Mixed feelings about this book. I was almost half way through before very much happened, though there had been a death under suspicious circumstances in the family many years before. In the meanwhile, we get to know the family owning Drumdalloch quite well, sister & brother and an obnoxious teenager. Locals seem to have a secret plan for the old house , university researchers are making demands about the woods and a ? groundskeeper is living within the grounds. The investigation into the murder is also not particularly clear or easy to follow with the involved detectives driving a long way and following hunches. The descriptions and characterizations were good, the place felt creepy. Unfortunately I was not really satisfied with the ending.
So not great, I wanted to see what happened but was fairly confused by what happened. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC . Will try something else by this author, but I was not enarmoured by this one.

A creepy and atmospheric thriller set on a Scottish estate dealing with the inheritance of property and land in which there are too many vested interests. When some of those interests are threatened, someone is willing to go to great lengths to shift the balance back in their favour, resulting in murder, kidnapping and deception. I did not realise it was part of a series, but it was interesting enough for me to seek out the previous stories featuring detective Kelso Strang.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this advance copy.

Drumdalloch Woods on the Black Isle is a creepy place. It is also a site of scientific interest with many rare trees. The owner has always wanted the woods protected but after his death that no longer seems to be as assured as it might be. Left to his son & daughter, the arguments start almost right away. Oriole want the woods to stay as they are. Perry is only interested in the profit that might be made. He, along with his disturbed son, Jay take up residence. Oriole, used to being the only full time resident feels pressure from various places, especially the intimidating local police detective. Then Perry is murdered. Jay disappears & Oriole doesn't know where to turn. Much to the disgust of the local police DI Kelso Strang is put in charge of the case.

Although this is the sixth in a series & I had only read book 4, I found it quite easy to read as a stand alone. I enjoyed the setting & the characters were memorable- mostly for how awful they were! However I really like Kelso Strang so I'll try not to miss out on the next one in the series. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book

Deadfall is the sixth edition to the DI Kelso Strang thriller series by Aline Templeton set in Scotland. Although it is the first I’ve read, I felt it worked fairly well as a standalone. However, I did have some problems with it which may have been due to my not having read the other books. The pace of the first third of the story seemed very slow as the setting and the plot are set up and the characters introduced and, admittedly, it took a while to engage me. However, when it did get going, it grabbed me and didn’t let go. The end, itself, was left open with no complete resolution although the solution was certainly hinted at. Oddly, this actually worked for me since I suspect this is true of many crimes where the police are sure of the perpetrator but haven’t the evidence to prove it. Overall, despite my criticisms of the book, once it got going, I found it very enjoyable and well-written with an interesting mystery and would definitely read more ny this author in the future.

3.5 rounded up to 4

Thanks to Netgalley and Allison and Busby for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

EXCERPT: ' . . . But no, it's not her house, we share it. There's a lot needs sorting out so it won't be in quite such bad repair when it comes to selling it.'
The boy had turned his head sharply. 'You're going to sell it? Just like that? Grandad said you couldn't, that it was to be handed on like it is . . .'
Perry ground his teeth. That could have been the boy's mother talking - not that he'd ever believed she meant what she said. 'Grandad was running the place into the ground. He was spending the money he'd inherited in a reckless way and if it had gone on like that there'd be nothing left.'
His son's silence was so icy that Perry could almost feel the draught on his skin. Then James said, in a low voice, 'So did you kill him as well, before that could happen?'

ABOUT 'DEADFALL': There is something sinister about Drumdalloch Woods in the Black Isle near Inverness. It is a place of tangled growth and shadowy darkness, and it has business opportunists, biological scientists and conflicted family members all competing for a say in its future. Then a body is found, and everything starts to look suspicious.

As DCI Kelso Strang's investigation grows more complex, he unearths layers of hatred, greed and revenge that cast suspicion even on the local police force. Having only just found happiness with his new girlfriend, Cat Fleming, Strang faces an existential threat not only to his career but to his very life.

MY THOUGHTS: I have loved the DCI Strang series up until this point. Deadfall is definitely not measuring up to the standard set by the earlier books.

