A young girl, who is developmentally delayed ( or is she?), returns home from a visit with her father, to find her mother missing and the house covered in blood
Maeve Kerrigan is the DI on the case, and the police begin by looking at the neighbors. Is it a missing person case - or a murder. They have not found a body
Several twists - really enjoyed it

Every second piece of my books are mysteries and suspense novels. But I do not mind. I love them. This book was no exception. Good characters, exciting plot with well-written twists and it always kept me on edge from the very first moment. I will keep an eye on the author.

I've dipped in and out of this series, and I've been able to follow the thread with no problem. Maeve is at different points in her career and her relationship, but the author makes it all crystal clear without overdoing the exposition.

So there's a LOT going on in this book. There's sexual abuse, a mother who's arguably abused herself,financial hijinks, a religious family with lots of secrets, a young man accused of murder. Maeve is a full detective now (not sure how ranks work, but she's been moved up) and is supervising a green young female detective that may remind her a little too much of herself. She's got a boss that doesn't trust her and an ex-partner she can't quite quit.

Maeve is my favorite part of these books. She's smart, caring, insecure, suspicious, flawed, and very relatable. The mystery itself was a bit all over the place. The whole thing with Will Turner (Shades of the Caribbean!) was difficult to understand. I was not surprised to find that the original crime was not what it appeared- if you know the rule about seeing a body, you'll know what I mean. But the climax relied a bit on coincidence and drama.

I'll go back and fill in the books that I haven't read, and will read the next one. This series is one that I enjoy.

Full of a bunch of characters, all with things to hide, so the story kept you guessing until the very end.

How have I not heard of Jane Casey before now? I LOVED Maeve Kerrigan. She was sassy, smart, determined, and strong. I do not normally enjoy procedural-type books, or series with the same detective and a new mystery every time. It's just not my thing. I read this one simply because the plot sounded very interesting and found myself wishing the story wouldn't end. Let the Dead Speak was so much fun to read. I will definitely be reading more Jane Casey and more Maeve Kerrigan stories! I have recommended this author to others already.

The following review appeared on my blog (http://www.blogginboutbooks.com) on 12.26.17:

When Chloe Emery returns early to her mother's house in Putney after a visit with her dad, she's shocked to find the place covered in blood. The only living thing remaining in the home is the family cat. It appears as if Kate Emery, Chloe's mother, has been murdered. But where is the body? And why would someone commit such a savage act against a 42-year-old single mum?

Maeve Kerrigan, a newly promoted DS, is assigned the case along with the always mercurial DS Josh Derwent. As the duo investigate the crime, they find themselves hitting roadblocks at every turn. The Norrises, the Emerys' disapproving neighbors, are strangely unhelpful, even when it's obvious that Chloe and the Norris' teen daughter know much more than they're saying. Could the neighborhood bad boy have had something to do with Kate's death? The case gets curiouser and curiouser with every clue ...

As Maeve hunts down answers in an increasingly puzzling case, tries to sort out her even more baffling love life, and tangles with a moody Derwent, she'll have to use all her patience, savvy, and detecting skills to make sense of it all.

It's no secret that I enjoy the Maeve Kerrigan mysteries by Irish crime writer Jane Casey. Our heroine is a down-to-earth copper who's brave and devoted but also fallibly human. It's easy to root for her as she chases killers in London while dealing with private entanglements that are almost as dicey. Let the Dead Speak, Maeve's seventh adventure, is just as engaging as its predecessors. It boasts a twisty mystery, lots of action, and an ending I didn't see coming. The story is a depressing one, to be sure, but as with all the Maeve Kerrigan books, Let the Dead Speak is engrossing, addicting, and satisfying. As always, I can't wait for the next installment in this compelling series that just gets better as it goes.

(Readalikes: Other books in the Maeve Kerrigan series, including Left For Dead [novella]; The Burning; The Reckoning; The Last Girl; The Stranger You Know; The Kill; and After the Fire)

Grade: B
If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for language, violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

Minotaur Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Let the Dead Speak. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

When 18 year old Chloe Emery returns home early from her father's house, she finds that the interior of her house is splattered with blood and her mother is missing. London detective Maeve Kerrigan has a probable homicide to solve, with the job made even more difficult by the fact that there is no body. As the investigation intensifies, the number of suspects seem to increase. With a drastic turn of events complicating matters, will Maeve and her team be able to gain enough clues to solve the mystery?

