The setting in this one, North Ireland, leaves almost an additional character into the book, as the detectives deal with situations differently than one would expect, due to the past troubles and hostilities. Add in a case that occurred numerous years before, and you have a story that travels back and forth in time. Much like Irish history the past comes back and influences the current. It's an interesting mystery, a great new series and I can't wait to read more!

Complex thriller which starts thirty years ago with the disappearance of a wife and mother and continues with the discovery of small bones in the garden. Well written with good characters and is surely to be continued.

It seems to be a month of bent coppers, cold cases mixed with modern ones and female detectives battling the male bastion of detection. This is no exception. Set in Belfast the detective is Asha Harvey, daughter of an Indian shop keeper and always wanting to be a detective. She's succeeded and remains driven to solve the case of a child's bones being discovered under the site of an old greenhouse. Sue's mother disappeared years ago and Sue was at first worried that the bones were those of her mother - the greenhouse being on the family garden. Sue's father has dementia and it's not clear whether his rambles of death, murder, police insinuations are real or not. Asha and sidekick Aaron have a convoluted story to unfold, some very nasty characters from the days of the Troubles and a complex family. Well researched and the characters are developing nicely. Look forward to more. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I requested this book and began reading it, I didn’t realise it was the second in a series. This didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book and I still managed to follow the plot. I will go back and read the first in the series though!
An original plot with many individual plot strands that end up being tightly weaved together to solve several mysteries. A missing boy, a vanishing mother and a corrupt police officer all contribute toward the mystery that Kerry Buchanan creates.
Highly recommended.

An excellent crime thriller, I could not put it down. Who’s bones are buried underneath the old greenhouse and more importantly who put them there. I was gripped from the first page.

*5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was a very interesting read, especially when trying to figure out who was the actual culprit and who were the good guys. Really good characters and I look forward to reading more from this series.

Would recommend.

Sue Hearn, while cleaning up an old greenhouse at the back of her family's property, finds human remains. From there, the story unfolds between danger in the current time and historical events which led up to the small body being buried in that location. The past is doomed to repeat itself unless Sue and the detectives can discover what really happened.

I thought Small Bones would be a great story, as I love a good mystery, and this book promised to be that. However, it fell short for me. The story line itself seemed to drag, and honestly I found myself dreading picking the book up when I had a chance to read. While the idea behind the plot was believable, the characters and their actions were not. Sue, having previously worked in a pathology lab, places the skull she finds in a bag and carts it off to show a former coworker rather than leaving it on site and calling the police. Protocol for most of that characters, regardless of profession, is pretty much thrown out the window. Fantastical escapes are made that seem not only improbable but implausible.

This was a miss for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well written and action packed.I look forward to Kerry Buchanan's next book.
Thank you Netgalley and Joffe Books for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

“There was a secret…one she’d kept inside her all these years, too afraid to look for answers…”

While doing a little yard work, Sue Hearn unearths a human skull. After her mom disappeared 30 years ago, Sue wonders could it be her mom’s bones…and is her father responsible for her death. But alas, Sue’s father has dementia and trying to get him to answer questions often times makes him agitated and his ramblings make no sense, especially when he starts telling tales of a policeman being behind her disappearance. Not sure who to believe or where to turn, Sue puts her trust in Detectives Asha Harvey and Aaron Birch. Together they unravel a conspiracy that has been long running…and deadly…

Kerry Buchanan has written another suspense filled crime thriller with an ending guaranteed to have me anxiously awaiting the next installment to this series! Highly recommend to fans of this genre!




**I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

My thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Publishers for a copy of “ Small Bones “ for an honest review.

I hadn’t realised that this was the second in a series but this didn’t really spoil my enjoyment of the book at all.
The book was well paced , and had really interesting characters.It was different from what I was expecting from the book premise, and had elements of “ Line Of Duty “in the story.
I was impressed by Kerry Buchanan’s writing, and will definitely be looking out for more of her work

This is an excellent book 2 to feature Harvey and Birch of the PSNI. It's action packed from the start and filled with twists and turns right to the very end. The plot is well crafted with well developed characters and although I enjoyed the read, there was too much time spent in the hospital for the three lead characters. Overall, an enjoyable and fast read with an unexpected ending. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

I loved book 1 in this series (Knife Edge) so I was very much looking forward to book 2. They do work perfectly as stand-alone and Kerry has made sure there are no spoilers or big chunks of text referring to the first book which made it all the more enjoyable.

The characters continue to develop and I love the way Kerry has woven into the story the challenges facing a coloured woman in overcoming the challenges of the Police Force where the white male dominance is very ingrained.

Sue brings a different character to the story and I would like to see her appear in future books.

Sue is removing the flagstones after the greenhouse collapsed and she found something she really wasn't expecting. Having worked in the area before she knew a child's bone when she saw one. What follows is a very intriguing complex case that delves into live more than 3 decades ago and brings to light actions that make Asha and Arron wondering who they can trust.

Abduction, attempted murder, bullying, corruption, lies and revenge all play a part in this totally gripping thriller that will have you turning page after page all the way to the jaw-dropping ending.

