Setting means a lot for me in terms of how easily I engage with the characters and story. I loved the setting and the author really painted a clear picture of the dales. The characters were appealing and I honestly didn’t manage to solve the mystery before the end, which is always exciting!

I really enjoyed this book and will give it a huge thumbs up. With a great story line and excellent main characters - I would highly recommend this book.

It was a nice "whodunit" book. Some parts dragged a bit but the characters were all very likable. It would appear this is one in a series as there was some history there among the characters. Not sure I will read another one, it was nice, but a bit slow for me.

Always to catch-up with Detective Chief Inspector Oldroyd and his team again. As always an intriguing storyline to keep the reader guessing throughout the story even more so in this particular case. With a knife edge climax. Also as usual great descriptive tour of the Yorkshire Dales.

A murder happens outside an inn on a grouse moor; however, the bar maid sees the murder from her window, so there should be no problem apprehending the killer. Or will there be?

Oldroyd and his team come over to find there is no sign of the culprit, and no apparent motive. They try every route to resolve the crime, then discover another man is killed - again with a witness, and again with the murderer disappearing after the crime.

The whole thing is set convincingly in the Yorkshire Dales, and makes for a good read. Oldroyd is clearly held in high esteem by his team, and they work well together.

Overall a good read, with enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Shooting In Remote Village.....
Book five in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series. Oldroyd finds himself in a rather remote village - Nidderdale, Yorkshire Dales. The scene of crime - the Dog And Gun Inn. The victim - a retired Judge. The suspects- numerous. It's an engaging read and one I read in one sitting - definitely of the more relaxed and gentle reading variety despite the murders. Characters are credible and Oldroyd a likeable protagonist. A standalone mystery despite being part of a series in terms of characters. Well drawn plot with some nicely engineered twists. This series as a whole has been very enjoyable thus far and has made for entertaining reading.

Ellis gives the reader a baffling police case in atmospheric and beautiful rural Yorkshire. The characters are engaging and I love the interaction between the police officers. The author does a good job in depicting a modern English village that has changed from Agatha Christie's classic portrayals and brings in contemporary concerns such as the many different sides in the argument of grouse hunting. Surprise twists and a number of possible suspects will keep the reader guessing--it did me!--and satisfied with the conclusion. Sign me up for the rest of the series!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the ARC in exchange for a impartial review.

Sandy Fraser, former judge, owns shooting rights on the fells. He has a shooting party, and then they all go to the local pub, the Dog and Gun for a dinner which includes the grouse they shot. After dinner, several of the shooting participants and several locals gather at the bar. When most of the crowd has cleared out, Fraser leaves. A man suddenly appears with a shotgun and shoots him. The shooting has been observed by the bar maid from her bedroom window, and she clearly sees the shooter and recognizes him as Alan Green.

The case is assigned to DCI Oldroyd, who is helped by his team, Steph and Andy, as well as the local Inspector Gibbs. Gibbs job is to find Alan Green, and Alan has disappeared. Although he has been doing odd jobs in the area for some time, no one knows where he lives. As they begin investigating, the detectives find that several people didn't like Fraser; he was not nice to most of the people around him, owed money to several people; was blackmailing someone; and environmentalists didn't like his hunting parties. He hadn't paid his bills at the pub, and then complained about the food. They begin investigating Fraser's past, and find that he gave very stiff sentences to two robbers. And then, a local shopkeeper, Gorton,is gunned down the same way. Another female worker at the pub clearly saw the shooter, who was Vic Moore, a recent comer to the village renting a room from the local painter. Oldroyd finds Gorton had been a prison guard in the same jail where the two with heavy sentences resided. Of course Vic Moore also disappears.

This case has been a very difficult one for Oldroyd and his crew, but they keep plugging away. The final chapter is both exciting and surprising!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an advance copy of The Nidderdale Murders, the fifth novel to feature DCI Jim Oldroyd ofHarrogate Police.