I am usually a fan of the Maeve Kerrigan police thrillers, as she is a strong, determined, and capable detective regardless of her flaws. The biggest problem that I had with Let the Dead Speak was the fact that the author pulls the focus away from the central story with too many side plots. It would have been enough for the central mystery, that being the disappearance of Chloe's mother. There ends up being too much going on in the periphery to make the main plot compelling. Despite being part of a series, Let the Dead Speak can be read by those who have no experience with the main characters.

One of my favorite detectives, British copper Maeve Kerrigan, returns in Let the Dead Speak (St. Martin's Press, digital galley), the seventh in Jane Casey's estimable series. This time, unreliable witnesses and a missing body complicate what appears to be the murder of a single mom. Returning early from a weekend visit with her father, teenager Chloe Emery finds blood everywhere in her Putney home but not her mom Kate. Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent, known for not playing well with others, are stymied by Chloe, a pretty girl with mental deficits staying temporarily with neighbors. The Norrises aren't very nice neighbors, though. Parents Oliver and Eleanor are ardent evangelicals who disapprove of Kate's male visitors. Their son Morgan is a lout, and young daughter Bethany appears to know more than she's telling. Suspicion also falls on a neighborhood kid with a rap sheet. And what really happened to poor Kate? The answers make surprising if awful sense.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever

Let the Dead Speak by Jane Casey is the seventh installment in the Maeve Kerrigan Novels. Chloe Emery returns home to 27 Valerian Road in London from visiting her father to find blood in almost every room of her home. DS Maeve Kerrigan (she got a promotion) and her team are assigned the case. There is plenty of blood, but they have yet to find Chloe’s mother, Kate Emery. Maeve starts out by questioning Chloe, and then proceeds to canvas the neighbors. The police bring in dogs to sniff out the victim, but they are unsuccessful. They do, however, uncover some helpful clues. Then Chloe and her friend, Bethany Norris disappear. Were they taken or did they take off on their own? What is going on in this neighborhood (and I thought I had troublesome neighbors)? Maeve, with the help of DI Josh Derwent, must discern fact from fiction to identify the culprit. Maeve will need to work quickly before more blood is spilled.

I had a hard time wading through Let the Dead Speak. The writing style is awkward/stilted ((clunky is a good word). The story lacks flow (an easy style of writing) which makes for a hard to read story (insert yawn here). Let the Dead Speak sounded like a thrilling mystery novel, but, in the end, I was bored. The mystery may seem complex, but the solution is not. I solved the mystery early in the book (I would say how early, but then I would be giving away a spoiler). The suspect pool is small. Let the Dead Speak is a novel I read, but I was not pulled into the story or engaged. I did, though, find a great cure for my insomnia (I have suffered from it since middle school). One chapter and my eyes started drooping. I woke up with my ebook nearby and off (happened twice in one night). My rating for Let the Dead Speak is 2 out of 5 stars. I especially disliked the transcript chapter (that is when I fell asleep for the second time). The author needed to add more suspense and a surprising twist (and shorten the book). The basic premise had potential. I do want to warn readers that Let the Dead Speak contains foul language, violence, and intimate relations. Unfortunately, the Maeve Kerrigan series is not for me.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
If you are looking for a nice easy going mystery where everything works out in the end, do not pick up this book. If, however, you like a roller coaster where nothing is quite as it seems and liaisons between characters are messy and complicated and full of twists and turns, this is a good read for you.
When a young girl returns home unexpectedly, she discovers a scene worthy of an abattoir.. The house is covered in blood but there is no body. Her mother is missing and assumed to be either the murderer or the victim. The police expend grea amounts of manpower and time to track down the motive and then the body and then the culprit. What starts out as a dog's breakfast soon becomes more convoluted and complex. THe innocent are not as innocent as they seem and there is a huge surprise they uncover. It now leads them in an entirely new direction and before the crime is solved, the perp has three more deaths in the count.
Even then, when it all seems to be clear, there is one final twist that will come out of thin air. The architect is a huge surprise. The reader is then left to fill in the blanks as to what happens next. It is a real ride.
I give it five purrs and two paws up.

This book was so creepy and chilling and I cant say enough good things about it. This book was a book that made me lose sleep and trust me I like my sleep. Highly recommend.

Let the Dead Speak is Jane Casey’s seventh detective novel featuring London detective Maeve Kerrigan and her co-workers. If the task of detectives is to uncover the perpetrators of a crime—and bring them to justice—it is a reader’s job to piece together the characters that inhabit the author’s world. How have their roles evolved over time? How do their interpersonal relationships impact the solving of the crime at hand? This is particularly interesting when a detective is promoted, as is the case with Maeve Kerrigan. Career changes inevitably cause the modus operandi to shift. When the kaleidoscope is shaken, new patterns of investigation emerge.

Eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns home abruptly, fleeing an uncomfortable weekend at her father’s house. As she plods through the rain, she broods over how mean her stepmother, Belinda, is to her.

She still didn’t know why Belinda was angry with her about her body, or people looking at her. A wave of unease passed over Chloe, remembering—the familiar nausea of not knowing things that other people took for granted. It wasn’t her fault; she did try.

Chloe’s neighbor Mr. Norris gives her a lift. Chloe lets herself into her house and is confronted with a horrifying scene. There is blood everywhere, her cat Misty is howling, and the stench is unbearable. The doorbell rings again and again—it’s Mr. Norris with Chloe’s bag in his hand, the bag she left in his car.

He held the bag out to her but she didn’t take it. She didn’t have time before his eyes tracked over her shoulder and took in the scene behind her and the genial smile faded. “Jesus. Jesus Christ. Christ almighty. What the—”

Chloe turned to see what he was looking at, and she could see a lot more when the door was open. A lot more. At the top of the stairs, Misty was still squatting, her eyes glazed and wild, her mouth open. Even as Chloe watched, she bent her head and gently, tentatively, began to lick the floor.

Behind Chloe, Mr. Norris retched.

Somehow Chloe is able to calmly ask Mr. Norris where her mother is. That’s a question that the police want to know too. The murder investigation team arrives “two and a half hours since the 999 call had brought response officers to the address.” Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan and her detective constable sit across the street from the crime scene.

Beside me, Georgia Shaw shifted in her seat. “What are we waiting for?”

“Nothing.”

“So let’s get going.” She had her hand on the door handle already.

“We are murder detectives. By the time we turn up at a crime scene, by definition, nothing can be done to save anyone. So what’s the rush?”

She cleared her throat, because when you’re a detective constable, you don’t say bullshit to a detective sergeant. Not unless you know them very well indeed. Even if the detective sergeant is so newly promoted she keeps forgetting about it herself.

But the colleagues can’t put off entering the “classic Victorian terraced house” indefinitely. Una Burt, Maeve’s “guy,” tells her they “need to preserve every inch of the forensics.”

As opposed to obliterating the evidence as I usually do.

“Of course,” I said politely.

“This is a strange one. Come on.” She led the way into the tiny tent where there were folded paper suits like the one she wore.

A crime scene without a body. Competing investigators dividing up the myriad tasks needed to solve the mystery of the whereabouts of Chloe’s mother, Kate Emery. Maeve’s colleague, Kev Derwent arrives on the scene and joins the spiraling conversation between Una and the other investigators.

“The girl was away from Wednesday,” Derwent said. “Did anyone know she was coming back today?”

“I don’t know. Maeve, you can ask her about that. I want you to interview her.”

I nodded as Derwent flashed me a look that said Don’t think I won’t try to come along just because you’re a detective sergeant now. I ignored him. He was still getting used to the idea of me being a little more senior, with more responsibilities and, crucially, more independence from him.

To be honest, so was I.

Interviews with neighbors, painstaking forensic analysis, fingerprints and detailing of the crime scene: these are the building blocks that Maeve Kerrigan and her fellow detectives rely on to solve crimes. Without revealing any secrets, Let the Dead Speak is a particularly apt title. Maeve’s role is to work her way through obfuscation and cover-ups to allow the dead to speak for themselves. This is an admirable addition to the Maeve Kerrigan series.

This was my fourth book by Jane Casey and as usual, she did not let me down. This one begins with a teenager coming home early from her dad's home from a weekend stay. The real reason why is given later in the book, but the beginning having you believe it was because of her stepmother. And, believe me, if I had a stepmother like that, I don't think I would ever go to my dad's house. She is just one person in a very long list of suspects in this book.

The teenager, Chloe, is a little slow and when she opens up the front door to her house, all she can see is blood everywhere. However, because Chloe is what she is, she thinks its dirt and wonders how it got everywhere like it did.

On to the investigation, Maeve Kerrigan is called in to determine what actually happened in Chloe's house and the story enfolds into a very strange case.

As usual, there is the action and suspense that is typical of any Jane Case book. Also the entertaining and enjoyable factor that I have come to expect with her books. A story that will have you guessing and guessing again and again.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I've read several of this series and really enjoy the main character, Maeve Kerrigan. I must have missed the last book in the series because quite a bit has happened since that time. While I think this book can easily be read stand-alone, I know that I will go back and read the last book so I can understand how Maeve has ended up where she is – especially in her personal life.

