Guest reviewer: Rebecca Hislop



Rebecca Hislop, (on Twitter as Aye Reader @RebeccaHislop1) a retired teacher from Scotland, kindly agreed to be a guest reviewer on my blog to share her review of Rat Stone Serenade: Denzil Meyrick.

Rebecca's Review:-

I'm a huge fan of Denzil Meyrick’s  D.C.I. Daley series and this was the best yet. They simply get better and better and we get to know the characters and learnmore about their strengths and weaknesses. This is to be DCI Jim Daley’s last case before he takes early retirement and he teams up again with DS Brian Scott. Daley is hoping to make a fresh start with his wife Liz and his baby son. Scott is having episodes where he sees visions and has been told it’s the DTs so he has stopped drinking. There is a new Superintendant, Carrie Symington, who comes across as competent and likeable. The opening chapters foreshadow what is to become a complex and thrilling tale centred round the Shannon family. There is a tinker’s curse, a missing child, druidic rituals and the sinister Rat Stone. Add to that mix international finance, dark secrets and harsh winter weather and it’s a recipe for a superb and gripping murder mystery. The story is set on the west coast of Scotland in Blaan near Kinloch on the remote Kintyre peninsula. It’s an area steeped in history and certain areas are indeed tremendously atmosphericwhich adds to the sense of menace. Following the discovery of a child’s skeleton on the Rat Stane the horribly mutilated body of a journalist is discovered.There are other disturbing events and brutal murders which push the police to their limits. By this time I couldn’t put the book down as I wanted to see how all this would work out. There are a great many plot twists and it was impossible to predict what was going to happen next or who was involved in the various intrigues. It’s a fast paced story with thefts and murders and financial shenanigans, and of course, revenge. Fortunately, the wonderfully realistic dialogue and flashes of black humour, with some brilliant one liners from Brian, occasionally lifts the tense atmosphere. The ending was so unexpected it made me gasp... oh! I can’t wait for the next book in the series. It’s 5 stars from me. 

 Thanks Rebecca, smashing review - I must read the book.

To buy Rat Stone Serenade