“This isn’t a random killing. There’s anger in this murder, and the motive will be key.”
“The Graveyard Killings”, by Wes Markin
I’m delighted to join the blog tour of “The Graveyard Killings” by Wes Markin. Many thanks to Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources, the publishers Boldwood Books, and of course the author for organising the tour and gifting me a copy of the eBook.
The story:
In 1980, 17-year-old Penny Maiden is killed in a hit-and-run accident that is never solved. More than 40 years later, her body is removed from its grave and placed by her own mother’s headstone. In Penny’s grave, DCI Emma Gardner and her team discover another body, this one far more recent…
When another murder occurs in the graveyard a year later, DCI Gardner is forced to consider whether they are connected. But how? And if so, why has the murderer decided to strike now?
My thoughts:
“The Graveyard Killings” by Wes Marlon, is the fourth instalment in the author’s Yorkshire Murders series, and picks up from the events of the previous book (“The Crying Cave Killings”). After the dramatic events of that book, DI Paul Riddick is no longer working alongside DCI Emma Gardner, and is now working for Bradford CID, living with his former grief counsellor Claire. Gardner, who hasn’t spoken to Riddick in a year, is trying to make a more settled life for her daughter and niece (who she has now adopted), although her own past — the very thing that led to her relocation to Yorkshire in the first place — seems to be coming back to haunt her.
Moving between time periods, we learn about a tragic hit-and-run accident and its aftermath. Then in 2023 and 2024, there are two seemingly separate murder cases, their only link being their location in a Knaresborough cemetery. The first seems to have its roots in the past, working class families and the events of 1980, while the second has much more modern links, involving drugs, gangs and middle-class teenagers.
But when the two cases are drawn together, Gardner finds herself working alongside Riddick once again, as he fills in the Knaresborough team on the CID’s county lines investigations. It was great to see the pair together again, I think they have such great chemistry, despite all the complications in both of their lives.
This was a great instalment in the series, although not without tragedy in its conclusion. The intriguing character of Gardner’s brother Jack also continues to rumble along in the background, with a new titbit of information that he might not be all that he seems… Overall, an exciting and dramatic case for Gardner and Riddick that leaves us on quite the cliffhanger, so I hope it’s not too long to wait to find out where the story goes next!
Pages: 466
Published: 23rd July 2023
Rating: 🐈🐈🐈🐈/5
Purchase link: https://mybook.to/graveyardsocial
About the author
Wes Markin lives in Harrogate and is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels set in Salisbury. He is also the author of the Jake Pettman series set in New England. You can find out more here.
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