Long shadows by Derek Thompson.
A SECRET THAT WON’T STAY BURIED. A KILLER WHO CAN’T FORGET.
Detective Craig Wild couldn’t cut it in London. Now he must swap the Met for Mayberry, a sleepy Wiltshire backwater where ambition goes to die.
I really enjoyed this book. Great story and some good characters. Craig and Marnie were my favourite characters. I wasn't sure about Ben. I hope there is more to come. 5*.

D S Wild recently transferred from the metropolitan police has found it difficult to adjust to his new surroundings. A strange case finds himself in conflict with his superior officer who seems to expect a great deal more from him. His dogged determination and his unorthodox approach to this investigation finally comes good and leaves to his acceptance by his new colleagues.

Police thriller,rural setting where everyone keeps secrets. Can it be unravelled by our laid back detective?

I have a little and rather embarrassing confession to make. Although I have got all of Derek's earlier books on my ever increasing 'to be read' mountain, I haven't actually read one......until now that is. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for 'Long Shadows', I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to acquaint myself with Derek's work. Having enjoyed reading 'Long Shadows' as much as I did, I am now rather cross with myself that I left it this long to discover how flipping fabulous an author Derek is. I absolutely loved reading 'Long Shadows' but more about that in a bit.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of Detective Sergeant Craig Wild when I first met him. He's a bit of an odd one. He used to work in the Metropolitan Police but for reasons which aren't immediately apparent, he transfers to Wiltshire Police. For me, he certainly has a chip on his shoulder- in fact he seems to have a bag of McCains Home Fries on his shoulder. He knew that he had to leave the Met but at the same time he seems to resent the fact that he has transferred to a quieter police force. He doesn't exactly make the best of impressions when he first meets his new team. Craig can be short with people, he can be very sarcastic and I got the impression that he doesn't make friends that easily but at the same time that doesn't seem to bother him. He does make a good impression on Police Constable Marnie Olsen. Marnie is eager to learn from Craig and Craig teams up with her as he knows that her local knowledge will prove to be invaluable. They prove to be a good team and they get on really well together. Will Craig and Marnie solve the case? Well for the answer to that question and so much more you are just going to have to red the book for yourselves to find out as I am no t going to tell you.
It didn't take me long at all to get into this book. In fact by the time I got to the end of the Prologue I knew that I was not going to be able to put the book down and so it proved to be. For me, 'Long Shadows' was most definitely an unputdownable page turner of a book. I was completely mesmerised by the story and I just had to keep reading. I had my suspicions as to what was going to happen and I had to know if my suspicions were correct or if I had the wrong end of the stick entirely. My Kindle wasn't exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. I couldn't bear to miss a single second of the story. As a result of my addiction to this story, I seemed to race my way through the book. I managed to read the book over the course of a day which is really good for me as I usually have the attention span of a gnat and I am easily distracted but not in this case.
'Long Shadows' is extremely well written. The author grabbed my attention with an eye catching synopsis and he drew me into the story from the start. In the character of Craig, Derek has created an intriguing character, who I look forward to getting to know even better in subsequent books. For me, 'Long Shadows' was perfectly paced. The story hits the ground running and maintained a fairly fast pace throughout. 'Long Shadows' is a tense, tightly plotted, gripping story that had me on the edge of my seat throughout.
Reading 'Long Shadows' was very much like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with more twists and turns to it than you would find on a 'Snakes & Ladders' board.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Long Shadows' and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I will definitely be reading more of Derek's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Detective Sergeant Craig Wild has not long started at his new posting in Mayberry, Wiltshire, moving from the Metropolitan Police in London. It wasn't exactly a voluntary decision, following a botched armed robbery, the collapse of his marriage to another police officer who is flying up the ranks and a bit of a breakdown to boot. On paper he probably doesn't seem a great prospect and is struggling to be accepted by his new colleagues who have basically only got him as they were in need of a new DS and have told him as much. So nothing to lose and everything to prove, especially with a boss like brusque Scot DI Marsh who looks to be a hard taskmistress. As the book starts, he attends a death which at first is thought to be suicide. As he looks closer, the shooting of an older man who walks with a stick out a long way from home in one of his own fields appears to be a lot more suspicious. Suspects are not hard to find when the contents of his will are made known, but with each discovery of further information in the case the focus switches from one person to another. Gradually Wild forms a partnership with young PC Marnie Olsen who shows more promise and talent than some of the other detectives there, and together they embark on digging into past history and old relationships to find the truth about the farmer's death. With another murder occurring in quick succession, they have no time to lose. Especially in the countryside where they do things differently and no one's talking, particularly to an incomer who doesn't understand their ways. There are some great characters being introduced in this book and they were well described and very believable. Despite his shortcomings, Wild is a clever and quick thinking detective who more than demonstrates his worth in this first story. I think we've only just scratched the surface with Wild and there is a lot more to know about him but there is already plenty to like and the partnership with Marnie Olsen is a good one. A very enjoyable story and I really hope this will become a series. 5*

