Tim Hoy has shown a light on a highly controversial act---honor killing in the Muslim culture. Amidst the settling in of Tessa and Jonathan to their new home, the disappearance of Jonathan's nanny and Tessa's new friend opens a door into Jamirah's culture. Meanwhile, Tessa is investigating Freddy Hayworth's suicide as a possible murder. The playboy had enemies galore, so Tessa's work is cut out for her, especially since her partner Peter believes it to have been a suicide. Interesting plot and concept. Well-developed characters and great writing. Now I will have to go back to read the first book, Still Death, to find out more about Tessa's husband Alec, a murderer who disappeared, and now is making moves to come back into his son's life.

Thanks to the author, Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Honor Role
(A Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley Mystery Book 2)
by Tim Hoy

Kindle Edition, 267 pages
Published October 3rd 2019 by Bookouture


Goodreads synopsis:
A captivating thriller of clashing cultures, the code of honor, the power of mercy, and the tangled lies between friends and family, Honor Role follows the quest of a fearless detective determined to do what she believes is right—no matter the cost.

It should have been an open-and-shut case: suicide by cyanide. But when Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley pries open the hidden parts of Freddy Hayworth’s life, she uncovers his complicated battle with mental illness and the parade of spurned women left in Freddy’s wake. Quickly, a full-blown homicide investigation ensues, where nothing is as it seems.

Outside of her demanding police work, DI Grantley seems to have outrun the secrets of her past. She is raising her son in a loving home, in a quiet London neighborhood, embraced by a tight-knit, supportive community. And while she might occasionally have different ideas about child-rearing than her Pakistani-born nanny, Jabirah Rahman, Tessa and Jabirah develop a bond not easily broken . . . until Jabirah disappears. Then, Tessa must use her intuition and investigative skills on two fronts. What she finds puts her on a collision course with ideas of justice and righteousness that dangerously conflict with her own.

In this thriller from the author of Still Death, the boundaries between Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley’s career and her family fatally blur, causing her to question everything she believes in.

***

4 Stars

This is the second book in the Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley Mystery series by Tim Hoy.

We have two separate cases going on in this book. One is her job searching for the killer of Freddy Hayworth. Looks likes suicide by cyanide to start with but this case takes her on quite a ride, The further she delves into Freddy’s life, the more the suspects pile up.

On top of that, she has her own case to solve as her nanny leaves to return to Pakistan but signs keep pointing to the fact that Jabirah might actually be dead. Her culture doesn’t appease her need to be with her boyfriend and not the man chosen for her by her family. There is a huge culture clash here as Tessa begins to fear the worst.

The Freddy case was okay and it was all police procedural, but the search for clues about the nanny are what makes this book sing. We fear along with Tessa as she gets closer and closer to the truth.

If you like detective fiction and police procedurals, this is definitely is definitely for you! Cool new series to add to my TBR list!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

I received this ARC from NetGalley. Honor Role is an engrossing British police procedural with a widowed female police detective. While investigating an odd death that appears to be suicide, Tessa Grantley also becomes entangled in the sudden departure of a young Muslim woman, who has been employed to help with her five year old son. Tessa suspects the woman’s brother of “honor killing” the woman, because she has confided in Tessa that she has become acquainted with a non-Muslim man. There’s also a side story about the family who rents part of Tessa’s house and their blind child

I received a free electronic copy of this British police procedural from Netgalley, Tim Hoy, and Random House Publishing Group - Alibi. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Honor Role of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I very much enjoyed this novel, the first of a series, and will want to read the next installment of DI Tessa Grantley.

This story is peopled with folks of all sorts, most understandable and likable. Tess is widowed shortly after discovering that her husband Alec was responsible for many murders both before and during their marriage. She and her five-year-old son Jonathan live in a four-story home she bought after shedding all signs of her married life, and she has had the second and third floors converted into two apartments, not so much for the added income as a way to add a sense of family to their lives. When her nanny quits her, she finds herself, almost against her will, hiring 19-year old Pakistan immigrant and deeply religious Islamite. Hating her instinctive prejudice, she sees Jabirah Rahman a perfect fit to fill that caregiver roll in their lives. In no time both Tess and Jonathan adore her, and the tenants on the second floor, the Obinna family, only add to the sense of warmth and family. Chika and Ben were in England for graduate studies and needed a place they could bring their son Ogueri from Nigeria to be with them. Ogueri is losing his sight and needs special attention and care. He and Jonathan are 11 months apart in age and get each other very well. Tess is pleased with the companionship offered to herself and Jonathan by both the Obinna family and Jabirah, because her job is demanding, and often time-consuming as well. She is a policeman in London.

Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley and her partner DI Peter Lazarus catch the cyanide poisoning - possibly murder, perhaps suicide - of a wealthy playboy bachelor. None of the details fit well with Tess. Cyanide is a very difficult poison to acquire. And though fast, it is not without pain nor does it leave a pretty corpse. Victim Freddy Hayworth is a buff, very pretty womanizer and very much an egoist, friends and family alike have nothing good to say about him except that they liked him despite his OCD habits and sheer over the top self-love. And nobody thinks he would ever have taken his own life. He was much too fond of it. Tess knows if she had been one of his many discarded women she might have poisoned him. Unfortunately, his recent exes have alibis, as do the four other bachelor's he ran with through their shallow life. Or do they, really?

And who can understand or condone honor killing? How can that happen in jolly old England?

DI Tessa Grantley is called upon to investigate the death of Freddy Hayworth. The official report is suicide by cyanide. But Tessa has her doubts. When she starts talking to friends and family, she finds that Freddy had a history of mental illness and a long line of spurned women.