It takes an extremely long time for the scene to be set. Neither the plot nor the writing flowed, the majority of the characters are unstable, and most issues remain unresolved at the end. If I hadn't known in advance who had written this, I would never have picked Aline Templeton as the author.

Deadfall starts off well enough. One of the few believable characters, Lachie McIvor, who lives in a decaying shepherd's bothy on the edge of the estate, finds a body in the woods. There is a dark and menacing tone to the prologue which, unfortunately, doesn't carry through to the rest of the book.

The narrative then jumps forwards three years to 2023 and the madness begins. And I mean madness. Other than Lachie, DCI Strang, and a couple of Strang's detectives, none of the main characters are particularly believable. They all behave like squabbling, badly behaved, tantrum throwing, petulant or needy children.

There are secret plans and plots concerning the fate of the woods; people scheming against one another; emotional blackmail; child neglect and bullying. The waters are further muddied by the inclusion of a police corruption thread.

I ended this read feeling dissatisfied, both with the messy structure and the equally messy characters. I missed the easy, compelling reading that has been my previous experience with this author.

⭐⭐.5

#Deadfall #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR: Aline Templeton grew up in the fishing village of Anstruther, in the East Neuk of Fife. She has worked in education and broadcasting and was a Justice of the Peace for ten years. Married, with a son and daughter and four grandchildren, she lived in Edinburgh for many years but now lives in Kent.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Allison & Busby via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Deadfall by Aline Templeton for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Deadfall is part of a series but stands well on its on. It is a police procedural set in Scotland. I enjoy reading crime thrillers set in Scotland and this one did not disappoint. It’s a slow burn with lots of development and backstory. I enjoyed it so much, I now want to read the previous books in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Allison&Busby for allowing me to read the eARC version on this book.

This is book 6 of the series, and a twisty one to sink your teeth into. Giles Forsyth's Drumdalloch Woods seems amazing with it's mixture of old growth forest and invasive species that have been added. Giles allowed members of the Institute for Studies in Biological Sciences to use the forest as their private forest for studies. He worried about it's future, and wanted to leave it to his daughter in law, but she died in a freak accident. His son and grandson moved back to the big city and his daughter remained, guardian to the huge house and land, as his cook and servant. But then Giles dies, his son Perry looses his job and returns home looking for money and finds that others want to profit off the forest as well. When a murder occurs, Kelso doesn't just have one suspect-he has a covey of them. It will take all of his and DS Murray's sleuthing skills to figure out the many tangled webs of deceit in this book! A good page turner, it's a good entry into Templeton's writing and the series itself!

2.75 stars. This was the first one of the DCI Strang series I’ve read, so I didn’t have any past books to draw on here. Strang was nice enough, but the rest of the characters were mostly unlikeable. Cat comes over as very young and insecure, Murray is unrequited love, and as for the Forsyths, Sinclair and Drummond, they’re all very unlikeable. There wasn’t really any nuance to their personalities, so Drummond isn’t just a corrupt and scary copper, he is almost a pantomime overdone villain. Oriole is very wet and ineffectual.

The plot plods along with lots of hints at plans and lots of talk about the woods, but nothing really picks up until near the end. But unless I missed something, it didn’t really resolve the plot with any clarity? The only thing worse than a slow read is one that doesn’t even wrap things up at the end.

From other reviews, it appears this might be the weaker in the series, in which case it’s unfortunate that has been my introduction. So in the interest of making sure, I will read the other few books I’ve got by this author, to give it a fair shake.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

A fantastic mystery set in beautiful Scotland, featuring characters who become very real to the reader as the book progresses. Noting this is part of a series, don’t be put off as the author takes care not to leave new readers behind in this regard. I enjoyed the careful development of a sense of time and place as the plot unfolded and see this as holding a well earned place amongst Scottish mysteries.

Part of a series featuring Kelso Strang. Police procedural set near Inverness in Scotland. A twisted tale of greed and ambition..

Thank you to NetGalley and Allison & Busbby for an eARC copy of Deadfall by Aline Templeton.

As always, I tend to read the books that are in the middle of a series of some sort. However, Deadfall stands nicely on its own and despite some things that were related to the other books, it doesn't take away from the plot as a whole.

