A chance discovery which presents new evidence into Nazma Kirmani’s disappearance. A prospecting archaeologist, Nazama went missing twenty one years earlier when a site was being excavated in the grounds of Trusloe Hall for a TV documentary.

The case was closed after Nazma presented herself at a police station back in 1999, but what does this new evidence suggest, and can DI Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad help find the truth for Nazma’s family whose lives have been in upheaval for more than two decades?

Hollow Graves is a cold case mystery – perfect for any fans of ITV’s ‘Unforgotten’. It is the third installment of the DI Lockyer series, following ‘Stay Buried’, and ‘Laying Out The Bones’. Whilst it can be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading the books in order for extra depth. The character development over the trio of novels has been phenomenal and all three books have been compelling.

Hollow Graves goes above and beyond most mystery books, and does an outstanding job of highlighting so many other themes throughout the book, which is a testament to the author Kate Webb. In addition to themes of grief and inequalities which have been present throughout the predecessors, Hollow Graves also touches upon the subjects of loneliness, new parenthood racism, domestic abuse, power and control.

Once again I’m blown away at how Kate Webb manages to have so many different storylines and so many well developed complex characters, and yet somehow it all comes together.

Overall 5 stars… the countdown to book four is on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the ARC. Hollow Grave will be published on 13th March 2025.

This is the first Kate Webb novel I have read but I might go back and read the previous 2 to get a bit more insight to the characters DI Lockyear & DC Gemma Broad, Hollow Grave follows two time lines 1999 when a young girl Nazma Kirmani goes missing and 2020 when new information comes to light. The story was interesting although I wish COVID wasn’t mentioned (that’s a time none of us need reminding off) but the majority of the book had a good pace and enough twists and turns to be kept interesting. It made a change as well that the disappearance wasn’t just solved that the police came up empty & had dead ends as too many crime stories can be like columbo and just solved.

The Hollow Grave is another brilliant book about D I Matt Lockyer and his cold case investigations. It is the third in the series but it could be read alone. I do recommend that readers go back and read the previous two though as it will give extra depth to this one.
Di Matt Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad are given the cold case of the disappearance of archaeologist Nazma Kirmani. She vanished in the summer of 1999 and no one has seen her since then but now her bag has been discovered not far from the place where she was last working so the case is reopened.
I do love cold case investigations and this was a particularly intriguing case. It definitely seemed as there were errors in the original investigation but although Matt and Gemma pursue every lead, they don’t seem to be getting any further for a large part of the book. At the same time, they both get on with their own lives, Matt is about to become a father and has very mixed feelings about this including a feeling that he has been trapped into fatherhood and Gemma is finding life with her boyfriend is becoming more difficult.
Despite the slow pace of the book, it never lost my interest. I was fascinated by the case itself and the insights into it that Matt gained from his and Gemma’s own experiences. Gemma’s story arc in particular adds another layer to the plot. The characters in the case were interesting too especially the eccentric owner of the stately home Inez de Redvers. There were lots of dead ends in the investigation but gradually all the parts of the jigsaw began to come together and Matt Lockyer is sure that he knows what happened. Proving it will be another matter though.
I love the setting of this series and all of the characters are vividly written. Added to this, the story is set in Nov 2020 just as the UK was about to enter the second lockdown of COVID19 which gives it quite a claustrophobic feeling.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who loves police procedurals.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers Quercus Books for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This latest case in the Lockyer and Broad series of crime novels lives up to the high standards set by the first two. The plotting is excellent and the characters demand that the reader be invested in them. There are so many twists and turns that I just had to keep reading. Excellent and looking forward to the next one!

I love a cold case crime story, and this is the best I have read in a while. When a bag containing belongings is found in the river, it is identified as belonging to Nazma Kirmani, a young woman who had been reported missing 25 years ago, but had apparently then turned up at a police station alive and well, before falling off the radar. Her family have never believed that she had, as the police at the time had decided, run away- they were a happy family and Nazma had loved her job assisting on an archaeological dig. DI Matt Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad determine to find out what really happened to Nazma, and soon begin to unravel a complex chain of events leading up to the fateful night when she was last seen. The gradual piecing together of clues is intriguing and kept me guessing, while the characters involved are, as usual with Webb’s books, nuanced and convincing. She portrays people and events with compassion, never skipping over the grief caused for the people affected by crime and the lasting effects of trauma. The two detectives are well-rounded and likeable, and their personal stories are continued from the earlier books in the series, with Lockyer facing unexpected fatherhood and Broad experiencing relationship issues which make her particularly sensitive to this case and its implications. A very involving and satisfying read.

3.5/5
I really enjoyed the premise of the book. The main characters were well-written and the story was really interesting. I like the 'cold case' crime-solving genre - like the 'Unforgotten' tv series. I will need to read the first 2 books to get the best out of this story, I think. What I really do not like, or enjoy is the references to lockdown and covid. I think these references badly date the book and may irritate other readers. It adds nothing to the narrative.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review. This is the third in the DI Lockyer series by Kate (Katherine) Webb. He works with colleague Gem to solve cold cases and the series goes from strength to strength with this book. Lockyer is developing into a likeable lead character with enough depth and flaws to make him interesting and Gem is a great partner who also develops in this story. The mystery is good too, with twists and turns and an ending I didn’t predict. I hope she writes more!

