A young girl is found buried under a coffin. Beth Adams escaped death once. Little does she realise that someone else wants to finish the job. What a real page turner, had me hooked from the first page. Full of twists and turns, ramped up tension and suspense and plenty of heart in your mouth moments. The storyline was original and gripping. A MUST READ and I can't wait to read more of Beth Adams. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in return for review based upon my honest opinion.

This was a great book! I love this author, I have read most of her books and I am very excited by this new series I can’t wait to see where it goes. I loved the character of Beth, her past and the future that she’s working towards, and her relationship with Josh, I can’t wait to see it continue to evolve.

When a body is exhumed at the local graveyard, another body is found underneath it, leading the police and their associates on a chase to catch a killer before he kills again and before someone they all know is in great danger. There was a huge cast of characters, I kept switching back-and-forth on who I thought the killer was, the reveal was well thought out and well played. Lots of thrills, lots of action, and a great backstory. The cast of extras, would almost all be good characters to hear more about in future books. Can’t wait for the next one

Another interesting set of characters from this author. A strong story with much to have us guessing,kept the interest till the end. Looking forward to more.

I really enjoyed the plot. Was very hard to put down.
I give this book 5**** just because i loved it
Cant wait for other books

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of The Girl in the Grave, the first novel to feature forensic pathologist Beth Adams, set in the Lake District.

When a young woman’s body is found in a recently exhumed grave DS Josh Walker calls in reclusive forensic pathologist Beth Adams to assist. She finds the case upsetting and determines to some of her own sleuthing but she is distracted by “presents” left for her at her well protected home.

I enjoyed The Girl in the Grave which is a good thriller, full of twists and turns. It is not a particularly profound novel and there are points when I thought “why didn’t they ...?” but it is well thought out with plenty of tension and urgency. It is also full of mystery as there is the mystery of what happened to Beth to make her so reclusive and security conscious, which is teased out over the course of the novel and, of course there is the mystery of the perpetrator and his motive (I was impressed with the ingenuity of these). The novel is mostly told from Beth and Josh’s points of view but there are insights into the killer’s thinking and actions, not enough to give the game away but enough to keep the reader thinking.

As this is a plot driven novel the characterisation isn’t particularly strong. Both Beth and Josh have trauma in the novel but it doesn’t really resonate, seeming more like a device to move the plot forward. Otherwise they are nice people, determined to solve the case and get justice, although the catalyst for this latter requires a fair suspension of disbelief.

Despite this criticism The Girl in the Grave is a good, uncomplicated which I can recommend.

When a body of a pensioner is exhumed the police were surprised to find the body of a young girl beneath the coffin. Beth Adams a forensic pathologist Is called to both post mortems but she is struggling to deal with her own personal issues.
This is a real page turner with twists and turns all the way through . Totally loved it.

I loved this book and hope the series continues. I love forensics and this book was like Quincy and CSI combined

Really good story. Beth is a really interesting character. Hopefully the series continues and more of her back story is told. The story in this book is fast paced and was compelling reading.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Beth Adams is a forensic pathologist with a past. At one time she was a successful ER doctor, but changed paths to become a pathologist after a tragic event in her life. She’s on the scene of a gruesome find - the body of a young woman in a grave that has recently been exhumed. Josh Walker is the Detective Sergeant assigned to find out what happened to that girl in the grave. Some years ago, DS Walker had been the one to help save Dr. Beth Adams.

The Girl in the Grave is the first in a new series of crime mysteries. The team of DS Walker and Dr. Adams are well suited to solving crimes. DS Walker handles the police end of things, and Dr Adams the human forensics. The background story of how Dr Adams became a forensic pathologist is an important part of this initial book. Why she chose to leave her profession as an A&E (or ER here in the US) doctor and switch to working with the dead. The mystery of the girl in the grave is a page turner. While you will have your suspicions along the way of who is guilty, you won’t be able to put your finger on it.

This book is definitely a page turner. Beth’s story brings a very personal touch to both her job and her character. Much like the comparison to Jack Klugman’s Quincy, she is a doctor with a heart. DS Walker is very likable, as well as the other detectives with whom he works. Since this is the first in a series, I expect there will be many more adventures with this team to come. I am looking forward to them.

