Tag: Bloodline

Bloodline by Pamela Murray: Entertaining and complex

Bloodline

Bloodline

by Pamela Murray

eARC, 202 pg.
Bloodhound Books, 2019

Read: September 4, 2019


After sitting in a doorway unnoticed for a couple of days, someone finally sees that the homeless man isn’t huddled there for a safe place to sleep, but because he’s been killed. The police begin investigating, determining quickly that he wasn’t killed where he was found—so they know this isn’t going to be a quick case, but things quickly escalate beyond that to make this even more complicated.

Two things happen when they ascertain the identity of the man. First, they learn that he’s a police detective working undercover far from home. Later, when his DNA is checked, they discover a shocking tie between the deceased detective and a cold case murder. The squad investigating the murder is split in direction then—two go undercover themselves to attempt to complete his investigation. The rest follow-up on his murder as well as this cold case, hoping to find a connection.

The undercover operation’s target and the way it’s set up if pretty clever, and not that common, I don’t think, among Crime Fiction (I don’t know, it might be run-of-the-mill in reality). It’s pretty easy for the two new detectives to pick up where their fallen comrade left off—but it’s hard to tell where he was, and how they should proceed in tying their target to this murder. The cold case is even more intricate, and complicated by the space and history between the original crime and the present—this is the highlight of the book, if you ask me—I really enjoyed it. The present-day murder is far less complex once they determine who he is, everything from that point is straightforward (which is not a criticism, even police procedurals need some straightforward cases.

But everything seems too compressed, too easy for the undercover officers to infiltrate enough to get into a trusted position necessary to bring the group down and the murder cases come together pretty easily, too. Everything about the novel—all three cases and the inter-personal character development—seems rushed (and therefore the prose is a little clunky). The characters, also, seemed sketchy and ill-defined (which is a shame, at least 3-4 would be well worth fleshing out). There was a lot of telling, rather than trusting the readers to pick up on subtle showing about them. If the book was another 25-40% longer, I think it would’ve helped tremendously

This book had all the makings of a great read—but it missed. It’s a decent way to spend a few hours, and it’s worth paying for it. I liked it, but I think if Murray had explored things a little, built in some more suspense, and just made all the various officers work a little harder before getting to the closings of the cases, it could’ve been great, not simply good.


3 Stars

My thanks to Bloodhound Books for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the novel) they provided.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Bloodline by Pamela Murray

Today I’m pleased to welcome the Book Tour for Bloodline by Pamela Murray. Along with this spotlight post, I’ll be posting my take on the novel here in a bit.

Book Details:

Book Title: The Editor by Simon Hall
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Release date: September 8, 2019
Format: Paperback/ebook
Length: 202 pages

Book Blurb:

When a young boy discovers a man’s body lying in a doorway, DI Burton and DS Fielding are called to the scene.

Believing the man was homeless, the police are shocked to discover the true identity of the victim; a Detective Constable from London who was working undercover.

But when the DNA from the victim is linked to a cold case Burton and Fielding find themselves looking into another unsolved murder.

And as the case unfolds, the detectives are faced with unpicking through a web of lies and deceit. But can they solve the murders before any more blood is spilt?

About Pamela Murray:

Pamela MurrayPamela Murray is from the North East of England, and has spent most of her life living in Boldon. She began writing at an early age when she and her school friend used to write stories for one another. The writing continued on and off over the years, but was only recently reignited when the same school friend introduced her to the local writers group she was in.

Pamela had intended to enter Journalism after leaving school but found herself going to work in a Public Library instead, and has always had more than a passing interest in books and literature.

When not writing, Pamela is passionate about Cinema and her three grandchildren. She has also appeared as a Supporting Artiste in two episodes of the hit TV crime series “Vera”.


My thanks to Bloodhound Books for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the novel) they provided.

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