i have read a few di ridpath book so i knew i would enjoy this i was gripped from the beginning there is alot happening in this book which keeps you gripped engrossed and wanting too know what happens i like ridpath his relationship with eve and his colleagues its easy too get behind him there was a few moments i fealt i was on the edge of my seat in suspense. Great read

As always M.J. Lee has done a great job with his latest (number 10) book. DI Ridpath is such a great protagonist, I really love him, but M.J. Lee puts him through the ringer each book and I don’t know how much more he’s going to be able to take.

Four years ago a fourteen-year old boy disappeared but COVIS and incompetence meant his case was not solved. His mother has never given up and her campaigning has caused the case to be reopened by MIT. Meanwhile Ridpath is balancing the demands of MIT and the Coroner's team alongside his daughter, Eve, who is a demanding teenager. As clues lead to a local care home, Ridpath realises that there may be a familiar person in control.
This is a solid series of books and this is a really strong installation. Several returning characters are to the fore here, Mrs Challinor recovering in hospital and more importantly Dr Lardner. There are some really important issues developed in the narrative, particularly around the care of the elderly post-Covid, and the plot is clever and satisfying.

5* Excellent British thriller, believable and threatening.

Though this is book 10 in a series, I had no trouble getting into the tale. There's enough about the detective's past to clue new readers in and to make the ending believable.

The tale reads like a completely believable police procedural with solid policing and detecting, with real life intruding, not unrealistically. I liked that all the potential arcs and characters all made similar low-key appearances so that the ending was a proper WTF?? moment that I hadn't a clue about. There were bad guys and shades of grey, and there was a character who's learned a painful lesson, but that lesson coupled with their rescue and the aftermath, will hopefully bring rapprochement and healing to a relationship that's suffered through emotional pain and loss. The bad guys are and do the sort of stuff that locals know occurs/exist, and how do you eradicate them when they've got a stronghold? Not sure you do, not entirely, but yeah, the detecting was solid.

What made this book enjoyable was the lack of sensationalism and the solidity of the characters and the fact that it's a British case with all the 'let's get it done' without needing fanfare or gloss. It felt believable and relatable.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Canelo, for my reading pleasure.

“What the Dead Want” is the tenth book in the DI Ridpath series by author MJ Lee. This is a good police procedural series with very strong characters, especially DI Ridpath. DI Ridpath had a very promising career until it was suddenly halted when he was diagnosed with cancer. After a leave of absence of 9 months he returned to work on secondment to the Coroner’s office. Ridpath is a determined man who takes his job very serious and looks forward to get back into full time policing.

“What the Dead Want” is an excellent addition to this series and brilliantly combines a gripping mystery with an emotionally resonant narrative. In May 2020 a fourteen-year-old Andrew Golding vanished after an argument with his mother, never to be seen again. Four years later, Detective Inspector Ridpath is called to re-examine the case following revelations of police mishandling, and what he uncovers is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined.

The novel is perfectly paced and I was drawn in from the very first page, this is a tense and haunting case and suits Ridpath, the intuitive detective. Despite the potential risks to both his career and personal life, Ridpath is determined to uncover the truth.

As Ridpath delves deeper, he finds himself up against a murderer from the past, whose brutal actions cast a long shadow over the present. Full of suspense and plenty of intrigue as Ridpath unearths long buried secrets.

“What the Dead Want” by MJ Lee is an outstanding thriller and an excellent addition to a series that has become one of my favourites. Well-crafted plot, compelling characters, and relentless suspense. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a thrilling and emotionally engaging read.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Canelo for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This had so much to the story that I don’t think I was prepared for what all I was going to read and I loved it. We had great characters in this story and loved the little bits of the bad persons side. This was twisted so so twisted and the whole time I was trying to piece things together because this one had me thinking so much. Great job M J Lee on this one and many more!

Author Lee burst into this reader's viewpoint in 2019 when the second book of the series Where The Dead Fall was released on NetGalley. From there this reader has looked forward to each release with relish as to how DI Thomas Ridpath, but his friends just call him Ridpath is navigating the delicate balancing act of working for the coroner's office and being seconded to the police office with the melting of law enforcement and investigation of suspicious deaths meeting.

At the end of book nine, What The Shadows Hide, Ridpath was dealing with the tragic injury of his boss Coroner Challinor who was attacked by an assailant and left for dead. The book begins with her still in a coma some months later, with Ridpath working for a new boss who is nothing like his predecessor.

A good mark of any crime detective series is that the hero detective is only as good as his opponent, and in this new novel What The Dead Want, we have the unlikely return of the evil pathologist Harold Lardner who has planned a series of murders despite being behind bars..

A mysterious disappearance of a young boy in Manchester during the Covid lockdown is investigated and leads to a care home which itself had a spike in suspicious deaths with organs removed from cadavers from being moved from care home to the mortuary slab.

As ever, Lee writes with such efficient fluency and swiftness that you are never left in doubt about the action taking place. Ridpath continues to have to deal with office politics and the new know-it-all detective Helen Shipton brings its own problems, with her being in direct conflict to Ridpath's loyal footsoldiers.