A 'comer inner' of a copper in rural Wiltshire - coming in under a cloud too - finds life very different that working for the Met in London. He can't understand some of the habits of the locals, including police officers. When a local farmer is killed and he is put in charge of the case, it looks like the locals are running rings around him - but is he really as clueless as people think.

Loved it. This is a new series that I'll be following.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read an advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Detective Wild has moved to Wiltshire from London. A new area, a new team and hopefully a new start away from the past. So when a body is found he is very eager to get started and show his new boss what he is made of.

But what initially looked like a relatively straight forward case turns out to be anything but as the number of suspects mount up and the clues lead to dead ends. Then there is another death.

This is a very intriguing book that keeps the reader guessing and also shows the struggle of handling a murder case while trying to settle in to a new team.

Very much a book that will appeal to readers who like to get deeply into the police detective side.

Long Shadows is the first instalment in the Detective Craig Wild series by bestselling author, Derek Thompson, which gets everything off to a thoroughly engrossing take off. DS Wild is just beginning to adjust to a hugely different pace of life as a police officer based in the often idyllic and peaceful countryside of Mayberry, Wiltshire, having not long transferred from the Met where he was used to the crime and chaos associated with a crowded city overrun with people from all walks of life, when he is called in to investigate the suspicious apparent suicide of local farmer and pensioner, Alexander Porter. His new colleagues believe it to be an open and shut case but almost instantly Craig finds inconsistencies and it appears the case is heading more and more in the direction of foul play being involved. With Police Constable Marnie Olsen by his side, he starts to unravel a tonne more than anyone had bargained for including the far-reaching consequences of drastic family decisions made decades earlier and a web of deceit and favouritism.

This is an excellent series opener and not only has a compelling mystery but adeptly develops everything ready for the second instalment too. Set in a close-knit and stunning part of the country Craig Wild hopes to heal after an incident when he was previously stationed in London but like any outsider moving into a small town, inhabitants are wary and standoffish but surely they'll warm to him in time. The cast is engaging with Craig, of course, being front and centre and as with any new crime protagonist, I will certainly look forward to seeing his personality and relationships build and evolve as both his colleagues and fellow Mayberry natives, as well as myself, learn more about him as a person and a member of law enforcement. It has some surprising sarcastic humour interspersed throughout and some exciting, twisty developments. This is a promising, tense and compulsively readable police procedural and I look forward to more. Many thanks to Joffe Books for an ARC.

DS Wild has been lumbered with a posting in the depths of rural Wiltshire following some "events" in London although I never quite gathered precisely what they were about. He clearly in not a country lover and is rather out of his depth to start although at least owns a pair of wellies. He's tasked with investigating the apparent suicide of a local farmer not really aided by the local police or to the vastly inter-mixed families involved. The dead man made things more difficult by writing three wills using different solicitors to add to the complexities. Family feuds abound. The character, Wild, has good scope to develop into someone of merit, his Glaswegian boss is feisty but tends to 'have his back' which is a pleasant change. Then there's Marnie, the young, bright, intuitive DC, who should be going places - hopefully in Wild's team. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Detective Wild has recently transferred from London to a small village which if he can't make it here, he's not going to make it anywhere. This is his second chance ... his last chance.

Andrew Porter, a well-known farmer, has been found dead in one of his fields.Shot in the head, people assume it's a suicide, but then where is the gun?

The primary suspect is Nathan Porter, the victim's son. Known mostly as a trouble maker, he does have a motive for wanting his dad dead.

