Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an enjoyable book.

Great thriller that kept me turning the pages, a great story with intriguing characters that kept me guessing. Highly recommend to others!

I received a free advance copy of this book via NetGalley and Agora Books, in return for an unbiased review. Apologies to them both for the delay in this, it blended in with my own purchased Kindle books so that I forgot there was more hurry needed!

This book is set around the late 1980s I think, given it mentions British Rail. Pemberton has been overworking it, so his boss sends him to Yorkshire to oversee security arrangements for the upcoming visit by the US Vice President who is researching his family history. Pemberton takes up case notes for an 8 year old cold case to help fill the time. Except as others have commented in reviews, he doesn’t do this. He starts looking into the Hartley family that the US VP claims to be related to, unearths a 70 year old mystery and spends most of the book solving that instead.

There were times when this dragged a bit for me. And it is dated in some of the attitudes - the female DC’s appearance gets comments, mention of her using her feminine wiles to get information, and at one point when Pemberton asks her to join him to review some notes one evening, she is washing her hair. No really.

Overall, aside from the slightly chauvinistic attitudes and overuse of exclamations in the narrative (not just in the quoted speech, but in the author’s writing), it’s a decent book with a few final twists.

My snappy description of Family Ties by Nicholas Rhea, in three words is gentle, absorbing, and undemanding. This is the first book to feature DS Mark Pemberton and is written in the style of an old-school British mystery.

Book Synopsis:
Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton hasn’t had a holiday in six months. Hoping to get him out of his workaholic rut, his Chief assigns him a more laid-back case: providing security for US Vice-President Hartley on his trip to the UK.

Coming over to do some sleuthing on his family history, Pemberton gets the jump on Hartley and engages in some reconnaissance before the VP’s arrival. What he finds is far from just prosperous family trees in sleepy English villages – he stumbles across a strange death in the family dating back to 1916.

It seems Private James Hartley was found dead with a bullet in his brain. But was it murder or suicide? The more Pemberton investigates, the more he is convinced something horrible took place. Could the Hartley family have been involved?

Desperate to solve this cold case, will Pemberton be able to uncover enough clues to solve this ninety-year-old mystery? Or will these dark family secrets remain hidden?

Family Ties was first published in 1994 and was written by the best-selling author behind the beloved Heartbeat TV series.

My musings:
Nicholas Rhea is the author of the 'Heartbeat' police series set in Yorkshire and he evocatively describes the local landscape and people. Mark Pemberton is not the most interesting detective, although he is well-defined in his role. Pemberton is definitely a traditional type of detective who, once he has a crack at something, sees it through to the bitter end. Working through the notes of the officers from the original case, he finds a few holes in the investigation and uses the resources available to him to solve an age-old crime. Although this is not a book loaded with changes in direction, there is a clever twist which alters its course, somewhat. Even though various clues were sprinkled throughout the book, I was still genuinely surprised when it occurred!

The characters within the book are not particularly multi-dimensional, and I struggled a little to find a connection with Pemberton. However, Family Ties was still an absorbing read, and very well written by Nicholas Rhea.

Verdict:
Recommended to those looking for a quick mystery read and not wanting anything too demanding.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Agora Books via NetGalley at my request, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

A one time or another I think there has been a "crime" in most everyone's family tree. This cozy mystery supposes the US VP is travelling to the UK to do some research on his family tree. The policeman assigned to guard him does a little research prior to the VPs visit and does indeed find an unsolved mystery. The investigation that follows takes us into the UK of 50 years ago, where war was still a way of life. The story is interesting, the characters well developed and the bad guys caught in the end. These are all the marks of an excellent read.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from Netgalley.com and the publisher. Thanks to both for the opportunity to read and review. Receiving an ARC has not influenced my opinions.

Mr. Rhea's story of a hard working detective hits all of the right notes that a reader looks for in a mystery. An entertaining read of a series that I look forward to reading more of.

4 out of 5 stars. Recommended reading.

Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton is a workaholic. Ever since the death of his wife, he has taken solace in his police work and hasn’t taken a break in six months. Concerned for his well-being, his superiors assign him with a case that, on the surface, seems a bit more laid back – providing security for the US Vice-President Hartley on his visit to the UK. Hartley is going to Yorkshire to do some research into his family history so, before his arrival, Pemberton engages in some sleuthing of his own. Unearthing the death of Private James Hartley in 1916, found with a bullet in his brain, Pemberton is determined to solve this long-forgotten mystery. What repercussions will this have for Vice-President Hartley?