A retired judge is shot dead outside a pub in the fictional Yorkshire village of Niddersgill. Barmaid Kirsty witnesses it all and can identify the gunman but he promptly disappears. There is no shortage of people who are glad to see the back of Alexander “Sandy” Fraser but the questions remain, is their motive strong enough and what is their link to the alleged gunman? A second murder provides the links.

I found The Nidderdale Murders to be a bit of a mixed bag. As ever in this series the plot relies on misdirection and an ingenious solution which is lying hidden, waiting for Oldroyd to discover it. Whether it’s familiarity with the process or it’s not as well done in this case I found the majority of the novel quite boring as Oldroyd and his team flounder around looking for a motive and a missing suspect. It goes nowhere until the second murder at more than three fifths in when it takes off in a flurry of activity and discoveries. If the second murder had taken place earlier in the novel and the resulting developments more evenly spaced it would have made the novel more engaging. I understand that this is a work of fiction, not designed to be massively realistic but the author obviously realises that his solution is overly reliant on coincidence as he spends paragraphs explaining that coincidence does exist. Highly unlikely. Still the solution is ingenious and I defy any reader to guess it correctly.

The Nidderdale Murders is a competent novel that will have readers puzzled.

The Nidderdale Murders was a really great read. It's a bit of a classic "whodunnit" mystery combined with police procedural. The Yorkshire Dales with the mist made it a bit of an atmospheric read at times, which made it even better. The plot was engaging and had a nice pace to it and lots of local characters that gave it a bit of a flair. Of course I also really liked Oldroyd, Steph and the rest of the family and police.

When Alexander Fraser former High Court Judge arranges a grouse shoot on the fells close to the Yorkshire village of Niddersgill he finished off the day taking the shooting party to the local inn the Dog and Gun. Then after the meal as he was leaving Alexander Fraser was shot outside by a local character. DCI Oldroyd and his team were called to investigate but then the suspect disappears and another murder takes place leaving them with a mystery and many red herrings.
This is an enjoyable read in the series.

Although this is part of a series it works as a stand alone. It’s a well written police procedural set in Yorkshire. The story held my interest and had an interesting twist that kept me from guessing who the killer was.

It was a Friday in mid-September when the shoot was held on the grouse moor near Niddersgill. The shooters at the butts were a strange mixture: Alexander Fraser (Sandy to his friends) was the owner of the moor and a retired judge. James Symonds was a local landowner and Henry Saunders was a banker. He and Fraser had known each other since their school days. The fourth member was Gideon Rawnsley, who dealt in exclusive cars in nearby Ripon. Rawnsley had a gripe with Fraser: he'd sold him an expensive car and Fraser was being slow to pay. Other people had reason to comment on Fraser's attitude to money: his gamekeeper, Ian Davis thought he was stingy and very difficult to work for.

That evening the people who had been at the shoot had a celebration meal at the Dog and Gun. Rob and Sheila Owen ran the pub and restaurant and whilst Sheila knew that the shoots brought a lot of money into the village she resented the way that Fraser always criticised her cooking. Fraser lived in a manor house on the edge of the village and as he was walking home in the early hours of the morning he was shot and killed. One of the bar staff, Kirsty Hemingway, was looking out of the window and saw exactly what happened: she told the police that someone who did odd jobs around the village, Alan Green, was the man behind the shotgun. She'd seen him clearly. The problem is that Alan Green, regular at the Dog and Gun, a man who has worked on various properties in the village has disappeared. No one knows where he lives and he seems to have disappeared into thin air. There's fear in the village.

DCI Jim Oldroyd is on the case: it's a local bigwig so the case has been assigned to him and he has his two sergeants in tow. DS Steph Johnson and DS Andy Carter are a couple as well as partners. Andy does seem to do some useful work - he spotted the fact which put the team on the right track, but Steph is woefully underused. She seems to be there to do the womanly thing of talking to the victim's widow, provide admiration for Jim Oldroyd and ask obvious questions:

This is getting more and more complex and sinister, isn't it, sir?

There's only one star in this show and that's Oldroyd himself. All will ultimately rest on his brilliant mind and investigative powers. You could almost send the rest of them home.