But then someone else dies ....

Wild and PC Marnie Olsen are called in to investigate and find that no one tells the truth and everyone has secrets to hide. The more they question family and friends, the farther back in time they have to go.

Can they prevent more deaths?

Well written with a solid plot, I enjoyed how wild's past and present cases come together to give him a touch of credibility. Partnering with Olsen showcases Marnie as a presence to be reckoned with. She's smarter and more ambitious than her male counterparts. She's going to go places. There are twists and turns that I didn't see coming that led to an unexpected ending.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Netgalley / Books n All for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I sometimes approach new crime series with trepidation; I’m sure everyone has read one or two where some crucial evidence appears at just the right time, as if by magic, or there’s a confession akin to an episode of Scooby Doo. Derek Thompson’s “Long Shadows” thankfully didn’t fall into either trap.

The reader joins the protagonist, Detective Craig Wild, in the first few weeks of his transition from the pressures of city policing to the somewhat slower pace of a countryside force in Mayberry. It isn’t going well for him as he’s viewed as a cockney outsider in this close knit community. Wild stumbles over ever more tangled roots of family trees as he tries to improve the first impressions he made and solve the apparent suicide of a local farmer which isn’t as clear cut as it seems. Following the trails through nepotism, inheritance and decisions made decades ago which haunt the village even now, he makes friends and enemies along the way to the novels surprising conclusion.

I found Wild a refreshing character; he puts his foot in his mouth so regularly he may need to hop rather than walk; his sardonic inner monologues made me chuckle at times and I felt for him when flashes of pain from his divorce and exile from the Metropolitan force surface to distract him.

I enjoyed seeing PC Marnie Olsen grow as the story progressed and hope we see more of her in future novels. There were some characters who I never really got to grips with, such as DI Marsh; I would have liked to have found out more about her and had the opportunity to see less of her battleaxe side and more vulnerability to understand her character.

I had to go back a few times to jog my memory on relatives and storylines but overall I enjoyed the novel with its twists and tangles.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a light crime drama (think Midsomer Murders) rather than a gritty police procedural.

DS Wild, of Wiltshire Police, is investigating a murder. Newly transferred from London, he soon finds out that rural policing is a bit different from the big city. It took me a few chapters to really get into the characters as the pace was a bit slow, but it soon picked up. This is more of a cosy mystery than dark crime and I would like to see more character development between Wild and Olsen in the next book in the series. A good read for summer. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Long Shadows, the first novel to feature DS Craig Wild of the Wiltshire Police.

Craig has been forced out of The Met and is now working in Wiltshire. He is pleased to be given the opportunity to work on the suspicious death of farmer, Alexander Porter. Most detectives assume it is suicide but, ably assisted by PC Marnie Olsen, Craig is sure there is more to it and the roots of the crime reach far into the past.

I thoroughly enjoyed Long Shadows which is a well plotted police procedural with several twists. The novel is told from Craig’s point of view so it is easy to get absorbed and follow every twist as the investigation proceeds. I found it a hard book to put down although I found the solution a bit disappointing after all the excitement that went before. The plot is well conceived and had me turning the pages feverishly to see what was coming next. It is full of interconnecting relationships and shared history and I’m not sure if that is supposed to suggest something about rural life.

I think that Craig Wild will grow on me but I wasn’t overly impressed in this first outing. I’m probably thick as I didn’t really grasp why he had to leave The Met and all his feelings about the resulting enforced transfer don’t amount to much more than self pity. That and his decidedly edgy relationship with his new colleagues is all a touch dreary but by the end of the novel there are hints that he’s settling in to his new role. Surprisingly for this kind of novel there is depth to his character.

Long Shadows is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Booklover BEV

D.S. Craig Wild big city boy from London is now working at Mayberry police station in Wiltshire country side. Called to an investigation to get his teeth into not a normal missing tractor or holiday home break in. The body of Alexander Porter is found with a gun shot wound.a suspicious death?.his assistant Marnie Olsen Craig has no complaint with hes nearly divorced and wanted to move on. Loved this book and all the characters. Compulsive reading right through. I'm certainly looking forward to reading more in this series from the author
Thank you to joffe and netgalley