This is a steady paced police procedural, book 2 in the series and set in Liverpool I like the main character of DC Cassie Rowan, she's determined and speaks her mind, but the story centred too much around her. The plotting was clever, based around a series of killings, all linked by effigies. It's a reasonable read. perfect for holidays. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, compared to many others.
There are so many books which take on a similar vein, some achieve their objective and leave you craving for more by the author and enjoying further stories about the main characters.
Sadly, this one didn’t.

An exciting book from start to finish. It must be quite galling to senior officers to have a bright, quick thinking young DC - especially, to some old timers, a female one. Yet they must really have been like that to get promotion. DC Cassie Rowan certainly fits the bill. Will her dedication and hard work win through or will the jobsworths happen on the right result.

Loved it

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of The Scarecrow Killer, the second novel to feature DC Cassie Rowan of Merseyside Police.

Cassie is driving home from a night shift when she sees a figure running from the motorway and gives chase. What she finds is not what she expected, but she didn’t expect the body of a hit and run victim to be found a week later on the same stretch of road either. It turns out that Damian Novak, the victim, was not the only teenager from the Fernleigh estate to die in strange circumstances.

I enjoyed The Scarecrow Killer, which has an interesting premise and a couple of twists. It is described as “unputdownable”, but I wouldn’t go that far. It is more than competent, but it has a few lulls in both pace and development.

The novel is told from Cassie’s third person perspective, which is always a plus for me as it allows the reader to get immersed in the read without the distraction of a changing point of view. The downside, however, is that the reader has to like Cassie to get the full effect. My jury is still out on her personality. She is smart at detecting, but not always so smart at the politics of police work, in other words she frequently engages her mouth before her brain has caught up. Some of it is fun, most of it left me frustrated at her stupidity and I have absolutely no understanding of why she has to stick her nose into other detectives’ cases. It smacks of arrogance to me.

I like the plot premise, which is imaginative with the effigies and the time lapse. The author mostly carries its promise on in the plot, but the execution is a bit hit and miss. I don’t think the balance is quite right between the professional and the personal. The novel is all about Cassie, so her feelings get a good airing, whether it’s the injustice of her dressings down or her struggles with the teenage brother she is raising, sometimes at the expense of the investigation. To be fair, I’m not that interested in her problems and the investigation is my primary interest, so I was a bit disappointed in the balance.

The Scarecrow Killer is a solid read. 3.5*

The Scarecrow Killer by Margaret Murphy starts off with Detective Cassie Rowan driving home after a grueling night on duty. Her headlights illuminate a body swinging in the trees. A week later, there is a mysterious hit and run on the same stretch of road. And Detective Rowan tackles the most disturbing case of her career.

The premise said this was an unputdownable crime thriller full of twists. The story did have some good twists and was a decent crime thriller. However, it was slow in parts, and I found myself not thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading the book.

It was a creepy story with an interesting plot. I would give this a 3.75 out of 5 stars (rounded to 4 stars). I would recommend this book, and I will check out other books by this author.

#THESCARECROWKILLER #NetGalley @JoffeBooks

A very good read. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Would recommend to others 5-stars for this book
So many twists that were good

Margaret Murphy is a new author to me and from the premise of the book I thought it looked like my kind of read. And it definitely was. Whilst this is the second in a series it can be read on its own - and I will certainly be reading the previous book Before He Kills Again when I can. The author has wrote a very good book here, one that immediately grabbed my attention and interest right from the start and held it to the last page. I really liked the main character Detective Rowan who investigates a murder and finds similarities with historic cases. There is a great mix of side characters, some likeable and some not who added to the story and kept me turning the pages wanting to know what would happen next. I thoroughly enjoyed following the investigation and loved the little glimpses into Rowan's home life. I guessed who the killer was and was wrong. Overall, a great read and I'd recommend this if you like good solid police procedurals and I'd say read this series in order to get to know the characters from the beginning.

I throughly enjoyed this book, it kept me entertained until the end, a am looking forward to reading other books by her

Another exciting read from the talented Margaret Murphy. The Cassie Rowan series has started very well and the central character is fascinating, a good if occasionally feisty cop who copes with both a tricky job and a demanding home life. Liverpool offers an excellent back drop, the wide range of possible villains is well drawn and the plot always engrossing. More please.

Everything I had planned to do today got put on hold as soon as I started this book. I haven't read the 1st one in the series, but that didn't make any difference. The characters are well described and seem real and believable. The plot has lots of twists. Obviously it's a pageturner (at least for me) as I didn't move from beginning to end. I'm looking forward to reading the next, and the previous, book, in this series.

