This is book 2 in a series but can be read as a standalone. It’s well written. It has lots of twists and I enjoyed the plot. The pacing is fast. The characters are believable.

I loved this book, a real page turner, with all its twists and turns, very unexpected ending, brilliantly wrote

I really liked Hazel and enjoyed following along on her investigation. He coworkers and neighbors are memorable also. Great plot.
Many thanks to Hera and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this mainly for the very realistic and human lead character Hazel Todd. In fact I could see quite a few similarities between myself and this fictional detective! She’s around 50 and adjusting to a new single life after divorce, as well as having a demanding job and juggling menopause symptoms. She’s also carrying some trauma and complicated grief from the murder of her ex-husband just over a year ago. I’m sure a lot of women can relate to her and I love seeing interesting and intelligent middle aged women in fiction. She’s tough, has bags of experience and has a habit of eating all the wrong things. She’s someone to admire, with some all too human failings. I’m sure a lot of readers will relate to her. The case is suitably packed with red herrings and the twists we’ve come to expect from crime fiction. The plot centres around two murder victims with nothing much to link them except their previous convictions which resulted in relatively lenient sentences. Could this be a vigilante at work? The plot is engaging and intriguingly allows the reader to follow threads to the story that may or may not be relevant to the case. There is an overall message within the plot; split second decisions or mistakes can lead to events that shatter many lives. I think the author is developing a great series with DI Todd and I’ll be looking out for what she takes on next time.

Great plot to get yourself lost in. This book has everything. A real fast paced thriller. Will get your heart racing on more than one occasion. Very well written. Highly recommend this book

The second in a new series
And what a series this is going to be
Absolutely loved this book and can’t wait for the next book
And seeing what D.C.I Hazel Todd and her team get up to
Thanks NetGalley

The story was amazing. I think that the writer did a wonderful job with supplying the book with details of the plot. After a few chapters, notice that the narrative went to the normal task of investigating crime cases. The book got a little chatty at these moments. I thought that when the villain’s parts of the story were addressed. Those scenes were fantastic, because they focused on the points to the plot.they supplied the mystery and the suspense that played with the excitement and entertainment to the book. I would have liked to have read were Hazel, Andrea, Todd and Bill, chasing the villain or at least hit on the trail of them.

Retired teacher Maggie Ramsey is deliberately killed in a hit & run. She had escaped a custodial sentence after killing a child when she ran him over whilst being over twice the legal limit for alcohol. It is natural to suspect the family of the child who have been harassing her. However it seems the likely suspect has an alibi. When loner Peter King is killed- a loner who escaped prison after being found in possession of images of underage girls DCI Hazel Todd worries that they might be dealing with a vigilante. She is struggling with a personal loss & a difficult menopause that makes her wonder if she is up to the job but she is determined to get to the killer before they strike again.

I missed the first in this series which was a shame as although it does work as a 'stand-alone' there were a lot of referrals to past events which I found a bit annoying. Apart from that it was a really good story. I really liked having a character that seemed so 'real'- references to the embarrassment & discomfort of hot flushes is not a common feature of the narrative!

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book. I'm looking forward to the next one!

When a retired teacher and a recluse living in squalor are found dead on the same day these 2 victims appear to be two very different cases but somehow they are connected, each victim hiding a past misdemeanour.

A well written story that encaptures you from the start

Death Sentence by Kerry Watts is the second book in the brilliant Detective Hazel Todd series and I have really enjoyed this series.
When retired school teacher Maggie Ramsey is found dead outside her house in Perth Scotland, she is a victim of a hit and run. But no one saw the accident. Detective Hazel Todd is called to the scene and her team start to go door to door and ask of they saw or heard anything. Whilst they were investigating Maggie's death, they are called to attend the death of loner, Peter King, who was found stabbed to death in a squalid flat.

With two different deaths. Detective Hazel Todd starts to investigates both cases, she finds that both Maggie and Peter are hiding their own secrets which are crimes. Maggie’s was drunk driving that caused the death of a ten-year-old boy a year ago, and Peter's had retreated from the world to hide his harmful past. Detective Hazel Todd needs to find out what the link is between the two victims before another murder takes place. The clock is ticking and they all need to work fast!

Someone is out there and looking for revenge! But Why?

Soon Detective Hazel Todd and her team realises they have a psychopath on the loose and they have nothing to lose.

WoW, this is amazing book with great twists and turns throughout that will have you gripped from the begging till the end.

I found this book great as you can read this as a standalone but I do recommend to read the fist book as well as its a great new series.

Big thank you to NetGalley, Hera Books and the author Kerry Watts for my ARC of Death Sentence in exchange for an honest review

A very good story, full of complexity. It was very well plotted and the characterisation was good. What a lovely friendly crew of police they were. Making tea, offering KitKats. Great crew. It felt as if they all really cared for one another. The criminals on the other hand seemed more hard bitten, yet even they seemed to have a softer side..
I very much enjoyed reading it and devoured it quickly.

