Chill Factor by Stuart Pawson is the seventh book in his DI Charlie Priest series of police procedurals. In this one a salesman, Tony Silkstone, confesses to murdering the man who raped and killed his wife and Charlie’s bosses are eager to convict and close the case. Silkstone has become a media darling and a sympathetic figure to the public, so a year or two in prison would most likely be all he would get. But DI Charlie Priest is not convinced that things are as simple as it seems.

This was a villain that I was very happy to see Charlie working on as he had been raping and killing for years and often chose quite young victims. His newest method of escaping detection had his leaving traces of other men on the victim and seeing others getting charged for his crimes. His huge ego and feelings of superiority had him very angry that Charlie wasn’t falling for his cover story and was continuing to dig away at his past.

Although not my favorite of the series so far, Chill Factor was still a very readable crime story and spending time with the upbeat Charlie is always fun. Other than working on his case, Charlie is also showing signs of being ready for a new relationship and I am looking forward to seeing how this develops. In this series, author, Stuart Pawson gives us a touch of humour, fully realized characters and interesting story lines that are set against the backdrop of Yorkshire. I, for one, find this a very entertaining series. ( )

Not as good as Pawson at his best but still very enjoyable. This particular chapter in the Charlie Priest sequence runs true to form with a well-structured plot and highly believable characters, but somehow something was missing, and I didn't feel the same sense of amusement and engagement that I normally experience when reading Pawson's boos.
However, I have been reading them out of sequence, and I know that I have enjoyed some of the books published after this one, so it may just have been a temporary blip. After all, I still enjoyed the book and am glad I read it; it was merely a little disappointing as I know that Pawson can (and, indeed, frequently has) write even better novels than this. ( )

A Detective Inspector Charlie Priest Mystery. Super-salesman Tony Silkstone wreaks a terrible revenge when he comes home to discover his wife dead, apparently strangled by her lover after a sex game that went wrong. The DNA evidence supports Silkestone' confession and the top brass of the Heckley police would like nothing better than to wrap up the case with a manslaughter charge.
[When salesman Tony Silkstone discovers that his wife is having an affair, he wants his revenge. What the police find at the house is a dead woman, apparently strangled during a bizarre sex ritual, and her lover, stabbed through the heart with a turkey carver. Silkstone confesses to the murder of the lover, pleading severe provocation. Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is not convinced that he's hearing the whole truth.

A long and labyrithine investigation begins, during which Priest becomes the target for a hit man called Kevin Chilcott - nicknamed The Chiller - pursues various lines of inquiry and (almost) has a steamy affair with a female colleague. In spite of his irritating habit of telling us in detail about every meal that he eats, Charlie Priest is an engaging character, tough, tenacious, witty and irreverent. Moulded by the bleak Yorkshire landscape around him, he looks and sounds like a real cop.] ( )