This book is part of a series.
It isn’t my favourite book in the series. It just wasn’t as entertaining as previous books. It is still well written but just lacked a bit of oomph.

Great series, and great writing! Really enjoyable book by Nick Louth who is now a must read author! Kept me turning the pages well into the evening.

I see this is already the ninth book in the series, and unfortunately I haven't read the previous books in the series. This one however reads nicely enough as a standalone and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will catchup with the other books in the series now.

Another excellent book from Nick Louth featuring DCI Craig Gillard and his team investigating the discovery of a body found by an excavator on land near the River Wey in Surrey.. This novel will keep you guessing until the final pages and you will not be able to put the book down.

another great read in the series and great to catch up with the team. I always enjoy these cases and am looking forward to the next one.

Received this as an ARC from Canelo, wow loved this book, nice guess work up to the end on who did what when and why, who new a village could be so interesting 😆
Fantastic characters as always and the attention really bringing D&I to the front of book without pushing down your throat.
Compelling read bring on the next one.

A grizzly tale!

I gather that this is the ninth in the popular crime thriller series featuring DCI Craig Gillard.

It drew me in from the beginning because the action started straight away! An extremely decayed corpse was discovered of a man who was buried in an Anglo-Saxon burial site. The dental records of the corpse revealed that this was a modern crime, not ancient history!

At this stage, DCI Craig Gillard was called in to investigate. The forensic department discovered that the body belonged to Ozzy Blanchard, who had been missing for quite some time.

Many twists and turns throughout the investigation kept me focused and thoroughly enjoying the rollercoaster ride!

I shall certainly look out for others in the DCI Craig Gillard series.

Galadriel.

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.
I have read all the books in this series and have enjoyed them but I did feel that this became a bit laborious and it was a bit of an effort to get to the end. Nevertheless, I am eagerly awaiting the next outing.

I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of characters and a number of different storylines in this book, but it was well-written, easy to follow, and engaging. I was very interested in finding out the identity of the body beneath the willows, and enjoyed being led to the conclusion.

I had no idea that this book was part of a series when I requested an advance copy, and though it may have been nice to know some of the past history of DCI Gillard, it really didn't matter. I plan to go back and read the earlier installments of this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for an advance copy of this book.

This was another fantastic instalment to the series! DCI Craig Gillard is back and on fire. I was addicted to the story and all the different crimes that were weaved into the main plot. I was desperate to know who the body was and what had happened to them and really enjoyed all the twist and turns along the way. As per usual Nick Louth threw in a few red herrings and surprises which only made it more enjoyable.

Nick is one of my favourite authors, I love his books. The settings are in the southeast UK so local to myself which I really like as you can picture the places. This was one of his best stories as it really kept you guessing about the characters, so not knowing if they were good or bad, then he gives you some surprises that you were not expecting. Another best seller for Nick, well done.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canelo for the electronic copy.
This is Book #9 in the series starring DCI Craig Gillard and his team from Surrey constabulary, and I've enjoyed all of them. However, this particular read is somewhat lengthy with a complexity of plot which you really need to concentrate on.
A water company manager, Ozzy Blanchard, loads his car with possessions, drives off and, after a hectic car chase going the wrong way on a dual carriageway, crashes into a river in Hampshire - except his body isn't found.
Six months later in the hamlet of Rissington Common, people working on flood drainage unearth a body from an embankment. DCS Stella Anderson from Hampshire constabulary (and an old acquaintance of Craig) takes an interest in case it is their missing Ozzy.

Craig has a murder to solve under difficult circumstances; Stella is delving into the financials of the water company. but their paths keep crossing, and not always happily.

There are lots of characters in this which are sometimes hard to keep up with although, as usual, I love the interactions of Craig and his team. It is well-written with believable dialogue, but I did find the more "technical" pages of narrative a bit boring. Overall I finished reading with the thought that just about everything but the kitchen sink has been thrown into the mix and, in my opinion, over-complicated the story.

