The danger within by Hilary Bonner.
A David Vogel Mystery Book 4.
A man lies dead on the kitchen floor of his comfortable North Devon home, his body punctured by multiple stab wounds. Beside him sits his silent, traumatised wife.
DCI David Vogel reckons he’s seen it all before. A domestic tragedy: an abused wife snaps after years of suffering within a deeply tormented marriage. Then again, as a police officer of long experience, Vogel knows it’s dangerous to rely on assumptions. As his investigations lead him in all sorts of unexpected directions, uncovering a number of shocking secrets in the dead man’s past, Vogel comes to realize that nothing about this case is as straightforward as it seems.
I did enjoy this book. Great story and characters. Will be looking at the first books in series. 4*.

It's not an easy read even if it's gripping and entertaining. There's plenty of parts about women abuse and you cannot help feeling for the women involved.
David Voegel and his teams are back and the mystery is twisty and gripping.
It's a twisty, dark and gripping story that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a difficult read due to the subject matter of domestic violence. DCI Vogel is investigating the murder of a local business man, found dead by his wife. The book is told from two points of view and is very cleverly written. It kept me interested from the beginning, right to the cliffhanger ending and the many unexpected twists. I would highly recommend this read, it's brilliant. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This is book 4 of this series and, as per usual, I am going to recommend you start from book one and read in order. If for no other reason than they are all cracking reads. But also cos you'll get the best from the characters, their backstories and development if you do this.
So... a man lies dead in his kitchen. Many stab woulds festoon his body. His wife sits next to him, traumatised. She is the one who called the emergency services but she claims she had nothing to do with his death. DCI David Vogel isn't convinced. But his feelings are based on gut and supposition and not fact and that just won't cut it. So he and his team begin their investigations in earnest. Opening up cans after cans of worms about the man's life. Exposing secrets and lies and more than a slice of duplicitous behaviour. But... if the wife didn't do it? Well then... who did...?
And to top all that, we also hear from another person. From back in 1997, a woman trying to flee from her dominating and dangerous husband. Quite how these storylines fit together... well... you'll have to find that out for yourself but, it's all a bit clever!
I do love this series. Mainly cos the main cops aren't stereotypical. Yes they have stuff going on in their personal lives but the main focus of the book is always on the cases at hand. We have had a location move and with that came a new cast of characters and a new challenge for Vogel - but that just serves to keep thing fresh for me.
The storyline is, well, just superb. Well plotted and that plot extremely well executed. It also goes along at a fair lick as there is no superfluous padding or waffle. It had me running round chasing my tail for the majority, wondering how the two threads would eventually merge - if indeed they did! And I just had to sit back and applaud the author for a job well done.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

You won't know for a long time how Gillian and Lillian are linked except that they are both victims of domestic abuse. DCI David Vogel suspects that Gillian who reported the murder of her husband Thomas did not miurder him but the evidence seems to point to her. Yes, Thomas was abusive but....Then there's the part of the story set in 1997 London for Lillian who suffered abuse as well. No spoilers from me but know that there is a twist. I liked this for Vogel, who is a good character, and the procedural aspects, as some of the themes felt familiar. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC>.

This book is the fourth in the series and I’ve enjoyed each of the three prior books. This is an entertaining police procedural series and I really like the way DCI David Vogel and his team work together. Their latest case seems to be open and shut when Gillian Quinn, who is covered in blood, reports the death of her husband inside their home. However, there is more to this case than it first appears.

Another part of the book is told from the point of view of Lilian St. John whose abusive husband left London to return to his homeland in South Africa. Upon her release from the hospital after her husband’s last attack, she learns that his men are still trying to control her life. Many of the appalling things Lilian goes through are described in detail and are very hard to read. It takes a while to figure out the connection between Lilian and the rest of the book.I was able to figure out some, but not all of the plot twists in this book. I thought that a few things didn’t add up, but overall the ending was unexpected, but satisfying. I liked the book and look forward to more in this series.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Severn House. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Spousal Abuse Proves To Be A Difficult Case

The novel opens with DCI David Vogel arriving at the crime scene. A dead man was lying in a pool of blood down in the kitchen. An uninjured woman but covered in blood is sitting nearby on the floor. She is incoherent and probably in shock. The woman is the man’s wife and is taken to the hospital. It appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder by an abused spouse except that she has a rock-solid alibi. Then, a second thread starts 170 miles to the east in London and back in 1997. Lilian St. John is leaving a hospital after severely beaten again by her husband. The husband has left as there is a warrant out for his arrest. Lilian, even though her mobility is quite limited because of her broken ankle, tries to disappear and escape from her husband. The novel takes off with these two main storyline threads.