During an average grave exhumation, a body is found under the casket. Why is the body there? Who put her there? That's how the story starts. Digging for clues of who this girl is, and who put her there. Dr. Beth Adams is responsible for completing the autopsy, while Josh is the detective in charge of finding out who placed the body in the grave. Then Annie goes missing. The case takes on a whole new level to beat the clock and find Annie before it's too late.

4 stars for this read. Fast paced, with plenty of action, plenty of potential suspects, and just enough of a potential love story with the backgrounds of each character playing an integral role. The ending did not have any loose ends, and I have no true complaints.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Girl In the Grave

Series: Beth Adams Book 1

Helen Phifer

Silence falls as the coffin is lifted out of the ground, yesterday’s rain cascading from it like a waterfall. Glancing into what should have been an empty grave, everyone gasps at the sight of blueish-white fingers exposed in the soil below...

When the body of a teenage runaway is found hidden inside someone else’s grave in a small-town cemetery in The Lake District, an urgent call is made to Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams. Still traumatised by a recent attempt on her own life, one look at the beautiful girl’s broken body is enough to bring Beth out of hiding for the first time since her attack. She’s the only one who can help her trusted friend, Detective Josh Walker, crack the most shocking case of his career.

Beth struggles to believe it’s a coincidence that the gravesite was scheduled to be exhumed, exposing the evidence. Does this twisted killer want to be caught?

Throwing herself into her work Beth discovers traces of material beneath the victim’s fingernails that sets the team on the killer’s trail. But this critical lead comes at a dangerous price, exposing Beth’s whereabouts and dragging her back into her attacker’s line of fire once again.

With Beth’s own life on the line, the investigation is already cracking under the pressure. Then another local girl goes missing… Can Beth stay alive long enough to catch the killer before he claims his next victim?



My thoughts

rating 4.5

I loved it and can't wait to read more of this series, loved the characters Beth , and how no matter what had happen to her in the past , she was going to live her life , yes it mad her scared and not trust people as much but towards the end she over came that, other thing I loved about this book was how it mentioned a book called the Collector by John Fowles , to find out how this book ties in to the story , your just going to have to read it for yourself . with that said I would Love to say thank you to Netgalley for letting me read it and review it.

Start of another series by Helen Phifer, hopefully I'll get into the next one a bit better, all seems a bit rushed and more concentrated on the past on the main characters, story was ok but rushed to the end without the build up I've come to expect, if you like crime and mystery you'll enjoy

Dr Elizabeth Adams is a frightened and traumatised woman, she is also the forensic pathologist called to a partially completed exhumation when a second body is found beneath the original coffin. With her friend, Detective Josh Walker, she begins to unravel a distressing and complex case while trying to get her own life back on track following a devastating attack on her own life a few years earlier.  Then a second woman goes missing and the case takes on an added urgency as Beth and Josh have to race against the clock to find the culprit.

There are a few British authors using the Lake District or the Cumbrian landscape as the backdrop to their stories and all of them see the area differently; Ms Phifer uses the lakes themselves as an important backdrop which works really well. This is the first in a new series but the characters already seemed well formed and authentic although only Beth and Josh's private lives were visited in this story.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who wants to start a great new series by an established and successful crime writer.

This is a great start to a new series! Beth is a complex, flawed character that I look forward to seeing develop. Josh is dedicated and tenacious. The mystery is full of twists and red herrings. I guessed the villain wrong which I always say is the hallmark of a great mystery. The procedural parts are short and interesting and don't drag down the plot. I look forward to more of this series.

This was a fast paced thriller which started out with a teenager girl who was found in a grave, underneath a coffin! The body in the coffin was being exhumed, but they got more than they were expecting when it was lifted out of the grave.
This was the first, but not the last young woman to endure a horrible fate and they turn out to be related to...................sorry, I won't spoil it. Read this yourself if you want to find out who was responsible for these crimes and how who all are in jeopardy during this investigation.

Beth Adams was an A+E doctor but following a brutal attack she altered careers. She becomes a forensic Pathologist as it’s easier to deal with the dead than the living. She works along side DS Josh Walker. He saved her all those years ago and is no a friend too.
Set In the Lake District . These two will have you turning the pages as you try to discover just who is behind the disappearance of girls. One of whom is found hidden underneath a newly exhumed coffin. Will they find the next victim before it’s too late.
A thoroughly enjoyable read. I certainly hope to see more books in this series. Well done Helen Phifer.

