It is now the run up to Christmas, the first one for DS Tomek Bowen as a father, and fortunately he and thirteen-year-old daughter Kasia are now getting on really well in their new home after their initial problems and since he has dealt with the bully who was making life intolerable for her. His whole life has changed and for the better too. However it won’t be a merry Christmas for the family of fifteen-year-old Lily Monteith, found dead in a park. The post mortem soon reveals to the solid and very likable team at Southend CID, which includes DCI “Nasty Nick” Cleaves, DI Victoria Orange, DS Sean Campbell and DCs Chey Carter, Nadia Chakrabarti, Rachel Hamilton, Oscar Perez, Anna Kaczmarek and newest member Martin Brown, that the teenager has been murdered with a very evil and targeted method. It’s not long before Tomek uncovers a previous case with sinister similar overtones and soon it appears that a killer has been honing their skills over a number of years. The team have to consider the awful probability that there will be more bodies if they don’t crack this case quickly but can Tomek convince them that he’s on the right track?
These are testing times, not only for Tomek but also for another member of the team, and this only serves to bring them all closer, both as colleagues and friends. Romance may even be in the air for some! It also gives Tomek the opportunity to prove how much he has grown up since Kasia’s arrival, although the humour is still present in droves between them all, particularly when discussing the now infamous Billy the Cow Fighter. There are plenty of twists and surprises throughout this story leading to a dramatic finish, and the clues are all there for the reader to beat the detectives to solving the case. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, each one in the series getting better and better, and I am looking forward to book four, Death’s Kiss, out next year.