Scotland is certainly on my list of places to go, which is one of the reasons I had to read this book...that and the spooky woods. Who doesn't like a good thriller surrounding a beautiful set of old woods with secrets? While I enjoyed the book, it felt a bit slow paced to me and quite frankly some of the main characters are not the most likeable, which also made it a bit hard to get through. But the premise as a whole worked out in the end.

Deadfall is book 6 in Aline Templeton’s DC Kelsey Stang series. Deadfall stands nicely on its own. I’ve not read any of the others and could see there were things that continued from those previous books, but nothing detracted from the story in this book. In fact, those things made me want to backtrack to those previous books in the series just for fun.

A word about developing character and setting—Do it! Templeton takes her time, lovingly describing the main players and the locale which is really another character in this mystery.

We are in Scotland near Inverness in Black Isle where dreary Drumdalloch Wood has a history. Templeton lets her characters tell the tales and develop the mystery surrounding the Wood and the family intrigue that will lead from tragedy to more tragedy. The build-up to murder is steady and rewarding. Then the investigation unfolds at a steady pace.

Some may criticize the pace, but I like the slow burn and the detailed development. If you enjoy British mysteries—lots of backstory and local color with a depraved murder somewhere along the line—you’ll like Deadfall.
As any of you who read my stuff already know, I am a sucker for a dark, brooding wood and violent deaths therein. Add family politics pitting sister against brother, powerful forces attempting to usurp landowner rights from a lone woman, and local gossip that may or may not be accurate, and a ruthless killer and I’m in up to the tops of my wellies.

Settle into a comfy chair with a cuppa and enjoy.

I really enjoyed reading Deadfall, set in the lovely Black Isle of Scotland up near Inverness. It’s always good reading about a location I live near.
Oriole lives in the grand house in Drumdalloch Woods, when her brother Perry turns up with her nephew Jay. Perry then ends up dead and DCI Strang is called to investigate. There has been mysterious things happening in the town and with corrupt police and others wanting their hands on the house, it’s makes an interesting and thrilling read. I liked the style of writing and all the characters. My first book by this author, but won’t be my last. A well written 4 star read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

Drumdalloch House is surrounded by woods on the Black Isle near Inverness. The Grandmother had planted many special trees, and their parents had taken care of them. At this time, the house is decaying and there are several local students and other volunteers who are working among the trees. Early in the book, the Members of the family are Giles Forsyth, the father, Perry the son, Oriole the daughter, Helena, Perry's wife, and Jay, the young son of Perry and Helena. Perry has been working in the city and is usually only around on weekends.

There are students and faculty from a nearby college as well as volunteer working on the valuable trees in the woods. When a student working finds Helena dead from a bird shelf in a tree landing on her head, Oriole calls the police. Local policeman, Drummond investigates, and determines that Helena's death was an accident. However, Jay thinks that his father or aunt had killed her because they wanted to make money from the trees, and he becomes difficult to control. Oriole wants to keep the forest as her grandmother had wanted, but Perry wants to get some income from it.

We soon find that Perry has joined with two friends, the policeman Drummond and the nearby hotel owner Steve, to sell the hotel and start a new luxury hotel at the Drumdalloch site. When Oriole has an accident similar to Helena's (although it didn't kill her), Jay disappears, and it is believed that he may have tried to kill his aunt. This time Strang is called in from Edinburgh. Drummond tries to take control, but is not allowed to work with the police. Then, there is another suspicious death. We soon realize that there is a group of bad police and Oriole and Jay are both in danger of their life. Will the good guys find Jay before the bad guys get to him? And will Strang live to marry his new girlfriend?

This is a very exciting book and I can't wait to read all the previous books in the series. I thank Net Galley and Allyson&Busby for the ARC so I could read the book before publication.

A Scottish police procedural, Deadfall (2024) by Aline Templeton is the sixth book of the Detective Inspector Kelso Strang series. It begins in 2020 in the Drumdalloch Woods before jumping to 2023 and the discovery of an unliked local man found murdered. The narrative is too slow in establishing the back story before DI Strang’s investigation finally gets underway. The characters all appear to be emotionally flappable and hence unlikable, giving the tale a humdrum feel. The focus on the woods was intended to create a dark atmospheric vibe, but their role seemed somewhat absurd and yet another distracting element of the story. Unfortunately, this crime mystery drama was somewhat ordinary and disappointing, so only rates two and a half stars. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement. With thanks to Allison & Busby publishers and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

This is the first book that I have read in the Kelso Strang series and it ticked lots of boxes for me when I read about it.
Crime thriller
Set in Scotland
Old run down estate with wonderful old trees.