It is rare to read a police procedural where the crime being investigated is a cold case dating back such a long time and it was this that first drew me to the book. It is worth mentioning that, although this is its first outing as an ebook, Family Ties was originally published in 1994 and the research methods used by the police are very much of the time. If this plot was being written now, it probably could have been solved in a few pages with the use of the internet! Being a genealogist, I actually found the reliance on church and newspaper records and other forms of primary evidence quite fascinating.

Mark is definitely an old-school detective who, once he gets his teeth stuck into something, does not give up. Working through the notes of the officer on the original case, he manages to find a few holes in the investigation and uses the resources available to him to solve an age-old crime. Although this is not a book full of twists and turns, there was a clever twist at the end which changed the crime completely. Several clues had been given throughout the book but I was genuinely surprised when it happened!

Family Ties is a cosy mystery that would make a great quick read for anyone not wanting anything too heavy. I will definitely be seeking out other books in the Mark Pemberton series.

First published in 1994 (from the author of the Constable/Heartbeat series), this is a solid detection novel featuring the amiable DS Mark Pemberton. Pemberton is tasked a security role - for the US Vice President on a forthcoming trip to the UK. Whilst researching the background of the Vice President, Pemberton stumbles upon a cold case dating back to 1916 - the more he delves the more the mystery deepens and the more determined he becomes to solve the crime. An entertaining and engrossing read.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is the first in the series with DS Mark Pemberton and it is a good old fashioned mystery story. Roll on book 2

3.5 stars for Family Ties by Nicholas Rhea. Not my normal speed, but I think those who like a good classic/old school procedural mystery would enjoy. It can be slow and dragging in parts, almost frustrating to the point I wanted to skip throughout, and I don’t like that. On the other hand, character development was great. The protagonist is likable, believable, and relatable. The unraveling of the mystery is intriguing and I’m glad I read the book.

A gentle and well written mystery, entertaining and engaging.
It was the first I read in this series even if I already read other by Nicholas Rhea and always appreciated them.
This one was no exception and I look forward to reading other in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all opinions are mine.

3.5 Stars
Hardworking Detective Superintendent Mark Pemberton has been instructed to take it easy, and is therefore assigned a supposedly laid-back assignment - to guard the American Vice-President Caleb Hartley on a visit to the U.K.
The Vice President believes he has British ancestors and wants to track down his family history.
Pemberton is one step ahead of him, and decides to delve into his ancestry prior to his arrival. What he discovers threatens to shake the family history to the core: the unsolved murder of Private James Hartley in 1916. At the time, there hadn’t been a detailed murder investigation, and initial suspicions had put the death down to a suicide. But the detective soon realises that this was not a suicide dressed up to look like a murder, but that beyond all doubt, it was murder.
This is the first Pemberton novel I’ve read & it won’t be the last. I enjoy the author's other series & I enjoyed this book too. The characters could have had more depth & a well written all be it complicated story did hold my interest from start to finish. The book was first written in the early 1990's & if it were set today the case would have been solved very quickly with the use of the internet. The author's books are more in the genre of cosy mysteries rather than edge of your seat thrillers
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

An old-school British mystery - and I do love British mysteries. I chose this book because the investigator's name was Mark Pemberton and I work with a guy named - you got it - Mark Pemberton. I thought I would read it and razz him about being a British investigator. I guess this is a strange reason to choose a book though.

This was an complicated murder case involving a man who was shot in 1916 and it is now current times. Mark Pemberton and his team had been assigned to provide security for the visiting Vice-President of the US who was coming to investigate his British roots. Pemberton decided to do his own investigating to find out about the VP's heritage and discovers the murder case of James Hartley in 1916 which had never been solved. Pemberton and his team search historic documents, cemeteries, church records and old police reports and feed the information into HOLMES, a computer they depend on to helpt them solve cases.

Although this was an interesting mystery, it got really complicated and I found it a little tedious. I did like the Pemberton character though because he seems like a nice guy and feels all murders deserve to be solved. He doesn't turn loose of an investigation easily and seeks to be thorough in every way. There wasn't a great deal of character development in the book though so I didn't get that feeling of knowing characters well and developing a relationship with them as you do in some books.

Thanks to Nicholas Rhea and Agora Books through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.