This was my first foray into the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries, and I enjoyed it. Good central characters and a good mystery. I haven’t read any of the prior books in this series. Other than a small anecdotal nod that didn’t contribute to the story at hand, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I read a lot of mysteries and it takes a lot to surprise me, but I admit that I didn’t quite have this one figured out by the end, though I did suspect a few things and at least one of my suspicions was correct.

The setting was atmospheric, a quaint village in Yorkshire where everyone knows everyone, or do they? One of the villagers inspires the chief investigator to rediscover his love for writing poetry. Oldroyd also finds himself inspired by Shakespeare and old Sherlock Holmes movies that often lead him to connect the dots during his investigation. There were quite a lot of suspects and villagers, which led to a little confusion on keeping some of their names straight especially when some characters referred to them by first name and some referred to the same person by last name.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who enjoy Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes and Ann Cleeves.

When given a chance to review this book I jumped at it as have wanted to read this author for a while.

This was the fifth book in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery Series starring DCI Oldroyd, and I quickly grew to love the lead character in the book. This book was set in the wilds of North Yorkshire, which was a great setting for the story.

It also has a great plot with the inexplicable Murder of an objectionable man, which was witnessed late at night. A quite intriguing plot with some fresh ideas thrown in, and a range of characters; the author keeps you guessing about who is the guilty party.

This was an easy and good read and I loved the main set of characters, and the interactions between them , always a good indication of a good detective series. I will certainly be going back to read the rest of the series as have fallen in love with the feel of them.

Based on this happy to recommend this series to others, if not read them give them a go. I would like to say thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing a copy of this book to me for an open and honest review.

I enjoyed this book! The characters and mystery were well written. Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

I give this 4.5 stars and a strong recommendation. The story.was gripping. It's a well written book with strong characters.

I had a hard time getting into this one. I really liked the premise but it just didn't really grab me from the start. I might make my way back though and try again.

I thought this book was a nice whodunit and completely enjoyable. The book is part of a series but I did read it as a standalone without much trouble. I'm a fan of books set in the Yorkshire area and I found that I really enjoyed the protagonist, DCI Oldroyd. I felt like the first quarter of the book was a little slow moving but the rest made up for it.

The third book in this series that I've read and I suppose my main complaint with it, is that it just doesn't feel very rich in either description of place or characters, although I did get a better feel for the place than the characters, which is something. I enjoy the mysteries, as they're reasonably complex, but the characters remain a bit flat and lifeless, with lots of telling instead of showing, which removes a lot of the tension from the story.

There is a big gap between the first and second murders, with the time in between filled with the police fumbling around and going in circles to find a lead. Oldroyd is his usual reticent self, withholding his ideas and thoughts in order to let either Stephanie or Andy come up with something instead of sharing and trying to engage discussion so it's easier (and way faster!) to get a result. This is apparently cool with the officers. There isn't much action or sense of urgency to get this resolved apart from some urging from Oldroyd's boss. But there we are.

It probably could have used another solid edit to tighten it up, but was enjoyable enough to pass a few hours with.

Great standalone, in my opinion, to the series. Heads up there are four prior’s in this one so if you are the type who “must” read from start to end, not for you then. I however found zero issues with diving into this and felt just fine. I loved the way the author captured the atmosphere and played with the characters. Older passing down knowledge to the newbies. Enjoyable read for me.

This book for me was slow and very drawn out. It was hard for me to get through this book without wanting to put it down and read something else. I wanted to like it, It sounded interesting and had potential. It just wasn't for me.

I don't know what it was about this book. It was essentially a police procedural. The police were investigating a murder in a small town in Yorkshire. A witness had identified the murderer, but then, when they searched diligently, the murder could not be found. Then, later on, another person was gunned down and a witness identified a second killer, who then disappeared without a trace.

It should have been an interesting book, but somehow it wasn't. Something about the writing style felt "off". I can't pin it down, but the interactions between the people seemed contrived and not real, and none of the primary characters was particularly likable. Then too, I find it hard to believe that folks who were locals at the pub, and who did odd jobs around town were also completely unknown to the people of the town. How do you be an odd-job man if there's no way for people to contact you? Small towns are full of gossiping and spying. How is it possible for someone to show up at the pub on a regular basis, but to have no one ever see the person come in to town or leave again? I dunno, it just didn't make sense.

Then too, I got a sense that I was supposed to be immersed in the wonder of the Yorkshire countryside, but I didn't find this book came close to even hinting about such wonders. The book told me from time to time how wonderful Yorkshire can be. But it never showed me Yorkshire's natural wonders. It's much different from my experience imagining Shetland from Anne Cleeves' books, or western Canada from the writings of Harold Blindloss or James Oliver Curwood. Then, of course, we have the masterful descriptions of Wessex as described by Thomas Hardy.

The Nidderdale Murders is apparently the fifth book in the series about DCI Oldroyd and his police investigating team working in North Yorkshire. Although I hadn’t read any of the previous stories and there were a few references to past cases solved, this book stood alone well enough.