Thanks to Kerry and NetGalley for allowing me to read Death Sentence before the publication date.

This is the first of the DCI Todd series which I have read and now I want to read the earlier books.
Rather than write a synopsis of the story, I will focus on the writing.

Kerry has created so many powerful characters, each with their own background and personal issues which, rightly or wrongly, have shaped who they are today.

I think that Kerry was daring to create DCI Hazel Todd’s character as a menopausal woman with family responsibilities to juggle alongside her highly stressful role. Not so sure about Todd’s tendency to over indulge and then drive the next morning, particularly on the A9 but it served well to have the reader compare and contrast Hazel and Maggie.
This compare and contrast technique has been used to great effect throughout the book.

Kerry describes Peter’s perverted life in a sensitive manner which communicates his actions whilst avoiding the shock tactics used by some authors.

Overall, this is a page turner with many twist and turns and a surprising ending.

A solid crime thriller I thoroughly enjoyed. It's solid, gripping, and full of twists.
Good character and plot development, it kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Great addition to the dci hazel todd series, it was fast paced, brilliant storyline, couldnt put it down highley recommend

1st off Book 1 was great. We got to meet new characters and learn a bit about them as the story carried on. Loved it.

Book 2. This book, absolutely cracking. Hated putting it down to do things. Hazel is such a good character, she’s human and has her way of dealing with her private life, her job, her colleagues.
This can be read as a stand alone, it’s that well written, but to me get the 1st get hooked.
Great story, so well weaved together, how it holds up and follows. Excellent.

🔎Two victims: are they connected?🤔

The investigations in this Scotland-based police procedural murder mystery are complex, full of twists and a good adventure. Two individuals from very different walks of life are brutally murdered, seemingly only united by the fact that neither served jail time for their crimes. One young man whose life was shattered by his younger brother's senseless death seems a prime suspect. But is he?

Lead detective Hazel Todd's drinking and her personal life intruded a bit too much into the main story for me. I also kept getting caught up on the repeated mention of Rachel, who keeps reaching out to Hazel, and Hazel's deceased former husband. If you have not read the previous Death Rite in the series, or you just don't recall the details from the previous book, this story alludes to what happened but never comes out and tells you. That bothered me. It's not just pesky journalists who want to know!

I liked the story, its setting, steady pace and the author's writing style. I can see myself continuing with the series in the hope that Hazel's foibles become less of an issue in future books.

Thanks to Hera Books and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

I’d like to thank Hera Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Death Sentence’, the second in the DCI Hazel Todd series and written by Kerry Watts, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Elderly Maggie Ramsay is given a non-custodial sentence after running down and killing an eight-year-old boy. Several months later Maggie dies after a car deliberately runs her down and then the body of Peter King who also escaped a term in prison is found stabbed to death in his flat. Are the two crimes connected?

I’m grateful for the opportunity to see how the characters in ‘Death Sentence’ have developed from the previous ‘Death Rite’ and how DCI Hazel Todd’s team are working together. This police procedural thriller is well-written with plenty of drama, suspense and twists and turns, and I like the character of Hazel Todd who’s in her mid-fifties and coping with a demanding job despite her heavy reliance on alcohol to get her through the day. I’m looking forward to reading the next instalment in the series.

The second instalment in DI Hazel Todd series., a book which I had been eagerly awaiting. . A hit and run incident leaves Maggie Ramsay dead near her home . The investigation takes many unexpected turns . I thought I knew how the investigation was going to end but of course I was totally wrong. . A clever plot which had me thinking about it long after I'd finished the book. I hope this becomes a long running series as the police team characters are brilliant. Each has their own speciality . Looking forward to book 3!

This the 2nd in the series and can be read as a stand alone ( although Book 1 Death Rite is great too and does introduce Hazel etc )

So Hazel is back and it was good to see/meet her again, I really like her, she’s struggling with symptoms of the menopause and hates her hot flushes as much as the crim’s she is after and although can’t identify personally with that can sympathise and do love her honesty and determination that drives her ( she is also at times quite humorous )
In this book we find her battling against secrets, lies and with it a range of murders and misdeeds against the local population, someone knows who is behind it all but there are lots of ‘well it could be him/her’ and as the past comes to light the ‘whodunit’ becomes more complex ( in a good way not an off putting way )
Great characters including well meaning neighbours with pursed lips, tuts and knowing nods ( love these kind of neighbours in a book ) and Hazel’s work colleagues who all seem to work together for the good with no hidden agendas
A perfect crime read leaving me only wanting for the next instalment

10/10
5 Stars

I have read several of Kerry Watt’s books and loved every of them.
This one was also good.
Hazel and her team are great to follow in this twisting and turning crime that was obviously well planned by the criminal or criminals.
It’s full of “Wow” moments and edge of your seat clinchers.
Watts always gets down to the nitty gritty of life as a detective and this one is no different, I like Hazel as a character very much and am looking to see what happens next.