I was so excited when I heard Ger Hogan had a new book out, and that it was a change of genre for her, crime.

I’ve always loved the author’s strong characterisation. This, combined with her excellent descriptive skills, make for such authentic and real novels. This book is no exception. Not only do we have the gripping plot, but the setting and characters make it a difficult book to put down, or to forget.

The pace builds slowly and the tension increases as the book comes to its conclusion. The ending is superb, and so well executed.

I liked Iris as a character, and as I see this is the first in a series, I look forward to meeting her again.

One of the things I also love about Ger Hogan’s books is that the dialogue is so authentic. She doesn’t try to Americanise or Anglicise it for her audience. This makes for a very realistic book.

Overall, a fantastic crime novel. It has all the elements, great characters, perfect setting, chilling plot, and tense pace. It would make a great movie, and I can just see Brendan Gleeson as Slattery! Highly recommended.

I was a little nervous of Hogan moving into a different genre, but the quality of her writing still remains and this is a wonderful, suspenseful read.

Senseless violations and crimes against children always are an emotional read to me. The trauma is almost always tangible in those books, and in a sense a great way to capitalize and work on it to make the characters more "driven". Sadly, I did not find Iris Locke or the story using this grief and this story failed to evoke any emotional response from me. I am in the minority here and this book has amazing reviews from other people so this story might just work for you - let my views not deter you in any way.

When charred remains of two children and their mother are found in a cottage, the quiet town of Corbally is shocked. When the police discover that the victim Anna Crowe and her children had moved out of their family home to Corbally they immediately suspect her husband of getting rid of her and the children. Soon the police discover that the family is not shy of tragedies. Years ago, Anna Crowe's sister Janey was stolen from her pram outside the very same cottage in Corbally. Detective Iris Locke is assigned to the case and, after a year undercover which ended in failure. She’s desperate to make her mark – and to live up to the reputation of her ex-cop father, the former head of the Limerick Murder Squad who incidentally headed the Baby Janey case. Solving this case leads Iris down a dangerous road and she soon unwittingly becomes a target. Reopening old case files and asking questions that were best left unanswered, Iris realizes that there's more to the case than she realizes. Are the two crimes separated by 3 decades connected? And will Iris solve the murder of Anna of her children before its too late?

The characters while objective lacked any "warmth" and are not emotive. In police procedurals I expect the story to be a good mix of character content and story content. This one, however, leaned very heavily towards building the characters of not just Iris who is the main character but devoted a large number of unnecessary chapters to this character called Slattery whose backstory had no connection to the case whatsoever. I understand it is important to set strong foundations in the first books of what is a promising new series. However, this was in my opinion too much of Slattery and too little police work. I also had a problem identifying with the main character Iris. Her story got interesting only in the last 25% of the book, which by then I lost all interest. The first few chapters did not captivate my attention and I struggled to read the rest of the book especially the chapters on Slattery. He's an interesting character, no doubt. But as I said before, too many Slattery chapters had me losing interest with every page turn. The plot was interesting there was a lot of potential for creating a nice suspenseful thriller, but the real police work started way too late in the book and that was kind of a downer for me. Iris had a good backstory and I just hoped I'd seen more of that tenacious, determined and bright officer work the case as I was promised in the blurb. There was a good twist in the end, however it was a tad too late for me to change my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and Geraldine Hogan for an arc!

This is the first book in a series featuring DS Iris Locke. Iris has been working undercover for a year on a failed case where her cover was blown. She was hoping to join the Murder Squad in Dublin but instead she ends up in her hometown, on the Limerick Murder Squad where her father was Chief Superintendent before he retired and where she didn’t want to be. Three bodies are discovered in a house fire and they are those of a young mother Anna and her two children. When Iris and her two colleagues investigate they find that the bodies were already dead before the fire started so that means that they have a murder case on their hands. Iris discovers that thirty years previously Anna’s baby sister had been snatched from her pram and she had never been found. Iris thinks that there has to be a link between the murders and the disappearance of Anna’s sister but when she starts to investigate the case she finds that the files are missing. Her father was in charge of the investigation and couldn’t solve the case so that makes her more determined to solve it. We are introduced to the members of her team including DS Slattery who is an obnoxious character and a heavy drinker. I loved this book and all of the characters, how the story evolved and the great twist at the end. I can’t wait for the next book in the series to read more about Iris and her team. A highly recommend read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was the first in a new police procedural, so I decided to give it a shot. The book focuses on Iris Locke, who had a setback earlier in her career, which is not entirely revealed to us. She is given a chance to be part of a murder (detection) team back in her hometown when a house is found burnt down with the three occupants first shot at close quarters.

