This, the second in the Sam Shephard series set in New Zealand, begins not long after the ending of Overkill.

Sam is now a detective in training in Dunedin and living with her friend Maggie in the home of Maggie’s aunt and uncle. A university student is found murdered and an investigation ensues. Sam is kept on the margins of the case because her superior, DI Johns, holds a grudge because of their previous encounters and is determined not to give her anything but the most menial of tasks. Nonetheless, Sam uncovers other deaths in other communities that occurred when a travelling circus was visiting.

The first-person narrator is Sam. Her personality is as developed in the first book. She is brash and sarcastic, and it is inevitable that her outspokenness will get her into trouble. Of course, her frustration at the pointless jobs she is assigned is understandable and I couldn’t help but cheer her on when she stands up to her bully. It is obvious, however, that Sam is vulnerable beneath her tough exterior. She has lots of self-doubt and needs the support of others. Her relentlessness is extraordinary. Her involvement in an event involving an incident at the circus emphasizes both her strengths and empathy.

There are some elements that annoyed or bothered me. One is the many short chapters; there seems little reason for the narrative breaks. Some events seem unlikely: the circus owner’s insisting on Sam’s presence during police interviews and Sam’s taking two weapons at the end. Sam’s mother is an over-the-top character; she is so controlling, unsupportive and manipulative. The misleading cover photo is manipulative. The murderer’s identity is not difficult to guess because there are so few suspects. Unfortunately, the motive lacks credibility; such extreme behaviour requires a stronger motive.

The ending is sudden. Much is unexplained. The stalker angle is never fully explained and neither is Sam’s father’s illness clarified. Considering what happens, there would inevitably be emotional fallout, but it is never addressed. Perhaps the next book in the series, Containment, will fill in some gaps?

Despite its weaknesses, I will continue listening to the series during my morning walks. The books are entertaining and I’m interested to see how Sam matures in both her personal and professional life.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ( )

Sam Shephard has moved from the small country town where she was the big fish in the small pond to the city of Dunedin only to find she is the small fish, very small fish, in the big pond. She is a trainee detective and the DI doesn't like her and doesn't hide it. But Sam persists. She is all but excluded from the investigation into the death of university student even though she was first on the scene when the body was found.

But her determination to not be overlooked is what gives the investigation it's first real avenues of investigation.

I really enjoyed this book and wonder why it's been 8 years since I read the first book in the series. ( )

The Ringmaster – Atmospheric and compelling

This is the second book in the Sam Shephard series from Vanda Symon, but this is my introduction to this feisty detective. Some how Vanda Symon has actually made Dunedin, in New Zealand sound interesting and not just about the Egg chasing.

Like most Brits, my experience of New Zealand is that it rather stuck in the twentieth century, and the 1960s are just about creep up on them. Oh, that and getting completely battered at Rugby by the All Blacks.

Vanda Symon has written an atmospheric and compelling thriller with plenty of twists and turns, a red herring or two that makes it captivating. She even makes you feel sorry for Cassie and the outcome there, nearly had a tear in my eye, but then I prefer them to humans.

Sam Shephard has moved from the one-eyed town she was previously they police officer for, where she had to do everything, to Dunedin where she gets to be the bottom of the ladder. Sam is doing her detective training in the city and has managed to get a place with Maggie’s (best friend) uncle and aunt in massive house with a view. Even though she can never get parked near the house or the police station for that matter.

When called out to the visiting circus she has to deal with animal rights activists and students making a stand about the use of animals at the circus. As a country girl she has a soft spot for animals and especially for Cassie who she gives some attention too on every, frequent visit.

When the body of a young student is found murdered at the side of a river, the investigation kicks into overdrive. As a member of the team, she is the punchbag for the Detective Inspector Johns as he just does not get on with her, but then the feelings are mutual.

While supposedly on the outside of the investigation she is kept in the loop and tries to understand what is happening. Even coming up with leads, whether they are relevant is a different matter. But by doing all the hard work it is Sam who discovers the truth behind the murder and has to make a dash of hope, when everyone else is busy elsewhere.

This is an excellent thriller with excellent characters and gives a total immersion into the investigation and how Sam is coping with everything going on. Atmospheric and compelling, Dunedin finally got interesting. ( )

I have wanted to read another Vanda Symon book since I finished her first one, ‘Overkill’. Knowing I was about to spend a month on the south island of New Zealand, I decided to start reading books set in NZ to put me in the mood. Of course I immediately thought of Vanda Symon and checked to see if she had written more books. She had, and her second book RINGMASTER is set in Dunedin, just where I was scheduled to spend five days.

