Holten was doing. A very satisfying solution. Better than the solution — the end of the book is so hopeful it comes as a relief (and feels almost foreign to the rest of the book).

Anyone who’s taken an Intro to Psychology class knows the syndrome where you start unconsciously diagnosing everyone you encounter/know with some sort of psychological disorder (those who’ve gone on to take Intro to Abnormal Psychology are probably aware of the more acute version of this — how graduate students get through the program with any kind of social life intact is beyond me). I had a version of this thanks to this book — I kept seeing people I work with, saw in stores, etc. as victims, abusers, enablers, and so on. Hotlen got in my head, no doubt about it. As I said the other day, “While I’m loving every second of this book, I’m having a hard time shaking the bleak outlook on life and humanity that seems to be part and parcel of this novel….Seriously, read a few pages of this book and see if you’re not willing to replace humanity as the apex predator with something careful and considerate — like rabid pit bulls or crack-smoking hyenas.”

Dead Inside is not an easy read — but that’s because of the subject matter, the realism of the characters and circumstances, not a problem with the author. This isn’t the cops dealing with a larger-than-life genius serial killer — rather, it’s the everyday reality for too many. Just this time tinged with a spree killer making a grim circumstance worse for some. It’s a gripping read, a clever whodunit, with characters that might be those you meet every day. As an experience, it’s at once satisfying and disturbing — a great combination for a reader. You won’t read much this year that stacks up against Dead Inside and you’ll join me in eagerly awaiting what’s coming next from Holten.

—–

5 Stars