Hollow Grave by Katie Webb

Picked this because it's set in Wiltshire , my county of birth , and love the countryside within it . Also have a fascination with archeology so a win , win for me .
Set in lockdown, the title is about the disappearance of a young woman 21 years ago. Last seen working on an archeological dig which was being televised.
Some 20 years later, a bag with some of her possessions is found and Matt Lockyear and his partner Gemma Broad tasked into reopening the case.
The book also deals with lockdown restrictions , and the way that goes someway in effecting the case which I found quite interesting and clever to set during that time .

Set in Wiltshire, in the lockdown, the book centres on the disappearance of a young woman 21 years ago. She had been working on an archeological dig which was being televised. Now more than 20 years later, a bag with some of her possessions is found and Matt Lockyear and his partner Gemma Broad start looking into the events around the period that she was seen for the last.
The descriptions of places and people are fantastic here, both in the possible crime scenes and in Matt and Gemma's personal lives. Leading on from the last book, Matt is an expectant father and his mixed feelings about that are well portrayed and realistic. Gemma too seems to have problems in her personal life. The lockdown restrictions add to the complications of the investigation (how quickly we forget !) . The pace of the book is fairly moderate but there are certainly plenty of twists in the plot, many towards the end unexpected. The book kept my interest throughout and although I have read the previous episodes, it is ok as a stand alone. For background information on Matt and Gemma's personal lives, I would advise reading the books in order. This series is a must read for me now.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

Its the third outing for DI Matt Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad. This time its the case of a missing girl, Nazma Kirmani, from 1999. Originally reported missing by her family, the hunt was abandoned when she walked into a police station in London claiming it had all been a mistake. But 21 years later and nothing has ever been heard from her. Now, a bag with her passport and other items has been pulled from the river close to where she was working as part of a group excavating a Bronze Age burial site in the grounds of Trusloe Hall, a minor stately home in Wiltshire.

It seems as though the investigating officers leapt to some racial assumptions (eg Nazma was escaping some arranged marriage, even though her father is a Christian and her stepmother is white) and were relieved when it seemed she had just run away from her family. But the closer Matt and Gemma look into things the more suspicious they seem. Everything centres around that archaeological dig and the people Nazma knew then.

I think this series has really got into its stride, although the necessity for Matt and Hedy's baby to develop normally means they are about to go into the November 2020 lock-down which all just seems a distant memory.

Although Matt still does a little too much navel-gazing for me, I can see progress in his relationship and it wasn't as pervasive as in the previous two books.

Really enjoyed this.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

A most enjoyable thriller with a good backstory too.
This can be read as a standalone but I shall now happily read the preceeding novels.
Whilst I did feel the middle 20% dragged a tad the rest more than made up for it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC which was very much appreciated.

This series stands a cut above many other police procedurals, largely due to the excellence of the writing, the compelling plots and the well-drawn characters. Lockyer and Broad are an interesting and engaging pair of detectives and I particularly enjoyed diving deeper into their back stories in this book and seeing how their personal lives intertwined with the case. The mystery at the heart of the book was intriguing and though I had my suspicions about the guilty party, I couldn’t have guessed the full horror of what was going on. This series is getting better and better and I can’t wait to read book four.

It’s always a pleasure to come across an established crime writer for the first time. This is the third outing for Kate Webb’s DI Lockyer Mysteries, but the first one I’ve read. Detective Inspector Matt Lockyer and Detective Constable Gemma Broad investigate the cold case of a young woman who disappeared twenty years earlier. The case has become live again because a bag of her belongings has washed up on the bank of the River Kennet near Marlborough, Wiltshire.
As one would expect from a seasoned writer (Kate Webb also writes bestselling historical novels as Katherine Webb), the writing is fluent and accomplished. The novel is ideal for fans of lengthy, involved police procedurals whose engaging detectives have fully realised and unusual backstories. To get the full experience of this protagonist’s story, it would be worth starting at book one. However, I didn’t lose any understanding by jumping in at book three. Although this works as a standalone, it sets up nicely for book four.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
On publication, I will post this review on my blog and on GoodReads.

I enjoyed this book, which I thought I would, having read the first 2 in the series. The characters are really well written and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.
Can't wait for book 4!

This was such a great book. I was hooked from the opening lines until the very last embers of the plot.. this is a murder mystery of being looked into 20 years after the death. The police let the family down the first time and Lockyer wants to make sure that this time the job is done right. So much is going on in the background with awkward neighbours, senile old ladies, a partner who has a complicated private life and fraud and theft left right and centre. The book ploughs on with twists and turns that I discovered along with the police and loved every minute of it. bring on the next book.

Fast becoming one of my favourite police procedural series, Hollow Grave hits all the right notes- a clever twisty mystery, a continuance of the lives of regular characters and terrific writing.

You can read this without reading the others but my recommendation would be to go in order. However the author does a good job of making it accessible if you wish to dive right in.

I'm.a fan of the police duo at the heart of this series and I'm a fan of how clever all the mysteries are and Hollow Grave is no different. Intelligent plotting, page turning quality and unexpected moments. Can't ask for much more really.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for my copy of Hollow Grave by Kate Webb.
An enjoyable read. I hadn’t read the previous two in the series but I picked it up as I went along, and it worked fine as a standalone.
Will definitely be looking out for the next book in the series.