Meanwhile, on the personal front, there's another mystery brewing. Tessa hires a young Muslim woman to be her son's nanny. Pakistani-born Jabirah Rahman and Tess and her young son form a bond of friendship. Yes, there are cultural differences but they highly respect each other.

But then, Jabirah disappears.

This is a well written mystery with more than one case needing solved. While Tess investigates one possible murder, is there another possible murder in her personal life? Boundaries blur making Tess rethinking about everything she knows. I really enjoyed how her personal and professional lives blended.

This is second in a series and I highly recommend starting with the first book. In book 2, there are references to book 1 that may spoil the reading of book 1. Also, there is a slight cliff hanger that goes back to book 1.

Many thanks to the author / Random House - Alibi / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

DI Tessa Grantley has a lot on her plate - she's trying to solve the murder of Freddy Hayworth, who was originally thought to be a suicide. Turns out it wasn't and there were a lot of people who didn't like him so there are several suspects. Then her nanny Jabirah disappears. Tessa finds more than she ever expected when she sets out to find her. No spoilers. It might seem as though these two threads are too different to pull together but keep in mind, we all multitask. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. I'd not read the first book but this was fine as a start to what I think will be an interesting series. Tessa is a no-nonsense officer who might grate at times but she's good at what she does.

I tried to read this book on three separate occasions, and simply didn't enjoy the story. Struggled with the voice, because it sounded masculine to me and upon realizing a woman was the main character did my best to reimagine, but the voice didn't have a feminine quality. Spoiler alert: The tacky bathroom beginning didn't mesh with the upper crust feeling and it just got worse. An officer of the law who looked her nose down on others, while allowing her spouse to continue his misdeeds. Whether he was still alive or not, she did nothing to ensure he was punished prior to his 'accident'. Her golden child was too special to suffer the indignity of having an imperfect father. The first book in my many, many years of reading I couldn't finish.

This was a fairly good read as the storyline was interesting. It became a little slow in spots and did not hold my attention. Therefore I sometimes felt a little disconnected. Overall it wasn’t bad.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book so much that I read it twice. Any author who makes me feel the plight of the protagonist gets my vote and Tim Hoy delivers here. A Pakistani nanny to a young boy goes missing. Because she has also become a friend to the family, mom, who is a detective, begins to hunt for her. The search leads her to discover the tangled web of middle Eastern family life contrasted with the freedom of life in Britain.

I did not realize this was the second book in the series. I enjoyed it so much I have to go back and read the first. Tessa, a detective, is fearless and feisty, determined to always do the right thing. I love these stories about law enforcement officers who do the right thing no matter the consequences.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A murder mystery about conflicting cultures, “Honor Role,” by Tim Hoy, looks at honor, mercy, and lies. Detective Inspector Tessa Grantley investigates a suicide by self-administered cyanide, and decides that too many incidents in the dead man’s life tend to indicate that murder might be more likely that suicide. Freddy Hayworth had a complicated battle with mental illness along with a huge group of spurned women he left behind, and nothing is as it seems after the investigation gathers steam.

DI Grantley seems to have squared away her own troubled life and now raises her son in a quiet London neighborhood among supportive neighbors. Her housekeeper, Jabirah Rahman, a Muslim woman who has become a loving part of Tessa’s life, disappears and now Tessa has two investigative duties, solve Freddy’s death and find Jabirah. She finds herself immersed in ideas of justice and honor that seriously conflict with her own psyche and she finds herself in dangerous circumstances from which she cannot extricate herself.

I found the book difficult to decipher. Hoy seemed unable to present his theme in a clear voice. I gather it was about the conflict of Muslim culture with Christianity, but was not clear about his motives. It was interesting, if somewhat disconnected. Perhaps a second read might clear up some of my confusion, but I’m not inclined to read it again.

Honor Roll was a bit slow and had some unlikable characters. Those issues usually never bother me, but I just kept putting this book down and felt the writing was forced.

Tess is one of those characters that grow on you. At first her world seems sheltered and naive, but as you read more, you realize it is anything but, and Tess hides a lot of dark secrets. so she has a feel when there are hidden secrets in those around her, and in a case that at first seems simple, but she knows is off somehow. As Tess finds more clues, the case broadens and gives her more turns than a labryinth, to find the truth. And when there is downtime she suddenly has to deal with the loss of her nanny, who had turned her world upside down, and set her on a new path. Now she tries to return the favor, against a cultural wall she can't understand. And then just when she thinks she has everything resolved, the rug is slipped out from under her. It's a read to savor, as small clues abound.

Okay, it seems that if I am going to give an honest review of my take on Honor Role I can't try to be cute. The first part of the book had me intrigued. It is a good story about a woman hiring a nanny to watch her son and help with the house work. The protagonist is a cop, formerly married to a murderer who she apparently helped exonerate by framing his mother for the murders. The husband disappears, but not without leaving cop with some big bucks. We see her at work, trying to solve what looks like a suicide.. At first, she is the only one who suspects murder, but that changes. Her resolution of that case seemed highly unlikely.
I wondered how a male author could write from a female point of view until I realized that the cop, Tessa, is rather masculine herself. She doesn't need a man, she lives independently, she fulfills a detective role much as any male would. She ignores the law when it suits her, but berates others who ignore the law..
Eventually, her nanny, a Muslim woman named Jabira, takes a sudden leave. Tessa sees it as her right to interfere with Jabira's family because she does not agree with Muslim rules on woman and arranged marriages. We start the novel with her husband being a murderer. How do you think the novel ends? It's not the husband!
The novel is unlikely, so improbable, that I could not wrap myself into it. The writing is good, and some of the characters are interesting. The others are just mean, and I include Tessa in that. I seriously wonder, having read the vitals of the author, and the novel itself, if he actually wrote this book himself.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.