This was an intense read and it didn’t let up all the way through. A new author for me and I was a little concerned as I had t read the others in this series but, it didn’t matter as you can read it as a stand alone book. The characters were good and I throughly enjoyed this one. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I appreciate that this book got right to the point!

An officer is on her way home, sleepy and overworked, when she sees someone running in the fog and then a scarecrow-type fixture swaying in the morning breeze.

She's shaken by this and a week later, someone is found dead in the same area. What makes it more creepy is that the victim was wearing the same thing as the scarecrow.

Some people don't care to look into this and some thing it's not the only death to occur there so Cassie is going to investigate with or without their help. Can she handle what she finds?

A DYNAMIC CRIME THRILLER.
D Cassie Rowan Book Two.
Liverpool, Cassie is travelling home alone after a busy few days working she is tired and needs her sleep, she witnesses a flash of movement, lightening strike of blue fire, a youth running down the hill, the road was quiet, was he drunk or drugged, calling in emergency services, it wasn't a body, hoody and tracksuit bottoms like a scarecrow, is this just a prank, the cops arrive and initial adrenaline of shock she heads home to her bed.
One week later and youth Damian Noval is found on the motorway, Rowan's got goose bumps he's in a hoody and tracksuit bottoms ringing around the stations about the hit and run, she would need more on this on monday morning from Ian Chan, this is one odd coincidence was it really a hit and run.
The scarecrow killer is one almighty read, I love the leading characters that makes this book a boom to read, so fast pace in page after page, with lots of twisty turns I loved it.

This was an exciting read! Cassie Rowan is an insightful investigator that finds connections where peers stumble past. She realizes that an 'accident' is actually a murder, and that this isn't the first. She has challenges at home as well as at work, and manages to doggedly search for solutions instead of accepting defeat. The murder victims are unlikable people, so you are torn between cheering on the perpetrator and applauding the efforts of the police force (primarily Rowan). I love the element of the scarecrows, which have a folklore meaning in the community, as a warning and a premonition. Wonderfully written and engaging - I was hooked at the start!

Complex and page-turning murder investigation. Multiple storyline weave together along with small town politics, drug dealers, bullying, and moving forward from tragedy in various forms. Great characters blending the investigation with humanity.

DC Cassie Rowan #2

Cassie is driving down the M62 when her headlights catch sight of a young man running along the embankment then sees a macabre puppet effigy hanging from the trees. Two weeks later she learns of a fatal hit and run in the exact spot she saw the runner/effigy. Is this a weird coincidence or something more sinister? Cassie decides to investigate…. of course she does, with further inquiries suggesting it isn’t a single strange death.

First of all, I can’t decide how likeable Cassie is as she’s a mouth the size of the Mersey Tunnel which is appropriate as it’s set in and around Liverpool! She’s very headstrong, forthright and often right or thinks she is! However, she’s under a great deal of pressure as she parents her teenage brother following the tragic death of their parents. You do get a lot of details of her life.

Aspects of the plot are chilling, there are some strange, bizarre coincidences and occurrences and there’s an interesting folklore element which is interesting. Another good and realistic feature is that of tense communities, crime ridden run down estates and old village versus new developments. The ending is good as it’s atmospheric and tense.

However, the pace isn’t fast, at times it feels like a plod around the famous Liverpool docks with information we don’t need which diverts from what we want to know.

Overall, in my opinion Book 2 is definitely an improvement on the first in the series but I’m not sure I would spend more time with Cassie!

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Joffre Books for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I'm not going to lie, I am on the fence with this one. On one hand I did love it. It felt like it had a good pace, the characters were amazing, I loved the murders and the twists and turns and the whole world that was so realistically brought to life but I didn't find myself unable to put it down... which I actually think is more due to me being in a bit kf a reading slump. I can't think of anything at all to fault the book for, although it wasn't all murder, murder, murder.... it did have really fascinating back stories and quirky side characters and such. I'm not usually a fan of small town murder mysteries but this none just felt so real and so realistic that I actually enjoyed this aspect of it. And the fact that the wee towns were a bit quirky also amused me. I'll definitely be looking for more of the backcatalouge after this one

Overall a good read with good characters. For me personally it wasn't an edge of seat thriller but I don't suppose it was meant to be.

It did hold my attention in the main but I don't think I will read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Joffe Books for this ARC.

It dint work out as well as I thought it would!

Maybe it's just me and my reading slump, but i got the feeling this book was very low paced, nothing really happened. Only in the last 10*% things got twisted but until there, it just lost my attention

Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It definitely had me on the edge of my seat! It had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, serial killer and A great who done it and so many crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and had me glued to my Kindle! I will definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!