There are two primary investigators, one is Iris who is overly enthusiastic despite being told multiple times she needed to slow down and include the whole team while the more experienced investigator Slattery has his own problems. The colloquialisms took a while to get used to, but it added to the experience. I would have enjoyed the book better if the solution was not so obvious. I am not one to give away the ending, but the blurb and even some other aspects of the book do end up revealing how the story is going to go. I was willing to be led down a path and then be told I was deceiving myself, but that was not to be. The reveal was not surprising, and this is the only reason I did not wholly enjoy the book.

There is no more that I can say with regards to the story and keep from giving out more spoilers but if you are used to the genre, (which it turns out I might not be) the writing and the sharp characterisations were interesting to get acquainted with.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but as you can see, the review is completely based on my own reading experience.

It took me a little while to get into this book as it’s a bit slow going. I was determined to persevere as I was interested in the story line and wanted to see how it ended. I’m glad I did as it was a cracker of an ending that I hadn’t seen coming.
The story starts with a mother and her children, a daughter and a new born baby. The baby disappears and their lives change forever. Fast forward to Iris Locke who is struggling to break into the Murder department of the Gardai. She’s given a chance, but it’s in her father’s old station and she’s conscious of being in his shadow and working with his old colleagues. However, she finds her place and they investigate a suspicious fire which killed a mother and her two young children.
The investigation reveals more station secrets and lies and eventually leads to Iris’ life unraveling before her eyes.
I’m looking forward to the next book to see where Iris goes from here.

I wasn’t too keen on the first half of this book. It was a bit slow going and it just didn’t keep me engaged. However, the ending definitely made up for it. I had no idea what was coming. Looking back there were hints but nothing obvious enough to ruin the reveal and boy was it a reveal. I also wasn’t sure about the main characters, especially Iris and Slattery, at the start but after getting to know them better and reading more of their personal lives they definitely grew on me.

I am excited to have a new series to add to my collection and I look forward to any future Iris Locke books. I will definitely be picking them up. I need more of them in my life.

I received a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review

Ambitious and determined, Anna Crowe has served her share of long hours on the force, but her protective father is still worried that his daughter will be dragged into the dark circumstances he was himself, as a detective.

A murder takes place many years after the strange disappearance of the victim's infant sister, and it becomes clear that the cases are connected.

The first in an exciting new series by Geraldine Hogan offers a tense story with lots of plot twists and character building. The Iris Locke books promise a rich series for thriller fans to sink their teeth into.

Iris Locke has always wanted to work on The Murder Squad. However, Limerick's Murder Squad was not what she had in mind- she really didn't want to work in the same place her retired father had been so successful! However it seemed a least a foot in the door.

A mother & her two children are found dead in a burned out house. It is not the fist time her family have been part of a tragedy. her baby sister was snatched from her pram & never found. Iris had briefly met the mother & this made her even more determined to find out what had happened. Was their a connection with the long ago abduction?

Iris becomes totally involved with the case, trying to get to know her new colleagues, trying to understand Slattery who seems fixed on self destruction & wondering why her father is so against her working this case.

This is a great start to a new police procedural series & I look forward to reading more. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Twenty-five years ago, while Anna Fairley was helping her mother peg out clothes on the line, Anna’s baby sister Janey, was taken from her pram in the front garden of their cottage. The case of the missing baby girl was never solved, though those working the case at the time had their suspicions…

Jump forward to the present and DS Iris Locke is working back in Limerick after a year spent undercover in Dublin. Not her ideal location because working here, in her hometown, puts her in the long and distinguished shadow of Police Superintendent Jack Locke, her retired father.

