Kindle British Mystery Book Club discussion

The Restless DeadSimon Beckett

My nomination for January.

"Top forensics expert Dr. David Hunter is facing an uncertain future. His career hangs in the balance and his personal life has taken a turn for the worse. Then, he takes a call from Detective Inspector Lundy from the Essex force. Just up the coast from Mersea Island, a badly decomposed body has been found. The local police would welcome David’s help with the recovery and identification—and they would especially like it if the body was identified as Leo Villiers.

Leo Villiers is the adult son of a prominent regional family who went missing weeks ago, and the investigators are under pressure to close the case. Villiers was allegedly having an affair with a married woman, Emma Derby, who is also missing. The theory is that the young man disposed of his lover and then killed himself. But with the hands and feet missing and the face no longer recognizable, David has his doubts about the identity of the remains. As the remote wetlands give up ever more grisly secrets, David is slowly drawn into a toxic mire of family betrayals, provincial lies, and deadly stakes."

I nominate The Crossing by Matt BrollyThe Crossing

When a body is discovered, bled dry on a beach, the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare wakes up to a nightmare. For Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell, recently transferred to the town she last saw as a child, it’s her first case on the job.

The victim—Veronica Lloyd, an elderly volunteer at a local church—has puncture wounds to her hands. When a priest is found killed in a nearby church in a similarly grisly condition, it becomes clear that Blackwell is dealing with a righteous and bloody murderer. But the victims aren’t random. The killer has a vendetta and is hell-bent on exacting twisted revenge for a dark secret dating back years—and there are more murders planned.

As the body count rises, Blackwell faces a race against time to solve the mystery of the murderer’s identity and put an end to the carnage. She thought she knew Weston, but the town holds more secrets than she’d ever have imagined. Who can she trust and who knows more than they are letting on?

She must discover the crimes that unite the victims—before it’s too late.