Another brilliant read from a very talented author

This is the second in Kerry Buchanan's crime series set in Belfast, Northern Ireland with its history of the troubles and featuring DS Asha Harvey and DC Aaron Birch. Sue Hearn is working on her herb garden when she makes a macabre discovery, human remains, that initially thinks might be connected to her mother, Monica, who went missing over 30 years ago. However, the bones are too small and belong to that of a child, with the police working hard to identify the victim. Sue's father has dementia and talks of a bent cop, making this a particularly difficult and complex investigation, who can be trusted within the police? This is engaging crime read, with dual time lines from the past in 1992 and the present, a past that is rearing its ugly head, bring danger into the present. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Another masterpiece from the talent Buchanan!

Harvey and Birch are back for there second stint and and just as in the first instalment it doesn't disappoint.

A compelling nail biting action packed read that draws you in from the off!

4.5⭐️
#2 in the Harvey and Birch series.
My first book by this author which is set in Belfast. It reads well as a standalone, there are references to the previous case, but nothing that made me feel that I needed to have read them in order.
It’s listed as a crime thriller, it’s not your standard police procedural, it’s more of a fusion with a domestic noir. It has a Belinda Bauer style feel about it, which is a compliment as I love her books.
It grabbed my interest straight away.
When Sue Hearn is digging over to make a herb garden in the old family home on the site that she remembers her grandfather erecting a greenhouse when she was a teenager. Sue finds human bones, small bones.
The story is told in 2 timeframes December 1992 and the present. The main points of view are from Sue and Asha.
There isn’t any duplication of information given between the time lines it all seamlessly evolves between the 2.
The characters are well drawn. I especially like young Will. I like Asha the detective too, she has a gentle caring way about her. Lonnie seems to be the stations oracle and super efficient.
I have to mention the partnership of Asha and Aaron they get on well, make a great team having implicit trust in each other, and there’s some chemistry too.
The writing style is so easy to read.
It has a healthy balance between character and plot. There’s some gentle humour too.
It really drew me in. So much going on, there are constant revelations and action which held my attention through out. It never fails to keep you guessing with the twists and turns.

“Utterly addictive” was the claim, but it wasn’t for me. There are plenty of other titles out there that will keep you up late at night as you refuse to stop turning the pages.

First time I’ve read a Kerry Buchanan story and it won’t be the last after this, plus I can’t wait for next in what must be a series using same main characters otherwise why leave you guessing there’s more to come. A murder of a child 30years later starts a series of events which sees attempted murders to cover up the past. Good old fashioned police murder mystery with villains, heroes and those you aren’t sure about at the end.

This book had me hooked from the first page to the last. I don't want to give anything away., but I can't walk until the next one!

This is the second story in this series following on from the hugely successful “Knife Edge” that introduced DS Asha Harvey and DC Aaron Birch to us.
The story is told in two time frames set in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1992 a man is using his position of trust and influence to extort money and deal drugs, and has found a new victim to lean on. A young schoolboy witnesses his favourite teacher, Miss Stewart, being threatened and something terrible may have happened to her.
In the present day Sue Hearn is digging a herb garden on the site of an old greenhouse in the garden of Carrow Lodge, the home of her family for generations. She first finds a small bone and then, chillingly, a skull. The plot hasn’t been disturbed since the slabs were laid thirty years ago and, worried that somehow it will link to a member of her family, she takes her finds to her old boss, Professor Mark Talbot, at the State Pathologist’s Department. Sue used to work there before her father’s failing health and dementia required her full time care. He concludes the bones belong to a ten to twelve year old child who was murdered and immediately calls a detective he can trust – Asha Harvey, now an acting DI and hoping to prove herself to Det Chief Supt Yvonne Patterson who warns her to wrap up the case quickly. Enquiries eventually lead to an identification of the child but every new find seems to place the detectives and Sue in more danger. Could the ramblings of Sue's father, where he blames a policeman for involvement in the disappearance of her mother, Monica Hearn, actually have any truth to them? What happened to Monica? Did she run or was she taken, and if so, by whom? Harvey and Birch really have their work cut out, hampered by the fact that the only person they can really trust is Sergeant Lonnie Jacob, an old timer who has been in the job for years, and as a black woman in the PSNI she has seen and heard it all. As the buried secrets come to light and the awful truth is revealed, someone is watching, desperate to evade justice after all these years and will stop at nothing.
I love Lonnie, probably my favourite of all the very well drawn characters, although Harvey, Birch and Jana are also extremely likeable. There are loads of exciting twists and turns in this very well written and thrilling story, which I can highly recommend. Absolutely excellent and even better than book one – I can’t wait to see what comes next! 5*

Sue Hearn discovers bones in her garden while digging around the greenhouse. The house has been in her family for generations. Detectives Asha Harvey and Aaron Birch come to investigate. The bones are around 30 years old, the same time since her mother disappeared, however the bones are of a young boy not a grown woman. Who was this boy and who in the family buried him there? Sue and the detectives are caught up in the investigation, being attacked as someone clearly doesn’t want the reason behind these bones to be discovered.
A gripping crime thriller that keeps you wanting to know what happens next. Second book in the series and can’t wait to read the next instalment.