When a gruesome and senseless murder gives Iris the opportunity to work in the Murder Squad, she is taken into the team as they are under staffed.

The murder of Anna Crowe and her two small children is seemingly without motive… yet Iris Locke can’t seem to shake the gut feeling that the fact that the victim was formerly Anna Fairley, the big sister in the Baby Fairley case, is just too much of a coincidence.

However, the Baby Fairley case was led by her father and folk around here were loathe to make the connection on that basis alone.

“If he couldn’t solve it, he sure as hell wouldn’t want anyone else coming along and pulling his work apart, pulling his memories apart, pulling his reputation apart. Iris knew that no one would want to discredit her father; no one would want to upset the old man.”


The Corbally Murder Team:

D.S. Iris Locke – Twenty-nine years old and a born policewoman. Single, she is devoted to her career and has always wanted to follow in her esteemed father’s footsteps.

D.S. Ben Slatterey – A fifty-something, cynical, ‘old school’ copper who is devoted to the job in equal measure to his devotion to drink. His two obsessions has alienated him from his wife and daughter. He gets on Iris’s nerves, yet she holds a grudging respect for his work and connections.

D.C. June Quinn – a diligent officer and a widow. She now tries to ‘look out’ for Ben Slatterey, though she tries to do this unobtrusively…

D.C. Dennis Blake – the bookman of the team who organizes and correlates the various reports of any given case.

D.I. Coleman Grady – a remote and solitary man. A perfectionist, he oversees his team with a keen eye. Respectful of everyone on his team, Grady seems to have a soft spot for the errant D.S. Slatterey. Also, Grady seems to have an interesting ‘back story’ which I hope will be revealed in future books.

Superintendent Anita Cullen – new to the Corbally station, she has ‘history’ with Ben Slatterley that will make Ben’s position on the team tenuous at best.

“This was Ireland and still cronyism and cover-up went much further that fact or truth.”

MY THOUGHTS

It is a rare treat when a police procedural series debut ‘ticks all the boxes‘. I can confidently say that “Her Sister’s Bones” definitely met all my requirements in a crime novel.

I loved that the author introduced each of the Murder Team in such a way that the reader gets to connect with them all and wants to learn more about them.

The Limerick location, the outstanding characterization and the well executed plot all came together in a package that most readers of the genre will love.

One thing is for sure, I’ll be the first to pick up the second installment in what promises to be a stellar series. Can’t wait for DS Iris Locke’s next foray in the Limerick crime fighting scene.

Very highly recommended!

When Detective Iris Locke is assigned to a case in Limerick is isn’t the ideal place she was hoping for but jobs in the murder squad don’t come easy. Limerick is where her father worked for 40 years until he retired.
The case is about a burnt down house with three occupants a mother & her two children they where also found with gunshot wound to their heads. The woman is called Anna Crowe but was Anna Fairley 30 years ago her sister was kidnapped was this to do with the murders or is it just a coincidence . Iris digs deeper into finding out what’s happened but opens many old wounds and secrets.
Thanks Netgalley

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

An interesting new team of detectives,set in Ireland..A good mix of characters.
The story itself was complex but I figured out quite early the bid secret. I look forward to more.

Had this book not had such a clever twist at the end I would be judging it more harshly. For the most part I found it a little slow with several chapters in which nothing much happens. Having said that I will probably look out for the next book if only to find out more about one of the detectives.

We have a new Detective Iris Locke that has came to Limerick to fill in a position. She is teamed up with a Detective Ben Slattery that has been on the job for years. They have a case of a mother and her two children murdered and then the house torched. There is a coincidence that the mother's baby sister was stolen from the family years ago and never found. The question is are the two cases linked in some way. Iris Locke butts heads with the oldie Ben Slattery but she comes to learn that he is devoted to his job.
This is a new series that I expect to have lots of others books to read. I think the differences between the team makes them hold together better because they are both the odd man out.

