My first encounter with D.I. Byrd and D.I. Tanzy was a memorable one. In this, the first book in the series, we learn a bit about their sixteen year long work partnership as well as some pertinent facts about their home lives.

D.I. Orion Tanzy is married to an alcoholic and is the father to a young boy and girl. His wife, Phillipa, has recently relapsed in her fight for sobriety and his children are staying with his mother-in-law while he works. Tanzy, a martial arts expert, is very intelligent.


D.I. Max Byrd is in a tentative relationship with Claire, but he fears that she is moving away from him due to his long hours, and constant work demands. Boyd is meticulous and diligent. In this book, Byrd's parents are involved in a terrible automobile accident.

The detectives work for the Durham Constabulary, in North East England.

In this book there is a spate of brutal murders of young mothers, all with the note "She didn't see it coming" linking them. Boyd and Tanzy attempt to determine who is doing this and WHY? Also, on their plate, is the disappearance of a young seven-year-old girl who has been missing for more than a week now. Hope for her return is beginning to wane.

This dual time line mystery has another storyline which takes place fifteen years previously, at a teenage party in the summer of 2004.

I really enjoyed this novel, but personally felt that the revenge crimes were misguided and over the top, for them to be in any way justifiable. Also, their were some continuity errors in my digital ARC which marred my reading enjoyment somewhat. These quibbles aside, I will continue with the series due to my appreciation of the two main protagonists, Boyd and Tanzy.

Recommended to those readers who enjoy gritty police procedurals, with macabre crimes, and an unexpected plot twist near the end.

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you NetGalley for approving me to read this. A very good read that had me hooked, once started I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend

#THETEESVALLEYKILLINGS #NetGalley I always like to be in at the start of a new series and usually prepare myself for a bit of a slow burner where the main characters and their backgrounds are established. BUT this was definitely NOT the case in this series. Fast paced with plenty of action from the very first chapter and more twists and turns than a roller coaster! The twist at the end, I definitely didn't see coming!! I really liked the characters of Max and Orion and look forward to getting to know them more in the next installment. A well deserved 5 stars!

This is the first book in a series featuring DI Max Byrd and Orion Tanzy and I was totally hooked from the first page. It is set in Darlington and they have a gruesome killing to investigate when the body of a young woman is found. She is tied to a chair and has had her eyes removed with a written note left saying “she didn’t see it coming”. More bodies of women turn up and they realise that they are looking for a serial killer. I really enjoyed the relationship between Byrd and Tanzy. I found this a very fast paced book with plenty of suspense and tension, I look forward to book number two.
Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

THE TEES VALLEY KILLINGS by C.J. Grayson was a excellent book and the first book in the brilliant DI Max Byrd & DI Orion Tanzy series.

The two DI in this book were excellent fitted well within the storyline, which was gripping, fast pace, that will throws you around like a rollercoaster. But Hold on to your seat as it doesn't stop there!!! There are more twists and turns throughout this book which made it an excellent read for start to finish! I loved it

I highly recommend this series.

An engrossing narrative that skillfully weaves past and present fluently into one. Characters so vivid, they feel like old friends by the end and ones you won’t forget in a hurry!

A woman is murdered in her home with her eyes removed and a note, "She didn't see it coming." When another very similar murder happens shortly after, Detectives Tanzy and Byrd scramble to find out what is going on in their quiet town. On top of that, there is a kidnapped child to find, a suspicious team member, and Byrd and Tanzy's own personal problems. There was maybe a little too much going on. I liked this enough that I would be interested in reading the next in the series, but I thought the ending was more than a bit chaotic. There were also a lot of people to keep track of, between all the detectives/officers and forensics team. I think continuing the series will help with that, reading more about the same people and the personal stuff, but it seemed like a lot to throw into the first book. The main thing I didn't like was the very ending with what I just refer to as the thing with the killer's aunt, to avoid spoilers. It seemed unnecessarily, a plot twist just for the sake of a plot twist.

The Tees Valley Killings by C. J. Grayson is a heart-pounding crime thriller. This is the first book I've read by this author, and it will not be the last. I hope there are many more books.

Though I know this is an advance copy of the book, it seems like in the editing phase, some information was left out as there were a few illogical jumps to information that didn't flow. Also there were several he/she errors (i.e., DCI Thornton was referred to as he rather than she). And Layla was misspelled on a few occasions and in one scene she was called Emily. There were several of these types of inconsistencies that irk me as a reader. Luckily, the story is good and I like the characters so it's not as irritating as it could have been.

I did feel that the "outrageous reasoning" for the murders was a bit far fetched (and the detectives also felt this way), but it was a good story with a solid plot.

I did want the ending to wrap up with more information on what some outcomes would be, but this leads, hopefully, to more books in this series.

