Charlie is assigned a murder case with few clues and discovers there may be a clever serial killer at large whose victims have no obvious common links. Cracking dialogue and characters allied with interesting Yorkshire locations and clever plotting keep the pages turning. Recommended. ( )

You always know where you are with Stuart Pawson: strong, plausible plots and empathetic characters. He doesn't rely upon quirky idiosyncrasies to carry the story and his main protagonist, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest, is immensely likeable.

In this eighth outing Priest thinks he might be up against a serial killer, responsible for at least three murders in and around Heckley, the imaginary Yorkshire town where the series is set. As if this wasn't worrying enough it seems that the victims are being selected entirely at random.

Priest finds himself summoned down to New Scotland Yard where he is advised that there might actually be a further three victims from a couple of years ago, all around Greater London. Priest and his team carry on their investigation against mounting odds.

The resolution is very well-constructed, and the clues and pointers are all there. In fact, my only cavill against this novel was Pawson's major solecism in stating that the town of Loughborough, where one character lives, is in Nottinghamshire. As a Loughburian and proud Leicestershire man it was almost a struggle to carry on reading!

But that was the only flaw. I don't think that this was Pawson's best book but that still leaves great scope for it to be rather better than the average crime novel, which this certainly was. ( )