This is the 2nd book featuring my new favorite detective, Charley Mann. She is a great detective, that has to deal with two bodies found, as well as her personal life. I enjoyed this book, and will be starting no 3 now.
TB

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.

It was an 'okay' read - I didn't feel it was as good as the first in the series, payback, which I loved. Difficult to articulate why this didn't hold my attention in the same way, there was nothing terrible about it, I just didn't get as involved with the story or characters as I normally do.

DI Charley Mann is called when a deserted manor house scheduled to be demolished has been the target of an arson attack.

As Charley goes through the abandoned manor, he finds two bodies ... murdered decades apart, in hidden rooms. The house has a dark history, but the present is even more taciturn.

Who were these victims and who killed them? How does the house connect to the victims ..and why was the fire started?

Mann is being drawn into a violence previously unknown. The ghosts of the past can be all too real. Face them at your peril, because what goes around, comes around…

The clever plot is filled with heart-stopping action. The characters are solidly drawn and the secrets the house holds in sinister in nature. Although this is the 2nd in this series, it is easily read as a stand alone. However, I recommend reading the books in order, if only to get more of a backstory.

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

Unfortunately, the story line did not hold my interest. First time I have read this author. I would like to read another book by this author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

An enjoyable read.

Well written, with a convincing cast of characters.

A little too slow-paced for my liking. I found it difficult to become invested in the story.

An interesting crime novel starting with two unrelated bodies found at a site where the old house is being demolished. Body number one was a great venture into police procedure with twists and turns. Body number two had me confused with all the relationships between the family. Maybe it could be my age that is slowing down. Overall I did enjoy the story and would like to read another DI Charley Mann getting to know the characters better.

The husband and wife writing team - R.C. Bridgestock - have once again delivered a police procedural thriller with an authentic edge.
Huddersfield, and the villages around it, on the West Yorkshire moors are a place of rare beauty, but when two bodies are found at the burnt-out mansion known as Crownest darkness permeates every page in a mystery full of twists and turns.
DI Charley Mann and her team are compelling characters and the plot is taut and engrossing.

In Condemned we find Charley again having to cope with a very cold case as it is January and a body has been found on a building site set for demolition. The forensics find two bodies, apart from each other one fresher than the other but the case throws in questions of legacy and land ownership in these still remote parts of our green and pleasant land.

Charley must contend against many hard-nosed egotistical males from the land developer where the bodies are found, to a young police officer who has a gambling problem affecting his work. These are expected in the still male dominated industry, yet it is the relationship with an elderly women that holds the key to the proceedings of the case and the spectre of ancestral family trees.

The air of suffocating oppression in the Yorkshire dales along with the incoming threat of Covid-19 that underlies the narrative is well done by the writing partnership. Personally though it does not reach the heights of the first novel - a common problem in new series as contemporaries Marion Todd and MJ Lee can attest to - yet those writers grew with each book in the series.

The wealth of experience at the disposal of Bridgestock is unparalleled yet in this instance the narrative did not hold the attention of this writer, yet it remains a solid piece of work in the crime genre. This reader looks forward to the next in the series.

A good, good story that kept me on the edge and entertained.
Liked the tightly knitted and fast paced plot, the characters and the twists and turns.
I can't wait to read another story by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I did enjoy this book, there was a lot of scene setting, and great atmospheric writing, so much so, one part had me putting it down as it was making me nervous!
I like Charley and I look forward to discovering more about her and the team

Routine Turns Murderous....
The second in the DI Charley Mann crime series in which a suspected routine call turns murderous. With credible characters, a host of suspects and an intriguing storyline this is an enjoyable read albeit slow in pace and narrative.

3.5*
#2 in the DI Charley Mann series. Although it’s the first one that I’ve read.
A fire at Crownest a bleak abandoned Manor House as it is about to be demolished reveals two bodies who were murdered decades apart.
At the start we are told some of the history of Crownest, which has had a dark and intriguing past.
It’s a more of a cosy police procedural with some folklore included for good measure.
The description of the older skeleton was very interesting.
I felt in places that there was an over sharing of research that it didn’t need the conversation the about identification from a single bone as a whole skeletons were found, the same with the body farm recollection.
There is good detail to the character development with all of the central characters, part of which Charley is having to deal with a member of the team who has a gambling addiction.
I found the pace slowed right down around 50% and my interest waned with inclusion of things like the Scarborough warning being included.
It picked up for me again at 70%
I felt that it read like a authentically investigated CID case which fits with the authors background.
I didn’t find that this book was really for me.