#THETEESVALLEYKILLINGS #NetGalley @JoffeBooks

In the small town of Darlington, England there is a serial killer on the loose and Ian Porter knows firsthand how vicious they can be. When a small accident led Julia Porter to have to leave her husband and children at home to take her youngest child Liam to the emergency room, no one had any idea what the killer had in store for her. No one could have seen what pure evil was headed their way leaving a husband destroyed and 3 young children without a mother. But was Julia an actual target and is Ian responsible for what led to her murder?

Detectives Byrd and Tanzy have never seen a crime scene like this one and soon realize they may be in over their heads. While handling the murders of what appears to be a serial killer they are also working a case for a missing 7 year old girl named Evelyn who had already been missing for over a week. Could the two be connected?

The author does an incredible job of telling the story from each of the characters’ point of view so flawlessly that you hardly notice. The chapters are written in a way that makes you want to read just one more chapter and then finding yourself unable put it down! If you love a good suspense novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat I highly recommend this one. The ending is one you won’t see coming!

Great first book! I already want the second! I thought the character development was a bit lacking but I loved the premise and the prose

Grayson has done it again. The characters, the twists, the turns, the pain, the heartache. Tanzy and Byrd are at it AGAIN, and justice will prevail.

I couldn't get on with the writing style in this book . I found there was too much going on and I was neither intrigued by the crimes (really more appalled) , the characters or the detectives. As a born and bred Teessider, I wanted to like this one but have decided not to carry on with it at the moment. I may come back to it, but at the moment I feel my energy would be better spent on a different book.
Sorry I could not like this book more
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

Wow, do I feel duped by this novel. This was a solid five-star concept, but the execution did not do it justice.

Let me start off by talking about the technical issues that might have been resolved between the time I read it (as an advanced reader copy) and the final release. The copy that I read was full of errors that a good edit would fix. Some of them were grammatical, some of them were technical (the characters were doing/seeing something in one sentence then doing/seeing the same thing a paragraph later or worse, their partner was doing/seeing/commenting on the same plot point we had already seen but acting like it was new instead of something that had already been discussed).

There was also a secondary plot that didn't seem to fit in at all with the rest of the story. In fact, not only did it have nothing to do with the main plot of the story, it seemed to only be included for sake of upping the word count. It would be mentioned, then seemingly forgotten about, then mentioned again, then forgotten about until the police show up.

The final nail in the coffin was the fact that despite there being a very interesting twist, one of the perpetrators gets off with absolutely no repercussions for their part. And then, the book abruptly comes to an end right after another is found out. Sure, they get arrested, and we can assume, based on what is said, that we know why they did what they did, but I would have liked to have known more, maybe actually heard in their own words what caused them to take part in what was done.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

Darlington is a small Northern town where everyone knows everyone. And Detectives Tanzy and Byrd know there's a twisted serial killer in their midst . . .
They find Julia Porter's body tied to a chair in her quiet family home in the outskirts of Darlington. She's covered in blood, and someone has cut out her eyes.
Next to her is a message written in red She didn't see it coming.
Detectives Tanzy and Byrd have never seen the like of this in their town before. Then a few days later a woman is handed a package on the high street.
It contains Julia Porter's eyes . . . It's a warning.
Darlington used to be a nice town. Not any more.
Detectives Tanzy and Byrd must stop this twisted serial killer before more women pay the ultimate price.

Holy thrillers. This one will haunt me for a while but in a good way. The author paints a very vivid picture and I honestly couldn't put the book down until the end. Will recommend to others.

Darlington is a nice Northern town but what the police find when called out one night is far from nice. A young woman is found dead, tied to her chair with her eyes removed & the message ,"She didn't see it coming" scrawled beside her. When someone in the street is handed a parcel containing the victim's eyes DIs Byrd & Tanzy wonder what else is going to turn up.

This was a fast paced start to a police procedural series. I really liked the detectives & the setting felt 'real'. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This is a great debut read, full of twist and engaging characters. I look forward to the next book. I love the fact it was set is Darlington and will be my new series to go to.

Book one in Tanzy and Byrd Thriller series, I really enjoyed it and I will be looking forward to reading more by this author.

This was a book that was hard to put down. The twist that the storyline had were page turning. The characters well made and entertaining. Highly recommend.

Detectives Tanzy and Byrd are experienced police officers and friends as well. The horrific murder of a young woman, in which her eyes are removed, is gruesome and baffling. Another murder, equally gruesome and it seems that they may have a serial killer on hand, and a forensically aware one at that. They eventually make links to an old gang-rape crime. Alongside this is the abduction of a young girl which is not especially prominent and not that relevant to the story. Characters develop well and enough twists and turns to keep the reader occupied. A promising new series, set in Darlington, not quite the small market town of the author's imagination but nice to have details of familiar streets and the like. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

This gripping serial killer thriller is absolutely unputdownable. I was on the edge of my couch the whole time! Absolutely stunning!!
I just reviewed THE TEES VALLEY KILLINGS by C.J. Grayson. #THETEESVALLEYKILLINGS #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]