The other notable note of credit to Lee is that he loves writing Ridpath and his characters, and he can still get me with a surprise twist in terms of narrative pull. Something else he does well is elicit correctly the feel and atmosphere of being in February - cold, miserable and dire.
This is another excellent entry into the Ridpath series; and his second excellent novel of this calender year.

DI Ridpath is back & working on a cold case. In May 2020, fourteen-year-old Andrew Golding went out for a walk during the height of the Covid lockdown & was never seen again. Ridpath finds that the investigation was rather shoddy (to say the least), & it all seems linked in some way to unusual deaths at a local care home, but even he is not anticipating where the case will lead him. Meanwhile Coroner, Margaret Challinor, is still in a coma following the attack on her. Her replacement is proving to a bit of a martinet & seems to be out to get rid off all the current staff including Ridpath.

I really do enjoy reading this series. The author has created some great characters that the reader can get to know & become invested in what happens to them, whilst the plots are well planned out & executed. I thought this one was a little bit slow at the start, but it built up to a tense, fast-paced ending. Great series that maintains a high standard.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Canelo, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Four years ago, fourteen-year-old Andrew Golding left his family home, never to be seen again. The police investigation at the time failed to turn up any trace of the boy and now, after renewed press interest, the case falls into the lap of DI Ridpath. Still juggling his time between his police role and his secondment to the coroner’s office, Ridpath has a niggling feeling that something huge has been missed in this case, a feeling that could put him in danger…

A new Ridpath book is always a cause for celebration and after the events in the previous book, I was really looking forward to this one. I was not disappointed. We see Ridpath still coming to terms with the events that have led to him working with a new coroner, an odious character who is threatening to completely break apart the team that work together so effectively at the coroner’s office. Ridpath has also seen change at his other place of work and is also experiencing the joys of being a single father bringing up a teenage daughter.

Ridpath is the ideal person to deal with this investigation, a cold case that has received negative press due to the way it has been handled in the past. Determined to discover what happened to the missing boy, his doggedness is evident when he is pointed towards incidents at a local nursing home and an attempt to warn him off is made. I liked how the author included several seemingly unconnected cases but expertly weaved them together to create a much bigger plot.

Fans of this series will be shocked to see the return of a face from Ridpath’s past and it is for this reason that I feel it would be beneficial to have read previous books before this one. This is such a good series, though, and I can highly recommend reading from the beginning. M J Lee always leaves you eagerly anticipating the next book and I hope the wait won’t be too long!

What initially looks like the case of a missing child who disappeared 4 years ago, is connected to a lot of deaths/murders and an old adversary of Ridpath. There is a lot of action, interesting crimes and unexpected connections. The 10th in the series set in Greater Manchester, the book is fine to read as a stand alone though it is advisable to read more of the series. The seemingly different strands of the plot come together gradually, the pace is fast and the investigation realistic.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

What the Dead Want is the tenth book in the DI Ridpath series by author M J Lee. The books are all set in Manchester, UK, and follow the life of DI Thomas Ridpath who works for both the Coroners Office and MIT (Major Incident Team) for Great Manchester Police. If you haven’t read any of the previous books then this isn’t the book for you as they need to be read in order to be fully understood.

DI Ridpath has been asked to look into the disappearance of fourteen-year-old Andrew Golding who went missing four years ago. The ask comes after a newspaper article slating the police about the case. However, as usual, the more Ridpath and his team dig into the disappearance the more harrowing it becomes and this time an unwelcome face from the past emerges.

Just like the previous nine books What the Dead Want is a fast-paced police procedural novel. DI Ridpath is a character I’ve come to adore and trust. He is a man that will leave no stone unturned whilst he is on a case and yet he has a softer side when it comes to his daughter Eve, who is now a teenager, damn those years have gone fast!

The storyline is superb. It is edgy and puts you on high alert. It has a sense of foreboding and I love when a thriller gets under my skin. It is wonderful to see that this book blends an earlier book in the series into it as well as bringing in a character from author M J Lee’s separate series – Genealogical Mysteries.

This is a series that keeps on getting better and better. If you haven’t read it yet and you love detective thrillers then start now, you will not be disappointed.

When I read book 1 I thought this was a series I would stick with and here we are at book 10 and I’m still loving it. Classic Ridpath behaviour struggling to balance his home life and work life or should that be work lives? There is always a bit of push and pull between the coroner’s office and MIT and his home life with daughter Eve and this is particularly the case here. There was a noticeable build of tension leading to a cracker of an ending. I’m still not tired of Ridpath so I hope there will be more books. Highly recommended

Another brilliant crime thriller from MJ Lee.
Ridpath is asked to lead on a case where a teenage boy has been missing for several years. It’s clear when Ridpath and the team look back at the initial investigation, that a thorough job was not carried out in searching for him.
With Mrs Challinor still in a coma, Montague is causing mayhem in the Coroner’s office with his controlling manner. He shows Ridpath a letter from a local care home claiming that its residents are being killed and Ridpath is concerned.
The care home also comes up as part of the missing boy investigation so Ridpath is determined to find out what’s going on.
This is a gripping crime thriller that I really enjoyed.
Thanks to Canelo and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this awesome book

