The latest book from Elly Griffiths doesn’t disappoint. The story moves easily between a school reunion in the present day and 21 years ago when ‘the Group’ were doing A levels. DI Harbinger Kaur is new to the post and her insecurities are realistically portrayed. The way her relationships develop is a strength of this series. I really enjoyed the subtle hints of humour that pop up. Really I just loved everything about this book.

I would like to complain about this book - I was so sad when it finished and really really enjoyed it! Come on EG write faster I want another one now. I am still talking about it a week after reading it. Can’t recommend enough.

I enjoyed the shifting between the different characters. The lead detective intrigues me. The story was carefully realised. I would have liked the book to be a bit longer because I would have liked to know and understand more about each of the characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest book in the Harbinder Kaur series, the best so far. Well plotted - I didn’t guess who dun it, and with the touches of wry humour that Elly Griffiths does so well.

Looking forward to the next instalment. With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy.

Well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters. Twisty and kept me guessing the whoel way through. I can't wait to read more by this author

Elly Griffith's crime writing is fabulous ,whether it is her Ruth Galloway series ,the Brighton mysteries or the impressive middle-grade Justice Jones books . This second stand-alone title featuring Harbinder Kaur is no exception. Harbinder, newly promoted and now living in London is called to a murder at a school reunion. The plot is hardly original; a gathering of old friends, the recollection of a past tragedy and then a murder which Harbinder and her new team set out to solve. Yet, as ever, the reader is quickly absorbed by credible characters, a fast-paced narrative all written against a vividly described London back-drop. I loved it and look forward to many more stories like this.
Thank you to Net Galley and Quercus for allowing me to read this ARC.

The prologue caused me some confusion as I thought the new DI had been the speaker….

The story overall was good and as usual with this author, the characters came to life. The end was satisfying (if the realisation of the passive/ aggressive nature of the perpetrator was all too sudden for his partner).

Not as ‘smooth’ as the other books by the author but some of that was undoubtedly the poor formatting of the ARC.

Finally, I loved the tie-in to The Postscript Murders and touching base with those characters. I always thought they were good enough for their own series and hope that may still be on the cards at some point.

I will re-read The Postscript Murders and buy the published version of this book to read before its sequel is published.

DS Cassie Fitzgerald has a secret but it's one she's deleted from her memory. In the 1990s when she was at school, she and her friends killed a fellow pupil. Thirty years later. Cassie is happily married and loves her job as a police officer. One day her husband persuades her to go to a school reunion and another ex pupil, Garfield Rice, is found dead, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie's new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur. The trouble is. Cassie can't shake the feeling that one of her old friends has killed again. Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies It's in Cassie's interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like the latter and she seems to be succeeding. Until someone else is killed. Wow couldn’t put this book down really enjoyed and totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Quercus Books

I just reviewed Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths. #BleedingHeartYard #NetGalley

This is the third book that I've had the very great pleasure of reading in this series and in no way did it disappoint. Once again the excellent style of writing and strong cast of very believable characters brought this thoroughly immersive plot instantly to life. Absolutely loved it!

A new Harbinder Kaur book has become an autobuy for me, thanks to a combination of great plotting and characterisation and a cutting, dry wit which at times is laugh out loud funny. Bleeding Heart Yard is no exception.

Harbinder has finally moved out of her parents' house and out of the town she grew up in after a transfer to the Met as DI on a Murder Squad where her first big case is the suspicious death of a right wing MP at a school reunion. Matters are complicated by the presence of one of her own DS's, Cassie, at the reunion, an ex girlfriend of the deceased and once part of a slightly pretentious sixth form clique whose alumni include two MPs, a rock star and a famous actress, all of whom were present at the reunion. As the police investigate a death which looks more suspicious by the second, the group find themselves entangled once again in a way they haven't since the last day of Alevels, a day on which a fellow student died. A student Cassie is sure she murdered.

Bleeding Heart Yard is a brilliantly plotted, twisty page turner. Highly recommended.

Yet another great read from Elly Griffiths.
I don’t usually enjoy books which flash from the present to the past and back again, but Elly managed to keep me interested and make it an enjoyable page turner.
Certainly one to recommend.