Yes - I know - I'm being very critical about what is obviously intended to be an easy read. I should get over it. I did enjoy the trip into the Yorkshire countryside: J R Ellis brings it to life perfectly. I first came to this series when I saw the last book in the series: I was born in Harrogate and this was too good to resist. The Nidderdale Murders tempted me because I went to school in Nidderdale. I wonder where Jim Oldroyd will find himself next? And will he make more use of DS Steph Johnson?

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a review copy available to the Bookbag.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read others from the series, but it would work well as a stand alone novel too. There is a strong sense of place, the Yorkshire Dales is lovingly described. The cast of characters is not so large that the reader loses the thread of who is who. There are a few excellent and unforeseen twists at the end. I can’t wait for the next volume in the series.

With thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for a digital copy of The Nidderdale Murders. I was attracted to this book because of my dual passions for the Yorkshire Dales and detective novels. I hadn’t read any other books in this series and although there is reference to previous cases in the book you do not need to have read them to enjoy this. I instantly felt at home in the landscape as familiar Dales scenery is described, place names punctuate the narrative and the inn at the heart of the story reminded me of happy holiday visits to similar hostelries. Every time sandwiches were served I felt hungry! A murder shatters the peace of a sleepy Yorkshire village and Oldroyd and his team are sent in to unravel the crime committed in full view of a witness yet seemingly impossible to solve. I loved the sense of place, the observations of a rural community and police force which all brought a gentleness to the read. It reminded me of the later Midsommer Murders. A lovely read for lovers of the Dales, intriguing crimes, likeable detectives and not too much blood!

A Yorkshire Dales village where everyone knows their neighbours, a friendly village where a retired judge is killed outside the local pub, a young woman witnesses the murder and is shocked by the killers identity

For those who like cosy murder mysteries this is one for you

The evocative book cover and the Yorkshire setting is what drew me in to this book.
Niddersgill, in the Yorkshire Dales, is the setting for the murder, and DCI Jim Oldroyd is tasked with finding the murderer. The first victim is a wealthy grouse moor owner, and the murderer, clearly identified by a witness, disappears into thin air. Sandy Fraser is not a popular member of the community and many people in the village have reasons to want him dead. There are many conundrums to negotiate before the mystery can be solved. I loved the clever and unexpected twist at the end.
This is book 5 in J R Ellis’s Yorkshire murder mystery series. It is a good stand alone mystery but, having read this one, I’d quite like to read the first four.
Thank you to J R Ellis, Net Galley and Thomas and Mercer publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As much as I love Agatha Christie, I’m not such a fan of cozy mysteries. The Yorkshire Murder Mystery series is an exception. DCI Oldroyd, like his admired Sherlock Holmes, is a quirky but effective detective and his cases are always tightly plotted and unpredictable. This fifth volume is no exception. We know who was killed and by whom, what Oldroyd and his crack team lack is a motive. Or a suspect, who has disappeared. As always, everyone in the little town where the action takes place is hiding something. This time, Andy and Steph are both involved in the same investigation, which is great because I love their dynamics and their constant loving competition to impress their boss. There are also other cops involved in the case who bring interesting interactions with the usual characters. I also loved the explanation to the mystery, I was blindsided completely, even if it made a lot of sense. The one thing I didn’t like was that the dialogues were a little repetitive at times. We kept getting recaps of what had happened and all the theories. Unless you’re not an attentive reader, they were unnecessary in my opinion. Other than that, it’s a great, solid mystery.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Amazon Publishing UK!

This was the first book in this series that I read by this author, and I look forward to reading more. To my mind this is a classic cozy mystery/police procedural set in a lovely area of Britain. The landscape really acts as another character. Good plot, the requisite red herrings, and an intelligent policeman to figure it all out.

Another twisted case for DCI Oldroyd. Once again set in Yorkshire initially the team have to solve a murder that takes place outside a pub in a small village called Niddersgill.

As usual for Oldroyd this is not as simple as they initially think.
Easy reading and very enjoyable.