I like exploring old National Trust estates so I felt immediately at ease as the author detailed Drumdalloch Estate in the Scottish Highlands, with its spooky old woods. The book felt quite slow initially as the characters of those in the old house are explored but gave good background to likely suspects when a dead body finally appears. Ongoing conflict in the family over whether the estate with its unique old specimen trees should be left almost untouched and available for scientific research or it should be revitalised and brought into the modern world. So there are plenty of suspects.
I liked Di Kelso Strang and the book was an enjoyable easy read. Thoroughly enjoyed it and will look out for others in the series

This was my first DI Strang book and I hadn't realised it was actually the 6th in the series - I would have preferred to have read from book 1 but nonetheless it wasn't a huge issue and I didn't feel as though I was missing a huge chunk of backstory.

I adore trees, and forests, and nature, woodlands, fields and all the creatures that live within along with the faintly spooky atmosphere they create and so although the beginning of this book was a bit slow for me I forgave that for the beautiful depth of the intro to the woodlands.

I loved the main characters, especially Strang and Livvy and most of the 'side' characters were either interesting or annoying both of which is good as you need someone to love to hate!

I think I now need to find myself book 1.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley and Allison and Busby for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A well written and atmospheric (those woods!) procedural that I read as a standalone. DCI Kelsey Strang has a mess of a case on his hands but powers through with the help of his team and his instincts. There's some interesting eco-commentary here that adds to the story. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm going to look for Templeton again.

One of my favorite Scottish police procedural authors is back with the 6th book in her Kelso Strang series. It can definitely be read as a stand alone but it would be a shame to miss the previous installments, they’re so good. I also enjoy how she’s brought characters from her DI Marjory Fleming books into this series.
The backstory for the murder is well laid out, an old estate in the Scottish Highlands with a crumbling manor and a wild forest are essentially all that remain after death taxes when Giles Forsyth dies. His son and daughter, a Biological Science Institute, along with some local characters all have their own ideas for its future, and that’s where the conflict begins. The writing makes it easy, while not really liking some of the characters, to have empathy for what’s brought them to where they are, while there are also some true villains. The forest itself has a personality ranging from majestic to wild and raging, the manor is depressingly damp and run down, and the nearby inn and spa is a sad, dated place that probably wouldn’t get many stars on Trip Advisor…..they’re all so vividly described that you’ll be immersed in the atmosphere. Kelso initially needs to rely on local help before he can bring in DS Livvy Murray, I love how we get to learn more of how she thinks and how she’s growing as an officer. The dynamics between the characters keep the story moving quickly as secrets and plotting are uncovered, the ending was,dramatic.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Allison and Busby, for an advance copy. Highly recommended for lovers of police procedurals, mysteries set in an atmospheric setting, and lovers of all things Scottish (including a death or two!).

Scotland, suspense, crime-thriller, due-diligence, procedural, greed, relationships, revenge, atmospheric, Scottish-noir, justice, rural, environmental, eco-awareness, family-dynamics, family-drama, family-history, murder, investigation. ****

Disclaimer: I did not read every word in this book because I forgot to check if it was TTS enabled (NOT) and that made it difficult for me to get engrossed as I would have liked. Even with that, I think that it stands alone very well. The characters are clear and totally believable. The majors are DCI Kelso Strang (his new girlfriend Cat Fleming) and his offsider DS Livvy Murray. I thought I'd have to map out the characters in the first third, but it wasn't that bad once Strang got into the investigation. That first third was important to the basic set-up and plot basics. Despite my vision issues, I found the writing very involving and hard to put down. Now I hope for audio of the series.
I requested and received a free temporary digital galley as PDF from Allison & Busby via NetGalley.
#Deadfall by @AlineTempleton #DIKelsoStrangBk6 #NetGalley @AllisonandBusby