My first novel by R C Bridgestock, a husband and wife writing team. When two bodies are found in after a fire, DI Charley Mann is assigned the case. There is no identification for the bodies, Charley has a hard job on her hands when she discovers there is a decade between each deaths. A good police procedural novel set in Yorkshire. The story is great but I must admit I found it hard to get engrossed.

This was a ok read for me but didn’t wow me, I loved the idea of the plot, an old house ready to be demolished when two bodies are found, one from the past and one from the present. Where is fell short for me was the characters, I felt at times they were over explained to the read, I didn’t care enough to worry about what they were like or how they grew up. I wanted more of time pressured police hunt but unfortunately it just fell flat for me.

First encounter with husband and wife team of Robert and Carol Bridgestock and their character D I Charlie Mann. A fascinating story line with lots of twists and turns with crimes present and in the past. Kept me guessing until the end, look forward to more from this duo and including the D I Jack Dyllon series.

The premise for this book is quite good but the execution is not great. The plot and the conversations are all over the place. Lots of repetition , sometimes within the same paragraph,and haring off to follow dubious clues. Personally, I like to read about gathering of evidence but here this was rather hit and miss, Some of the personal details of the detectives did not add much to the story and none of them were particularly likeable or more than two dimensional characters. At the start of the book a snow storm was mentioned, downgraded later on to a frost .
The main detective, Charley has a relationship, though there is very little evidence of this in her thoughts and deeds. Annie was taught by nuns which was mentioned at least 20 times but which didn't say much about her as a person. The questioning of witnesses etc was quite strange. Some people in the book were caricatures and descriptions irrelevant and as the book wore on, rather irritating. The pathologist was an example, the description of the supposedly humorous character lost its way . The behaviour of some of the police, would I hope, be subject of diciplinary action if it happened in real life (The cold case duo amongst others).
I debated not finishing the book (it doesn't happen often) but carried on hoping that the events would become clearer (not really) .1,5 stars from me , I don'toften slate a book, but there are better options in this genre.
My thanks to Net Galley for the ARc in exchange for an honest review

I would like to thank Netgalley and Canelo for an advance copy of Condemned, the second novel to feature DI Charley Mann of the Doncaster Police.

When Crownest, a large home due for demolition, goes up in flames, firefighters find two skeletons, one recent and one historical and both appear to have been murdered. Charley is determined to solve both crimes, but with no identification the problem is where to start.

I thoroughly enjoyed Condemned which is a densely plotted police procedural with several twists and turns. It is told entirely from Charley’s point of view so the reader can dive right in and get involved. I loved it, as procedurals and single points of view are my favourite choices when reading. I like the way procedurals start with a wide open field of suspects and narrow it down and I like to be able to identify with the protagonist and live the events with them. This novel does not disappoint in these respects, although I was surprised by how wide the team had to range and how many other crimes they identified along the way. It certainly makes for an interesting read.

All these additional crimes play into the narrative of the modern death, which is incredibly complicated, not as in hard to understand but as who fits where and who did what. It’s fair to say that it becomes quite gripping as it starts to unravel, and even before that as the team grapples with knowing nothing. The older skeleton is rooted in old scandals linked to the house. I didn’t connect with it and found it to be a distraction from what I saw as the main event, the modern murder. Sorry, but I didn’t rate it and it fairly pointless.

I have not read the previous novel in the series, Payback, so this is my first introduction to Charley Mann. I like what I see, a tough woman doing a tough job with no room for sentiment. I think she is incredibly realistic, not a given in crime fiction, and the best thing about the novel. More, please.

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

Thank you NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada as well as the author, R.C. Bridgestock.
Let me start off saying, I tried my hardest to love this book. It was written with the consultation. of the maker of Happy Valley( a tv series which I have watched many times over) but It just went flat for me. I read over 50 percent of the book and I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. I am an avid reader and I get disappointed when I do not finish a book so I always try to but man, I just could not. I read that this is a part of a series maybe that was why ? and I have missed some groundwork and development from the first book. It had an okay start but it seemed to drag a bit kind of like a series does when they are doing character building and environment building but I had to give up. I do not want to rate to book low because for a person that may have read the first book this will be amazing for them.

Thank you everyone again!