Blog Tour | Cause Of Death #review

From Peter Ritchie, previously Head of the Organised Crime Unit in the National Criminal Intelligence Service and a UK Liaison Officer to Europol in the Hague, comes Cause of Death. The first in a new crime series, this is a police procedural with real-world authenticity like no other.

Grace Macallan is disgraced and heartbroken as she transfers from a covert police operation in Northern Ireland gone badly wrong. Against the will of many in the force, she has testified against a colleague in a case where lives and relationships have been lost. Now reassigned to the newly formed Major Crime Team in Lothian and Borders, Grace has to rebuild her reputation and career, with a cantankerous colleague who drinks too much as her right-hand and a boss who puts his career ahead of all else to contend with.

The newly formed team is soon under serious pressure when a brutal attack on a prostitute escalates into a series of murders, with a high-profile Edinburgh lawyer as the chief suspect, and lurid tabloid headlines.

Amazon | Goodreads | Black and White Publishing

–

–

The very first thing that got me about this book was its cover, I was on twitter scrolling through my feed and it popped up, you know when you just think oh that looks like the book for me. So I stopped and had a look and was very happy to discover that Black and White Publishing were looking for people to review.

I was expecting a lot, I know they say don’t judge a book by its cover but sometimes I can’t help myself. I have to say though, this one took my expectations, laughed in my face and threw them out the window, yes really that good!!

I could tell even without reading anything about Peter that he either was or had been in the police, either that or he was a fantastic researcher. The knowledge pours from the page so easily, I’ve found some crime books rely on big dramatic scenes and don’t always focus on some of the more day to day events, because it’s easy to lose attention if you were to cover every part of an investigation. With Cause Of Death I think it has the right amount of both and I wasn’t just focussed on who but why, and how the team were going to outmanoeuvre the criminal.

What I also loved about this book was that it wasn’t just one case that the team worked on. As they worked the first one you got to know the characters, what their role is, and how they work together. When reading about the first case, you start to get snippets from a character that doesn’t seem to fit, which I really enjoyed, it made the story feel so much more realistic.

The characters were also brilliant, Grace was very refreshing tough but smart, someone who had been through a lot but used it to her advantage. It was great to get her backstory as the book continued as it gave a lot of insight into her actions and showed a more vulnerable side to her.

Mick the almost stereotypical old school cop, with legendary status, the one that everyone knows, was another character I really liked. Even though he had his reputation, he was clever and caring and I liked being surprised when he acted different to how I would expect.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot but I have to say as things started ramping up for the team, I really didn’t want to put the book down.

This has been one of my favourite reads this year, I will be recommending this book to everyone. I really can’t wait to see what comes next.

–

–

If you want to look at other opinions then please check out what the others on the tour think…

–

–

Peter Ritchie is a retired senior police officer. The real-world authenticity in his novels comes from vast experience gained working in CID, murder squads, Serious and Regional Crime Squads and Europol. He is a regular lecturer and commentator on the subject of transnational organised crime. In his spare time, Peter also enjoys writing poetry and short stories, painting and volunteering at St Columba’s Hospice and the Bethany Trust.

–