Norfolk-Broads, crime-thriller, crime-fiction, grieving, grief, serial-murder, mystery, missing-persons, local-law-enforcement, procedural, police-detectives, office-politics, divorced, contemporary, suspense, boats, vintage-auto, new-beginnings, first-in-series, investigations, due-diligence, unpleasant-co-worker, unpleasant-suspect, unputdownable, grisly, British-detective, fast-pace, strong-characters, audiobook, snarky, banter*****

Discovered this on sale and it's a real winner in the investigation and plot twist arena.
Forty something DI John Tanner left The Met to hide away in what he thought of as the boonies to escape himself and personal tragedy. Twenty something DC Jenny Evans is lifetime local and is assigned to be his offsider. The usual office politics of the established staff against the new guy from London who lives on a boat without running water. The red herrings were inventive, but the plot twists are positively diabolical. I plan to get more of this series.
The audio is performed by Jonathan Keeble is basically terrific but does get a mite dramatic sometimes.
Highly recommend. ( )

I was expecting to enjoy this, as it is by an established writer and about my home county. Unfortunately the quality of the writing and the plot are poor. Nothing is left to the imagination - maybe that is what other reviewers enjoyed. The descriptions of the places are quite good and clearly intended for people to follow and check. ( )

Broadlands is the first book I have read by David Blake. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have already bought the next 3 books in the series. The story flowed and kept me engrossed. I liked the characters and think they will become like friends. ( )

I enjoyed David Blake's writing and got through this book a lot faster than I thought I would. It was easy to get into and I found myself turning page after page without realizing just how far into it I'd gotten. The story flowed well, with a few twists and turns that I did not see coming (which is always going to be a good thing.).
Broadland is slated as the first of a series of books, and as such it includes more scene setting and character backstory than some people would like. Personally I see it as laying a foundation to be built upon and didn't mind it at all and am looking forward to reading the next in the series.

*Thank you to netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review ( )

Whilst this book has many of the standard police elements, policeman moves from London to a rural force creating resentment amongst some colleagues, it is done with humour and original settings on the Norfolk Broads. The location offers interesting and unusual opportunities for crime scenes which the author exploits well with his evident local knowledge of the geography. Cleverly established and unusual plot and light on detailed police procedure. This is a promising series featuring DI Tanner. ( )