This was a fairly good -but not great read for me .. The main character - Beth Adams forensic pathologist -still recovering mentally from a brutal attack a couple of years ago - is called to the local cemetery.. .A body has been found during the exhumation of another body -stay with me .- which prompts the search for a possible serial killer in the Lake District area..
I felt this was all a bit cliche and it was a story I had heard many times before in different guises and whilst I finished it- I it didn't leave me wanting more . If you like your books not too taxing -this is for you .

Thankyou NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Wow, what a great read started this late one afternoon read until early hours of the morning then picked it up as soon as I woke up. The opening chapter had me feeling claustrophobic just from reading it, the same again later in the book. Slightly different to have a forensic pathologist as involved in an investigation.

Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams has previously survived attack herself which nearly cost her her life which we learn more of throughout the book. She went on from being a Dr in A & E to train to be a pathologist. She has so much security in her house and has taken up self defence but is it still enough to keep her safe. Her friend Detective Josh Walker had saved her life the first time and now he is trying to save other women after a body is found buried in a graveyard underneath another coffin only after the original coffin is exhumed from the burial ground when someone queries how the person had died. From then on it’s a rush to find who killed the young girl buried and another one that is reported missing. There are lots of suspects to keep you guessing.

This was an absolutely thrilling read from start to finish definitely worth a 5 star review. Can’t wait to see more of these characters. Will also be looking out for more books by this author.

I am a huge fan of Helen Phifer, but I’m sorry to say this novel did not grip me. I wish I could be more helpful and explain why, but I can't. I just kept losing concentration while reading. The plot was first-class. It was written in my favourite format in the third person, chronologically, and straightforward like a classic, and just as I like it. It’s also set where I used to live, which gave it impetus. BUT it was despairing slow-moving. The detectives were dozy and slow-thinking, like in the film “Fargo.” I’m no super-brain, but it took a third of the book for the detectives to figure out a detail that was glaringly obvious in the first chapter. Perhaps, there were too many characters for me. I know I had to keep back-tracking and make notes to keep ahead of them all. On the good side, Beth and Josh are very likeable characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed the inclusion of forensic details despite its gruesome nature. It won’t put me off reading any later books in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

3.5* Decent enough police procedural, but far too many characters and in need of a good edit.

I agree that there need to be red herrings in tales such as this, but this just had too many characters to keep track of, and too many too-obvious red herrings, i.e., bigging something/someone up that then results in nothing is a BIG giveaway, and it got muddled. Add in characters called Jack, Josh, James, Jodie and Jason, Claire, Carl, Chantel and Chris, Alex, Ashley, Andrew, Audrey, Annie, Abe and Amber (plus one with an A-surname), Pete, Paton and Phil (plus two more with P-surnames) and Sam, Sykes, Sue and Steve (plus at least one more with a S-surname), quite a few of whom got quite a bit of page time, and this adds to the muddle. Both Josh and Jack were cops and Claire and Carl were CSI (though in the UK, CSI techs are called SOCO - scene of crime officers, but hey, let's just Americanise the tale for no reason) and Josh and Jodie were married, and it made no sense to have so many same-alphabet-at-the-start names names. Seriously, an editor worth his or her salt should have pointed this out.

That aside, Beth Adams is a bit of a Tempe Brennan figuring things out and brooding over stuff. In fact she likened herself to another fictional character, Kay Scarpetta, which did make me huff, not laugh, a little. I knew she wouldn't be able to keep her nose out of things, and for the most it did work.

I liked that the tale was set in the UK, but disliked the added Americanisms that we don't use (like CSI and Ms). It wasn't a bad intro to the author, though Beth had a TSTL moment at the end and delivered herself directly into the bad guy's arms. Seriously, cautious-to-the-point-of-paranoia Dr Adams jumped into the arms of the bad guy and let herself be taken off by him, I kid you not.

It could do with a good edit to weed out all the filler and all the unnecessary characters who were clearly only there to obfuscate, with their same-alphabet-at-the-start names adding to the confusion. What was the editor thinking?

ARC courtesy of Bookouture and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.