Julia Stagg

8th and possibly final book in the Dales Detective Series. Once I started, I had to keep reading. Virtually all the loose ends were tied up. Meaning there were a lot of characters, old and new to keep track of. Which was slightly to its detriment, as Samson and Delilah, especially Samson barely got a look in. Everybody from all the previous books, got at least a few lines. I raced to the end, and then went back and re-read the last few chapters more slowly, to take in all the details. There was one character that we didn't get to here from, which was a shame as his internal monologue made up quite a lot of previous books.

One query - How did they get so many people in a Mini - Ida (driving), Barry and Danny in the front(?), Nathan, Nina and Tolpuddle in the back.

Read 16.05.2023… (more)

Not my usual read, but I found the whole series in colourful paperback at a local bookshop and was intrigued. I didn't buy the paperback, of course, I 'borrowed' a copy from Kindle Unlimited, but the advertising certainly worked! Also, who can beat a good Yorkshire setting?

Samson and Delilah - see what she did there? - find themselves reluctantly working alongside each other in the small Dales village where they both grew up. She runs the DDA - Dales Dating Agency - and is a computer tech, while he also runs the DDA - Dales Detective Agency - and is on the run from his career in the Metropolitan Police. When three men who signed up for Delilah's speed dating evenings are found dead, Samson is hired to investigate, and Delilah also gets involved.

I did like the characters, despite the cute names, and the supporting cast in Bruncliffe as a whole. Everybody knows everybody else's business, which both helps and hinders the investigation, and very few people are happy to see Samson return after fourteen years down south. The murders kept me guessing, and reading, mainly because I'm useless at picking up clues, and I have already bought book two! (For 99p - now that's Yorkshire economics for you!)

Only one detail - I couldn't help but imagine Samson to look a little like a cross between Fabio, of the old Mills and Boon novels, and a Chippendale - must be the long hair (which I'm guessing is because of his name!) and all the stripping off he does!… (more)

A new author/series for me, starting with no 3 in the series as the earlier 2 were unavailable at the time.

It is a cosy read, and like so many modern crime series, is equally a crime/mystery as well as a depiction of the development of the relationships of a small group of characters, this time living in the fictional town of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales in England.

The main characters are Delilah, who runs the struggling Dales Dating Agency, as well as a website maintenance business, and Samson, an undercover police officer who is currently on compulsory leave and running the Dales Detective Agency (which is run out of the same building as Delilah's businesses). Yes, Samson and Delilah!

There is a mystery as to a long deceased local as to whom a death certificate (or indeed any other evidence as to her death) can be found, and a will (newly made) which clearly names that local as a beneficiary. Why?

There are other locals, who bring a lot of colour, and sufficient hints as to both events that will have been addressed in the first two books of the series as well as unresolved hints of skull duggery which will be addressed in future books.

I expect that whether this series will appeal to you may be tested by whether you enjoy similar series such as:

- Kerry Greenwood's Corrina Chapman Mysteries (amateur detection by Corrina, a Melbourne based baker, who cooks up a storm)

- Martin Walker's Dordogne Mysteries (featuring Bruno of the local constabulary, who is not restricted to baking)

- Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries (forensic archaeologist who is called on to assist the local police to solve various mysterious deaths in what seems to be a crime ridden Norfolk.

I will try some more of this series, but will look for them in the used book shops rather that rush to buy them at full price.

Big Ship

29 November 2022… (more)