I requested this book on the authors name without reading the blurb as I assumed it would be a new Ruth Galloway mystery. It is however another series that Elly Griffiths writes about a female detective. Harbinger Kaur. At a high school reunion one of a group of friends is found dead and although it looks like a drug overdose an autopsy reveals he was killed. Not long after another member of the group is murdered too and Harbinger wonders if it is somehow tied into the death of one of their friends while they were at college. Told from different points of view we discover the dynamics of the group of high school friends, most of whom have gone on to greater things, politics, music and film.
It took me a long time to read this book as it just didn’t grab me, I kept putting it down and reading something else. Although the story was interesting as were the characters it isn’t one I would be requesting for the store where I work, I would rather stock the Ruth Galloway series.

#BleedingHeartYard #NetGalley

First week of my holiday - I am exhausted, lying on the sun bed (under a blanket - this is Britain!) with the new Elly Griffiths detective book in my hand. Just perfect. Harbinder is a familiar face - I enjoy her outlook on life and her promotion to London sets the scene for this latest romp. There is an intriguing crime, a cast of dodgy friends, a host of motives and a trusty team of detectives. The climax gives way to a satisfying ending - exactly the type of book I needed.

School reunions are never a good idea. Even at a high-achieving school with famous former pupils.

This one, predictably, ends badly. With a corpse.

But the old school friends are harbouring a secret from their school days...

D.I Harbinder Kaur is on her first case for the Met. And one of her team is among the suspects.

Utterly brilliant.

This latest by Elly Griffith's in her DI Harbinder Kaur series, the 38 year old gay Sikh police detective, may well be my favourite so far, and there are major changes that have taken place. Kaur has been promoted to DI in the London Met, leaving her home town of Shoreham in West Sussex, in charge of her new MIT team based at West Kensington, she has moved into a shared place with 2 other professional women, one of them the tall attractive Scandinavian architect, Mette, her own place out of her financial reach. This is the first time she has not lived with her family, and she feels a few pangs of homesickness, and a few nerves as whether she will be accepted by her team, and when, if ever, she can be open about her sexuality at work. Kaur feels the pressure of having a lot to prove when she lands her first high profile case, an apparent drug overdose death of the well known climate denying Conservative MP, Garfield Rice, in the male toilets at the exclusive comprehensive, Manor Park. It is soon clear they have a murder on their hands, and it will not be the only one.

Rice had been there as part of the school reunion, the 21st anniversary of the class of 1998, along with others from a close knit group that he had been a key member of, all now 38 years old. They include the famous actress, the beautiful Isabelle Ishtar, popstar Chris Foster, the current Manor Park head, Sonoma Davies, foreign language teacher, Anna Vance, Labour MP Henry Steep, and a member of Kaur's police team, DS Cassie Fitzherbert, a complication that has the potential to be useful to the police inquiry. The narrative goes back and forth in time, relayed from the perspective of Cassie, Anna and Harbinder, with Kaur having to deal with some of her team being starstruck by some of the celebrity suspects. The team begin to focus on a number of angles, including threatening bleeding heart notes sent to Rice, and the tragic death in 1998 of a Manor Park student celebrating the end of A levels, David Moore, falling onto the rail tracks.

Griffiths provides an excellent sense of location in London that features the House of Commons and Bleeding Heart Yard with its fascinating history. Kaur makes a wonderful first impression on her team, including DS Kim Manning with her invaluable social skills and DS Jake Barker, all of whom have nicknames, by the end Kaur is to become 'Susie'. Kaur is professional, competent, leading the inquiry whilst at the same time getting hands on involved, getting to know the suspects, and shows remarkable judgement when it comes to Cassie. This was a wonderfully entertaining crime read, full of intrigue and surprising twists, with Kaur settling in well with her team and in London, and I loved the insights into her personal life and the relationship that develops. Looking forward with anticipation to the next in the series! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I absolutely love anything Elly Griffiths writes and even though this series doesn't quite match up to the Ruth Galloway series (one of my all time favourites) it's still enjoyable and engaging. DI Harbinder Kaur has been promoted and is now working in London for the Met. She's investigating the death of an MP who is murdered after a school reunion at a prestigious London school. Kaur's team investigate the murder victims group of old school friends including Cassie , one of their own team.
It was great to be back with DI Kaur and to get to know her London team. Although Kaur is the thread that links this series she is not a central part of the plot which focuses more on the the group of old schoolfriends. I love the way Griffiths combines a cosy murder mystery style with a great mystery plot. As with the Ruth Galloway series she excels at characterisation and bringing her characters and their lives into clear focus. She writes in such an easy style that the plot just flows along at a compelling pace. Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

