A Tiding of Magpies by Steve Burrows

A Tiding of Magpies by Steve Burrows
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 384

Publisher - Point Blank

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

When his most celebrated case is suddenly reopened, Detective Chief Inspector Jejeune‘s long-buried secrets threaten to come to light. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Lindy, faces an unseen threat of her own, one from which even Jejeune may not be able to protect her. Between fending off inquiries from the internal review and an open murder case that brings more questions than answers, Jejeune will have to rely on the help of the stalwart Sergeant Danny Maik more than ever. But Maik is learning things that cause him to question his DCI‘s actions, both past and present. In the current case, and in the former one, the facts seem clear enough. But it is in the silences, those empty spaces between the facts, that the truth is to be found.



My Review

Ooft Jejeune is under investigation from internal affairs, well his most high profile and celebrated case. Jejeune's girlfriend Lindy is under threat (and not aware) and Jejeune tries to protect her from an evil adversary who will stop at nothing. As well as all this we have a new case/death to be investigated, this is book five of a series, I would recommend reading them before this.

So I really like these books, they are different, murder mystery but also has birds mentioned, Jejeune is an avid bird watcher/lover and I do like learning about species and googling books that come up. There is talk of murdering birds in this one, like on a mass level, rewarded by the government (basically a threat to one species purity by another). I looked this up because I am nosey and it was an actual thing :(

I didn't find myself engaging as much with this one, the things you come to like about Jejeune isn't quite there in this one, to the point his colleagues notice his change too. Preoccupation with the threat to Lindy, his big case and a secret he has been keeping.

It is still an interesting story for sure but not my favourite of the series, I have another to read after this so hoping it gets back to what it was in the previous four books, 3/5 for me this time.

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Black River by Will Dean

Black River by Will Dean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 308

Publisher - Point Blank

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Black River is an electrifying return for relentless reporter Tuva Moodyson, from the author of Dark Pines and Red Snow.

FEAR

Tuva’s been living clean in southern Sweden for four months when she receives horrifying news. Her best friend Tammy Yamnim has gone missing.

SECRETS

Racing back to Gavrik at the height of Midsommar, Tuva fears for Tammy’s life. Who has taken her, and why? And who is sabotaging the small-town search efforts?

LIES

Surrounded by dark pine forest, the sinister residents of Snake River are suspicious of outsiders. Unfortunately, they also hold all the answers. On the shortest night of the year, Tuva must fight to save her friend. The only question is who will be there to save Tuva?


My Review

This is book three in the Tuva Moodyson series, we see Tuva has finally escaped the small town and working away in Sweden, its been four months. Word reaches Tuva that her bestie Tammy is missing and it doesn't look good, she doesn't disappear like this and it is dodgy looking circumstances. Tuva heads home and starts investigating not realising she is putting herself at risk too.

The small town has some real weird and unique characters, some of them ignorant and it isn't until a white person goes missing that people really sit up and takes notice. Along with Tuva this really got my goat but is true to life in quite a lot of places and I think authors do grand when they bring this level of realism and prejudices/racism weaved into the story. It isn't the whole plot by any means but it does highlight the shocking attitudes of some and yes this is fiction but absolutely mirrors the reality we live in especially in some places.

With it being a small town, surrounded by forest and not huge on outsiders we see a lot of people hunting/living off the land/animals so there is some animal harm/death within the books, just a headsup.

There is a threat and menace hovering throughout a lot of the book, tension, apprehension that follows Tuva and the reader as we investigate and explore what has happened to Tammy. I have the next in the series to read and whilst I liked this one I didn't love it. I really liked the previous two so not too sure why I didn't love this one as much, Tuva was frustrated and all over the place and I felt a lot of that too, 3/5 for me this time.

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