The DCI Vogel thread is spend first looking at family members with motive, means and opportunity. While with some there always seems to be a piece of the puzzle missing until an event that brings the investigation into focus. Vogel and his team’s efforts to unravel this Gordian knot of a case captured my interest. The Lilian thread essentially and cat and mouse chase between her and her husband. The tension concerning will Lilian be successful in her repeated attempts to evade her husband and her being handled by police and courts was my attention getter for this thread. The strength of my attention’s capture is my major criterion for a high star rating.

The B-storyline centers mainly on Vogel and Saslow who was his partner in London. Her promotion to Detective Sergeant was to incentivize her moving with Vogel from London to Barnstable, North Devon. Her social life has changed Vogel’s relationship with Superintendent Nobby Clarke has changed. There is a little more of Vogel’s feelings and family than I remember in previous novels in this series. My knowledge of these two characters continued to deepen. With the change of location, Vogel has an almost entirely new team. Even while reading this novel, when these new members came into the scene, I knew who they were. They all were well-rounded characters. The B-storyline contributed to my reading enjoyment of this novel.

As for the common detractors for some readers, there is a scene of spousal abuse and clearly portrays the terrible circumstances the women find themselves. While definitely adult content, it was not gratuitous in my opinion. As for language, it is quite minimal. Violence generally is described in the less edgy after the fact, but violence for the above woman is described as it occurs. While I’m becoming better with British informal, especially used in British Police Procedurals, I used the easy Internet access on my e-reader to look up a handful of words.

First of all, the literary tsunami in this novel changed my understanding of what had happened is a up to that point and brought a smile to my face. On the downside, I did not find anything that was a problem for me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. If you like reading police procedurals, I strongly recommend reading this novel even if it is the first in the series that you do read. I rate this novel with five stars. It appears that this book is the last in the series. If so, I am looking for the start of the next series from this author.

I received a free e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Severn House. My review is based only by my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Severn House for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

More Than Meets The Eye…?
The fourth in the David Vogel series finds the Detective and team with a killing on their hands. Is there way more to this seemingly straightforward crime than meets the eye? A solid read with a credible cast of characters and a nicely flowing storyline in which difficult themes are dealt with sleight of hand. A worthy addition to the series.

This is a very cleverly contrived story. The book starts with two quite separate stories of women seriously abused by their husbands twenty years apart. Readers wonder from the start how these two separate tales are going to come together. The contemporary murder of the abusive husband is being investigated by DCI Vogel and he had doubts about charging the most obvious suspect, the wife. Then there is the son Greg who might have been defending his mother. That brings him into contact with the local refuge run by Helen Harris whose background is also mysterious. The book raises important issues of reaction to marital abuse and the problems for women caught up in it. The story lines are very well crafted and when you think the outcome is obvious, there is another twist. This is a compelling read and I recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley and Canongate Books, Severn House for the eARC.
This mystery deals with domestic violence and the terrible fear and pain the affected spouses live with. It's very sobering...
DCI David Vogel and his team are called out to a house where a man lies dead, his silent wife, covered in blood, obviously in shock, sitting on the floor.
Then we go to 1997, where a woman, just out of a three-week stay in hospital, is desperate to flee from her wealthy, charismatic husband. She has nowhere to go, cut off from any money sources, so she returns to their home, knowing he has returned to his native S. Africa. But she knows he'll be back for her...
The two stories are both very compelling, but it's only towards about 3/4 in that you realize how they mesh. It's an excellent book, I loved it and thought it was really well done, plus the ending was superb.
Highly recommended!

What's happened at 11 St Anne's Avenue that's what DCI David Vogel needs to find out.
He arrives to find Thomas Quinn laying dead in the kitchen with multiple stab wounds his wife Gina is cowering in the corner covered in blood.After he finds out Gina'has suffered domestic abuse by her husband for many years it seems an easy case but he knows things are never as they seem.
As he tries to solve the case it leads him in many directions.
I'm a big lover of Hilary Bonner's books and this new book didn't dissapoint it was a great read and highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley and Severn Books for the ARC.