“It’s a violent word, isn’t it? Crush. Smitten. Bowled over. Fallen like a ton of bricks. Love can be so dangerous”

DI Harbinder Kaur has moved to the Metropolitan Police in London in this, the third book of the series. She has an office she can pace in and a team that calls her “boss” and even “ma’am” which she secretly prefers to boss. And then her first case comes in and it’s a doozy….a high profile case that has the Superintendent breathing down her neck and pressurising her to succeed

Manor Park School, posh and liberal, is holding a 21st reunion for the class of 1998, a year that produced a famous musician, an actor and two MPs on opposing sides of the political divide. At school this group, the “beautiful and the damned”, was inseparable. Chris, Izzy, Henry, Gary, Anna and Cassie studied together, partied together and at various times went out with one another, but on the afternoon of their final A’level exam, a tragic accident saw them all going their seperate ways…..until the reunion, by the end of which one of their number will be found murdered on school grounds

What I have enjoyed about the Ruth Galloway books and now the Harbinder Kaur books, is Elly Griffith’s ability to marry character and plot, even across shifting timelines. There was a point about two thirds of the way in that I didn’t trust a single one of the school friends and yet desperately hoped that the murderer wasn’t one of them. The tension is deftly ratcheted up until an almighty showdown at the end which, whilst it required a little stretch in the imagination, soundly and roundly wrapped up Bleeding Heart Yard.
Count me in the for the next book and however many more there are after that!

As a big fan of Elly’s books, I was excited to read this new book about DI Harbinder Kaur. As with all Elly’s books, this works perfectly well as a stand a lone novel, although there is a lovely pastiche at the end for those that have read The Postscript murders. Elly’s characters are so vivid and real that it is easy to get involved in the story, and genuinely feel the characters. I would highly recommend this book, and not just to lovers of crime fiction

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review.
Elly Griffiths is one of my favourite authors and I had enjoyed her previous stand alone novels, however I found this one to be quite hard to get into. The plot was engaging but I found it difficult to warm to the characters especially the detective Harbinger Kaur who I found quite one dimensional - having said that I did finish the book as I couldn't work out who had done it and Elly Griffiths is better than most writers on her worst day so on balance I would recommend

It's no secret that I love Elly Griffiths. In fact I think I've read pretty much every one of her books and will continue to do so.

But this series it a little bit of an outlier compared to her others. That's not a bad thing - She has to mark it as different since she as about 3 different mystery series on the go. It's just that it's very much a different vibe from the others in my opinion. This is the only one of her series where I feel like the main character, Harbinder, sometimes becomes something of a secondary character to the mystery. She is the one who ties the story together at the end, but it's more of a character study series as we meet a different group of people every book, sometimes in a different place.

I liked seeing Harbinder's life progress a little from the first two books. She's finally a DI and has finally moved out from her parents house. I also really loved her little romance with Mette, her flatmate. Mette trying to find out if Harbinder was gay by asking her if she liked Willow on Buffy was particularly charming, not to mention, quite realistic.

The mystery itself was interesting, I always like books that force people to reexamine something from their past. But I do feel that I missed some of the side characters from previous books a little bit. This new group didn't quite have the same allure as our previous cast of characters.

Overall I really enjoyed the story. Elly has this unique way of writing that feels very easy to read, almost cozy, but with a dark plot at the center of it for our characters to solve. Characters are what she excels at in my opinion and I'm always going to pick up whatever she does next.