This series by Nick Louth is one of my favourites, and I really look forward to each book. This is certainly mo disappointment as they get better and better each time. Eagerly anticipating the next one

I've read some books in this series, but this one is readable as a standalone with sufficient backstory on the main characters. DCI Gillard is a believable protagonist and a dedicated detective. His latest investigation appears straightforward but has hidden complexities. I like the characters in the investigation team and the attention to detail in the investigation process. The pacing increases the tension and maintains reader engagement,

I received a copy of this book from Canelo via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Another in the series with DCI Craig Gillard. This one is set during the lockdown in the COVID time and there are quite a few references to this. The location is a village near Haslemere in Surrey. A water company is doing pipework and drainage when a dead body turns up. There are also allegations of fraud within the water company and one of the workers disappears.... is he the dead body ?
There are a lot of characters in this book, a couple of families of villagers who could be implicated in the crimes, a trendy vicar with a criminal past and a PI who is also related to one of the investigation team. It took some concentration to keep on top of who was who. Saying that, the plot was well done, believable and well thought out. The evidence and investigation felt right, though were at times a bit convoluted. Some parts were, I thought, unnecessary (Craig's Aunt?) and were maybe an attempt to add to his private life, which fell flat for me.
I have read another one of this series, so knew the detectives, it does work as a stand alone read.
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As usual in my reviews I will not rehash the plot...

This is the 9th book in the DCI Craig Gillard series, but don't worry if you haven't read the previous books - there is sufficient background information about the characters from previous novels for this to work fine as a standalone.

The book starts with the dramatic disappearance of a water company employee, and continues with the discovery of a body - coincidentally (?) in an area linked to the same company. Is this the missing man, or someone else? Well you'll have to read it to find out...

A decent police procedural - looking forward to the next book in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

3.5 stars rounded up!
I think I am hooked to this series now. I really enjoyed reading the story, but I had some questions about the plot that really just made it fall short of strong 4 stars!
I did guess who the mystery corpse was quite early on, so a little disappointed that the investigator didn't!
The unravelling fell a little short of nail-biting or suspenseful, it actually felt flat.

The body beneath the willows by Nick Louth.
DCI Craig Gillard Crime Thrillers Book 9.
On the tree-lined banks of Surrey’s River Wey, a decaying corpse is dug up by workmen in the middle of an Anglo-Saxon burial site. His modern dental fillings show that this is no Dark Age corpse...
DCI Craig Gillard is called in, but the body’s condition makes identification difficult. One man, however, seems to fit the bill: Ozzy Blanchard, a contractor employed by the same water firm doing the digging who disappeared six months ago, his crashed company car found nearby. But then an X-ray of the corpse throws the investigation into turmoil. A shard of metal lodged in his neck turns out to be part of an Anglo-Saxon dagger unknown to archaeologists. Who wielded this mystery weapon and why? Does the answer lie in a murderous feud between two local families? The deeper Gillard digs, the more shocking truths he will uncover.
I really enjoyed this book. Great story and characters. I liked Gillard. I love this series. 5*.

Another intriguing episode in the DCI Gillard series of crime investigations. A body discovered whilst construction of a new watercourse and monetary fraud form the basis of the storyline. A long list of dubious characters all become suspects from a vicar with a violent past to a crime family involved in the construction project. We only get glimpses of Gillards home life in this tale but the dodgy aunt from past episodes is still lurking and doubtless will reappear in future episodes! It all builds to a complex but satisfying conclusion and the next one is eagerly awaited.

DCI Gillard and crew have two mysteries to solve. One is a water employee who crashed his car and then promptly disappeared. And a body with no identity tied to the same water company. Rounding out the confusion is a fraud investigation against the water company, but with investigators who are unwilling to share information. And did I mention that the unknown body was apparently dispatched by a rare Anglo Saxon dagger? Despite it sounding OTT, it wasn't. In fact, I was very pleased that this entry in the series harkened back to the earlier books, which in my opinion were much better than the most recent ones. I will definitely be back the next book in this series.