The murder of a retired judge and local landowner outside the pub in a small Nidderdale village leaves the detective and his associates puzzled. The murderer, witnessed and identified by a barmaid in the pub, has disappeared leaving no trace of even existing. Investigations continue amongst the locals and those in the vicinity on the night, most of whom, including the local anti-hunting demonstrator, rather disliked the victim. However, none seemed to have any grounds for his actual murder. About three quarters of the way through, a second (somewhat surprising) murder of the local, well-liked shopkeeper takes place, with the same situation of a reliable witness identifying the perpetrator who immediately disappears.

The pressure is on to solve the case before any more seemingly connected but random murders take place. Needless to say, Oldroyd does this following an inspiring night out watching a Shakespeare play. The eventual reveal, although definitely not likely to be guessed, is rather Incredulous.

J.R. Ellis’ writing is quite meticulous and old fashioned and all a bit cosy as a result. The police characters are all very diligent and a bit too perfect. DCI Oldroyd does park runs in Harrogate on a Saturday morning followed by a well-earned healthy breakfast in a local eatery; biscuits provided at meetings in the police station are shunned because they are all watching their waistlines. I’d have liked some of them to have been a bit more flawed and a bit more realistic.

Living in Nidderdale and knowing well the places mentioned or hinted at in the book probably made me enjoy the book more, but it was generally an enjoyable read and I would read another.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion, and while I had not read the previous books in this series, I was able to easily follow along. Previous cases were mentioned a few times but were explained well and didn't take me out of the story at all.

DCI Jim Oldroyd and his team are called to a small village in Yorkshire by the name of Niddersgill to investigate the murder of retired judge and current grouse moor owner Alexander "Sandy" Fraser. The twist here is that a barmaid clearly saw the face of the murderer (as he weirdly made sure to look right at her and smile before running off), and you would think this would be an open and shut case, but that wouldn't make for a good story, so no, it's more complex than that. Then when a second murder occurs, things get even more complicated.

I really enjoyed this book, probably because I love murder mysteries set in small villages over in England. If you've ever seen Midsomer Murders, I was reminded of this series when I was reading the book. I loved the characters and thought the plot moved along at a smooth pace.

In summary, this was a very enjoyable, easy to read book, and I look forward to going back and reading books 1 through 4 of this newly discovered series.

5/5 stars.

This was definitely not my usual read and I did have a hard time getting into the story. This is not to say it was the authors fault but it was all mine. It's just not my type of story. I did not realize this was a series but other readers seem to have enjoyed it so its all a matter of choice.. He is very descriptive of the countryside and you really feel like you are there. . Well developed characters. I would recommend this for people who like Mysteries that take place in England.

In this fifth installment in the series, an unpopular retired judge is killed almost everyone in the village is a suspect. Where to start,.. when a second murder occurs the team, led by the quite likeable Jim Oldroyd, set about finding the clues and unravelling the links to solve the mystery.

The characters in the book are easy to relate to and imagine and the descriptions of the beautiful Yorkshire countryside brings the book to life. A good read for any fans of cosy mysteries.

Thanks to NetGalley, Amazon publishing and the author for an ARC of this book.

Noooooo! The fifth book in a series? I am an in order reader, but I plowed ahead for the sake of giving the book a fair chance. I really loved the descriptions of the book and the detectives, but I found myself unfortunately quite bored. I did not care for the victim and the plot moved far too slow.

Nidderdale is a remote Yorkshire village of Niddersgill .. not somewhere one would suspect a murder taking place.

A retired judge is the victim. He wasn't well liked and almost everyone in the village had a motive.

DCI Jim Oldroyd and his team are tasked with the investigation. There just happens to be an eyewitness to the crime and Oldroyd is already planning a quick end to solving the murder. But ... the gunman has disappeared .. and he was one of those who didn't have a grudge. So why was he murdered?

And then a second murder occurs. A local shopkeeper is gunned down ... again there is no clear motive .. so why was he killed?

And who might be next?

This is a rather slow paced mystery that only picks up here and there. The characters are intriguing, deftly drawn. Although 5th in the series, this can easily be read as a stand alone.

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

I really enjoyed this book. It had alot of twists and turns in the story and close to the end it was not what one would expect.

The Nidderdale Murders is a solid British whodunit with all that's needed to make it a good read: intriguing characters, plot twists, a lovely Yorkshire setting, and a believable and likeable DCI, Jim Oldroyd. When there are two murders in succession that make no sense and seem to point to a murderer who is also a conundrum, Oldroyd and his team work hard to figure out who is responsible for the deaths. There are other characters who round out the plot, including Fraser, one of the dead, who owned a grouse moor but seldom paid his bills, a female activist who has sabotaged the hunts, a blackmailer, and other quixotic local folk. The author does a good job of balancing the plot and rounding out the characters, particularly Oldroyd, to keep the reader's interest.

An enjoyable British mystery. This is referred to as a cozy, but it didn’t have that feel to me at first. I finally realized it was because of the descriptive writing about Yorkshire. However I don’t think anyone could argue that the descriptive writing isn’t done well. I could see pictures of the scenery the author describes.
This story is full of enjoyable likeable characters. It is just an overall good read with plenty of twists and turns. I sure didn’t guess who the bad guy/girl was.

This was an excellent whodunit. There is great procedural stuff, some hair raising scenes, and suspects to choose from. I thoroughly enjoyed.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.