This is the first in a promising new series to feature Detective Iris Locke. Set in Limerick, where her dad was also a detective, Iris is involved in the murder of a young woman and her two children. .With a very clever story, beautiful descriptions and a believable plot and characters, this is set to be a winner. I am grateful to Net Galley for my ARC.Reviewed on Goodreads, Amazon and Kindle.

As I so rarely visit my dark side, I’m not going to focus so much on the story and its appeal, but on the strength of the writing. And I think the best place to start is with the characterisation, which is quite tremendous.

Iris herself is a bit of a loner, rather buttoned up, reluctantly joining the murder team in Limerick: her reluctance is largely because of the shadow of her father, a long serving officer there himself, something of a legend, now retired and spending his days on the golf course. I liked her a lot, with her distinct abrasiveness, trying to keep her distance and maintain her professional front.

But every character in this book has a depth and three dimensions, and the joy of this book for me was in their interactions and back stories. Grady’s very intriguing – a bit enigmatic, a few secrets to explore in later books there, with umpteen sides to his personality – and I liked the softness he was capable of when it was called for.

And then there’s Slattery: he’s not just close to the line but frequently crosses it, a bad boy and a bit of a dinosaur. But he also has a home life full of complications and a touch of sadness, and I found that very touching and some small excuse for his behaviour: by the story’s end, I was cheering for him from the sidelines. The supporting cast at the station is excellent too, every individual well drawn, from the young and enthusiastic to the ones who’ve seen it all.

I won’t neglect the story altogether though, because it’s excellent – an investigation into the murder of a mother and two children, which might have links (but might not) with the shocking disappearance of a child many years before, tantalisingly glimpsed in the prologue. The pace of the story is steady – there’s a degree of police procedure, diversions into the lives of the main characters – but interspersed with those moments when Iris places herself at real risk, when you want to shout “don’t do it” and “look behind you” but she does it anyway and you have your heart in your mouth. The ending is quite stunning, and has all the more impact because it comes from left field a little – and that really works so very well.

I know there’s a tremendous appetite for regionally based crime, but I don’t think I’ve read any Irish based crime before: the Limerick setting is vividly drawn, the streets and the surroundings (and the pubs) becoming familiar as the story progresses.

I’ve mentioned that the pace is steady – but I think that’s what the story and its telling needed, establishing its strong characters and the context for future books, with a few hints of how the relationships between them might develop. A TV series of the future, maybe? I can certainly see the potential…!

Iris Locke's last undercover case had disastrous results and now her career has stalled. Iris longs to be a homicide detective in Dublin, but is assigned to a small squad in Limerick. This is the same station from which her father retired and Iris doesn't want to be in in his shadow. She is assigned to help on a murder case which she hopes could get her career back on track, if it doesn't kill her first.

I really enjoyed this book, which is part police procedural, part thriller. The current case Iris is working on seems to have ties to a missing person's case from years ago. When Iris runs into obstacles whenever she asks questions about the old case, she becomes even more determined that somehow the old missing persons case is related to the current murder. I enjoyed getting to know Iris and the other members of her new squad. Some of the characters are easier to like than other, but I like that none of them are perfect and instead have good sides as well as flaws.

The book has some slow parts and a few things were confusing as I was reading. However, overall, I really enjoyed the book and was glad to see it is described as #1, so am looking forward to additional books in the series. I read a lot of thrillers, but can truly say I was shocked by the revelations at the end. I have rated the book 4.5 stars and rounded up to 5 because of that unexpected ending which took me completely by surprise. I liked how things ended and look forward to the next book in the series.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Bookouture. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed the first book in the Corbally Crime series. I felt like I instantly knew the characters. Excellent plot that kept me guessing until the very end !

Silent Night by Geraldine Hogan had all of the ingredients for a stunning police procedural and then some! This first book of the Detective Iris Locke series included an intelligent, determined but flawed detective, an atmospheric setting, realistic and believable characters and several unexpected twists in the engrossing, poignant and soul-stirring case they were investigating. The close was both satisfying and surprising. I am already looking forward to the next instalment in what, I think, promises to be a stunning series!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.