I really enjoyed this book, it was suspenseful, engaging and gripping with a relatable protagonist taht I took to my heart. It was unpredictable and atmospheric, I really enjoyed it.

An enjoyable cosy mystery. The third in a series but could be read as a standalone. DS Cross and his team use his Asperger’s Syndrome to doggedly follow the clues and get results. In this book, the mother of the deceased refuses to accept the verdict of daughter’s death as suicide from an overdose. Can you spot the killer before Cross does? I couldn’t. Although not easy to work with, DS Cross has found himself a group of people who understand him and appreciate his skill set. Despite his lack of emotional expression, his care for his father and his cases makes him a relatable and engaging character. Highly recommend.

Sergeant George Cross is an enigma of a man as no one really knows him. He has spoken to a grieving mother that believes her daughter was murdered. He knows that he can't just leave her with no answers but what he finds doesn't explain much. But he doesn't give up that easily even after a complaint is brought against him by a fellow officer. Cross is different as he is on the autistic spectrum and he doesn't think like other people. But his team trusts him and when he finds out that the daughter Flick left behind a young daughter he knows that something is wrong. The more he digs the more he learns about Flick and what she was trying to do to make her life better. Now that Cross has started to dig into her therapist does he find more deaths that don't make sense but the truth doesn't shock him he is just not satisfied with the answers. He knows that there is more to the case and he won't stop until they find out the whole truth. A great read really enjoyed Cross as he never gives up even when people don't understand his methods he gives his all for the victims. Hopefully there are more Cross books to follow. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book features Bristol detective DS George Cross. He is a member of the Major Crimes Unit there. He is also on the Autism spectrum which can make him quite difficult to work with. However it gives him some qualities that make for a good detective. He engages with a civilian woman who has been around the MCU offices for three days to find out why she is there. She raises concerns she has with the death of her daughter being considered suicide. While initially sceptical Cross feels that it might be worth another look at the case. However he does need to get his boss to agree to re-opening the case.

The book follows the twists and turns of this case with Cross. Helping him are Ottey, also a DS and Cross's police partner, and Mackenzie who is a police staff member. Both of these seem to have become accustomed to dealing with Cross's autism quite well. I found it a little odd that a staff member would get so involved in the investigation however it worked well enough in the story. These three main characters all came over well enough and were developed too. The remaining characters were possibly a little weaker.

The case itself interesting and the general story line was well worked for me. There were quite a few twists and turns as far as the direction of the case and possible suspects were concerned. I confess that few of them came as no real surprise to me but that didn't affect my enjoyment. I enjoyed getting to know Cross as a character. He felt fairly "valid" most of the time however my experience of autism is somewhat limited.

I enjoyed this read and I will read the previous two books when I get the chance. I think this lacked a little tension for me as a police story. This does seem readable as a standalone book however I think an understanding of the characters would improve by starting at the beginning. I hope there will be further books in this series - I for one will be a reader of them!

I love George Cross, in spite, or perhaps because of, his quirks and outright unpleasantness at times, I loved that this book offers us a traditional detective type character who is also a champion of the voiceless. Many books claim to offer this, but the author makes this very credible and an important part of the plot.