After the events in ‘Overkill’, Sam Shepherd and her best friend Maggie are now living in Dunedin, boarding with Maggie's aunt and uncle who are suffering from empty nest syndrome. Sam is stationed in Dunedin CIB doing formal detective training, but is bottom of the pecking order. When a young university student is found battered to death and floating in the Leith, a stream that runs through the botanical gardens, Sam is pushed to one side by her boss and only given grunt work. Despite this it is Sam who discovers that there has been a string of unsolved murders on the south island and that each has occurred while a traveling circus was in town; the same circus that is presently in Dunedin. The investigation turns to the circus folk, and again Sam is given mundane tasks to do. Angry at being put aside when she knows how much good she can do, Sam decides to work alone, ignoring the attempts of her friends to help her, and keeping her lines of enquiries secret. This headstrong attitude, and the fact that she is human and makes mistakes, puts her and some of those she loves in very real danger.

In RINGMASTER there are quite a few subplots going on that effect Sam both professionally and personally. On top of her struggle to be accepted as an investigator, Sam has love life is so unobtrusive that Sam doesn’t at first realise that she is being wooed. Her relationship with her parents is another avenue that is explored, as is the odd goings on with a car parked in Sam’s spot out the front of where she lives adds yet another storyline. The ending, when it comes, is one of those slap on the head moments when you realise that everything makes sense and why didn’t you see it coming.

Sam is a wonderful character – a rare fictional character that seems so real the reader can connect with her. The story is fast-paced and picks you up from page one and doesn’t let you go until the last page. I had great fun wandering through the Botanical Gardens after Dunedin had been blanketed with snow looking at the Leith flowing quite quickly. Being close to the university, there were students everywhere – some taking short cuts through the gardens while my husband and I wandered through. Was certainly a great spot for a murder, my husband tried a few strangle holds to add to the mood; until I pointed out the victim had been dispatched by a rock to the head! The book certainly portrayed the town vividly, with great characters – yes even the baddie – and a real sense of place.
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THE RINGMASTER is the second in the Sam Shephard series from NZ author Vanda Symon. Sam has moved to Dunedin, is in detective training when the body of a young university student is found in the Botanic Gardens. In Sam's world it goes without saying that nothing is ever going to be straightforward, and once the possibility that this murder isn't a solitary event, the connection between murders all over the Southern South Island of New Zealand and a local travelling circus becomes a distinct possibility.

Which, as it does, leads to a sympathetic relationship with an elephant. Which ends badly. So maybe I should get this out of the way up front, things for the elephant don't end well at all, and Sam is just as upset about this outcome as the reader is going to be. But that isn't going to help readers who are completely opposed to anything bad happening to animals. For me, the events, whilst distressing, really demonstrated how sometimes the life of the police isn't a pleasant one. But getting back to the murder investigation, there are aspects of Sam's personality (and personal life) that have come forward from the first book - OVERKILL. There are also aspects of the investigation that remain the same. Sam plays a solo hand again, partly because she's sidelined in a major way by the same bosses that tried to sideline her in the first book, and partly because Sam's much more comfortable out on the edge, playing a solo hand. It's probably that sense that somewhere off in the rough is exactly where Sam is at her best that stops any sense of cliché or convenient repetition. That and the humour, but more on that later.

As with OVERKILL, the great strength in THE RINGMASTER is the characterisations. Using the same tricks as the earlier book, Sam really is easy to identify with. Her own self doubt, her willingness to feel real emotion, make mistakes, beat herself up, be jealous, angry, daft as a brush, brave, sad and rather clever all at the same time.

There is another great supporting set of characters in THE RINGMASTER. Maggie remains, housemate, and best friend, Sam's touchstone. They are now both living in Dunedin, boarding with relatives of Maggie's, their domestic situation seemingly sorted, Sam's emotional life is still a massive rollercoaster. There is a love interest bought forward from the first book, although it takes quite a while for Sam to twig that this is a love interest, and not just some bloke hanging around being annoying. There is also a great sense of place and sensibility. The book doesn't read as a travelogue, but you really do come away from it with an unscratchable itch to see that place, meet those people.

As with the first book, the humour is pitched perfectly. At no stage is the reader allowed to forget that there are victims involved in any series of murders, there are unwitting involvements that impact everyone as a result, and there are the guilty that have their own, often inexplicable reasons, for doing what they do. CONTAINMENT is the next book in the series, followed by recent release BOUND. Do you think it's too much to hope that now that I'm revisiting the first three books, and have the fourth to look forward to, that a fifth isn't that far away? ( )