The book starts with a scene of carnage but the body is nowhere to be found. Maeve and crew are called in to try to make sense of what is going on and find that there are a multitude of evil-doings going on. Maeve, who is now a D.S. is once again working with D.I. Josh Derwent. She is also involved with training new D.C. Georgina Shaw. Derwent is regular irascible self and Shaw is a go-getter and a potential back-stabber as she seeks to claw her way up the ladder.

The ending of the book took me completely by surprise but made so much sense. The plot twisted so many times, I lost count. I'll be looking forward to reading more in this series in the future.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

When eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns to her West London home she finds her mother missing, the house covered in blood. Everything points to murder, except for one thing: there’s no sign of the body.
London detective Maeve Kerrigan and the homicide team turn their attention to the neighbours. The ultra-religious Norrises are acting suspiciously; their teenage daughter and Chloe Emery definitely have something to hide. Then there’s William Turner, once accused of stabbing a schoolmate and the neighborhood’s favorite criminal. Is he merely a scapegoat, or is there more behind the charismatic façade?
As a body fails to materialize, Maeve must piece together a patchwork of testimonies and accusations. Who is lying, and who is not? And soon Maeve starts to realize that not only will the answer lead to Kate Emery, but more lives may hang in the balance.

Another cracking story by Jane Casey - a further example of why she is one of my favourite British writers.

Maeve Kerrigan is a character that I like - she is smart and intuitive, but also has a number of flaws and a backstory that has developed over the seven books of this series that makes her intriguing as well.

The story itself was more a missing person mystery than a murder mystery - but I was okay with that. It added for of a psychological suspense mood, rather than just a hunt for the killer. It was a refreshing change and one that I am glad the author chose.

I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a great British crime series.


Paul
ARH

As always a great book by Jane Casey. 9th in the Detective Maeve Kerrigan series. Bring on the next one!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review

Maeve Kerrigan did not disappoint in a book that kept me guessing right until the very end (I'm still not sure exactly what Maeve does or doesn't know). I hope the next title in the series provides some more closure on this case.

My friend Renée at It’s Book Talk first brought this series to my attention with her amazing review and I just knew that I had to give it a try. Since I didn’t have time to start at the beginning, I just jumped in here. While it worked out great (I had no problems in doing so) I am going to add the earlier books to my TBR because this one was that good. I’m wondering how I ever missed this series to begin with?! I must’ve been buried under a pile of other books.

This opens with a gripping first chapter, Chloe returns home to a gruesome scene, there is blood everywhere and her mom is missing. So naturally, I was all in right away and my attention never wavered once throughout this roller coaster ride of a book. I’m not going to discuss plot points any further, the blurb tells you just enough, but it’s safe to say that this was an awesome read.

Two distinct things made this book stand out for me in a sea of police procedurals. First, the characterization is outstanding. Maeve is a beautifully crafted protagonist and is so multidimensional. Clearly her and Derwent have a complicated past and I’m definitely going to go back at some point and explore that angle. Their chemistry was fantastic and they have that kind of rapport with one another that makes you laugh while also feeling like you’re watching a genuine relationship between two people who are fond of each other.

The second thing that made this a standout for me was that it’s a tightly plotted, multilayered mystery. At no time while I was devouring this did I have any idea what was truly going on or what would happen next. The twists were all shocking and unexpected and the pacing was dead on. The various subplots added to the story and provided an additional layer to peel back, it was just fantastic.

This was one of the best police procedurals I have come across in quite some time. It was riveting and such an addictive read, I really can’t recommend it highly enough! If you’re like me and are new to the author, you can definitely jump into the series at this point. But remember, I regret not having read the earlier books, so you may want to do yourself a favor and just start at the beginning.

The Maeve Kerrigan series continues to be an excellent police procedural with Let the Dead Speak. This book seemed to suffer a little bit character wise as so much has changed for Maeve both personally and professionally that hasn't really been explored yet, and this book didn't really dive into that aspect. Additionally, I felt that the suspects and what had happened was fairly predictable. Despite what I felt were some downsides, I still felt that overall this was a solid mystery and will continue to be excited for Maeve's next investigations.

A page turner. Definitely did not want it to end. Great character development. The storyline kept my interest piqued. Would definitely read more books by this author. Highly recommend. Thank you to Netgalley for a digital copy to read & review in return for an honest opinion.