D.I Ridpath is back in his most frustating case ever....

ridpath is at odds with the coroner, the one in place whilst mrs challinor is in a coma and has been for quite a few months.... the prognosis isnt good if she doesnt wake up soon

in the mean time ridpath has been tasked with finding a misper... a young teenager went missing 4 years ago and nothing has been heard from him since... but his mom has kept on at the authorities for years and this time the papers have done a brilliant write up that has guilted the higher ups to investigate

and ridpath is that person... a folly of errors await ridpath as he starts his investigation

but things start to unravel when the person he put away has escaped and what ever is in store for ridpath is about to get nasty

what an edge of the seat book this one was... ridpath series is always a good series to get into and this book has plenty of high energy stress levels to reach everyone

i for one cant wait for the next book in this series to see what happens next..

I’d like to thank Hera and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘What The Dead Want’, book 10 of the DI Ridpath series written by M J Lee, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Whilst Mrs Challinor is in hospital Clarence Montague is temporarily in charge of the Coroner’s Office and is making himself unpopular not only with Ridpath but also with Sophia and Jenny who work for him. Ridpath is asked to look into what happened to fourteen-year-old Andy Golding who disappeared four years ago.

There are several threads running through ‘What the Dead Want’ beginning with the missing boy, an unsigned letter sent to the Coroner from someone at SunnySide Residential Home, and Dr Harold Lardner (also known as The Beast of Manchester) who’s currently in prison but has plans for Ridpath. The plot is compelling with lots of drama, suspense and twists and turns, and my heart is in my mouth as Ridpath and his daughter Eve both face danger. The tension builds until we reach the final chapters that are so shocking and unexpected I feared the worst. This series just gets better and better and I have no hesitation in recommending it and giving it a huge five stars.

I absolutely love this Ridpath series and, like the others, this one was a fabulous read. The characters are so well written that they feel like old friends. Turnbull’s replacement is a welcome change, but the new coroner definitely wasn’t; I hated him. This reaction really shows the skill of the writer as I could fully picture the pen pushing, penny pinching and incompetent man. My heart was in my mouth at the end. A great read that I highly recommend.

DI Ridpath gets assigned a new case, this is a cold case of a missing teen boy who went missing on 22nd May 2022. Now in May 2024, Ridpath has to solve the case with so many obstacles thrown his way whilst also being a single Dad to his teenage daughter.

This book had me guessing until the end with so many twists and turns that I just couldn't figure it out. Gripped me from the very beginning and is one that I would highly recommend. Will definitely be reading more fron M J Lee

Another amazing story in the Ridpath series. They just seem to be better and better. Great characters. Plenty of suspense throughout. Exceptional writing. Look forward very much to the next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I am a huge fan of Martin Lee's Ridpath series, and I am always excited to read a new one. What The Dead Want, the tenth in the series is just as brilliant as the previous nine. It could be read as a standalone book, but I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't read them to pick up the first and read them all in order as they are in for a real treat.
Four years ago a 14 year old boy, Andrew, walked out of his house after an argument with his mum. His mother thought it was just a normal teenage row and that he'd gone to stay with his grandfather; so did not worry until two days later when she still hadn't heard anything from him. She is unhappy with how the police dealt with the matter and Andrew is still missing. The press have written a story picking up on the police mistakes. The powers that be want the case looked at again, and dealt with quickly and efficiently. DI Ridpath is, of course, the obvious man to task with the job.
When Ridpath is allocated Andrew's case, he could not possibly anticipate where it would lead him and how it would seem to have connections with an old case of his which is still is at the forefront of his mind. Is it really possible that the two cases are in some way connected? If so, how? Or is it that Ridpath is haunted by the past and that is affecting his judgement? I had to read as quickly as possible to find out what was happening, whilst also aware this would be my only opportunity to read a new Ridpath book for the whole year, so wanting to take my time to savour and enjoy the book! I just love this series so much! The characters are excellent, and after reading about them for ten books, I feel so invested in them! The storyline are so different unique. It is hard to write such a lengthy series and very every single book to be as brilliant as the first, but Martin has achieved that. I sincerly hope Martin enjoys writing this series and continues to write these books for many more years to come (in addition to his brilliant new DI Emma Christie series).
This book, and the rest of the series are highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DI Ridpath is back. Still wearing two hats and trying to spend more time with his daughter.
He is soon tasked with taking a second look at an unsolved cold case. A 14-year-old boy, Andrew, vanished four years ago. What he discovers is a rather poor initial investigation. Meanwhile, a letter is sent to the coroner’s office that raises Ridpath's alert system. Is someone killing the residents of a care home? Coincidentally the one where Andrew’s grandmother resided? Are these two seemingly dissimilar cases related and if they are can Ridpath figure them out before there are more deaths.
Always an enjoyable read, this is the 10th book in the series. Ridpath has been through a lot in the prior books, and it doesn’t look like his luck is changing. I hated every time I had to put this book down. I just wanted to know if the cases were connected and how. I did not manage to figure either one out before the author reveals!
This book will be published at the end of June and I’m already eagerly awaiting the next book.