A Murder in York by J R Ellis - Review

 

Another J R Ellis book! My mum likes these which keeps me reading them, but I feel like Ellis is just churning them out and they're just not as good as they used to be. I feel also like he is trying to write about some 'issues' re austerity Britain and he's just not doing it very well. It comes across like he's trying too hard which annoys me. I may give up at the next one, but I probably said that about the last one, too.

So, Oldroyd is at a conference in York and one evening he decides to go on one of the famous ghost walks around the city. I really liked the description here because I know York well (I went to York St John University) and the ghost walks are famous. (I should go on one one of these days!). Oldroyd is enjoying himself when up one of the snickleways there is a body. He obviously gets involved in the case because he can't resist. The dead man turns out to be a local slum landlord who has no end of enemies - an ex wife, plenty of angry tennants, and even the people involved in running the ghost walk. Oldroyd keeps investigating which no other officers ever seems to mind because of course he is just so brilliant.  

Part of the book is told from the point of view of a family who lives in one of his terrible properties, and it was this that I felt was a bit heavy handed. I get it, but in the context of a novel it just didn't feel right. I also felt like being angry at your landlord was a pretty rubbish motive for murder. In fact, although it's a month since I read this, I'm not sure anyone had that strong of a motive. 

Oh god, and the sub plot with Andy and Stephanie annoyed me too, but the least said about that the better. I wish one of them would just leave, the other would be way better without them. 

I'm only giving this three out of five. 

The Otley Murders by J R Ellis - Review

You know I have read everything by J R Ellis and really rated his earlier books about DCI Oldroyd and his team, based in Harrogate. I know that part of the world and I've always really liked reading about places I recognise. My mum has read all this series too although I don't know yet what she thought of this one. It came out at the end of July and I picked it up because I can't resist! 

But I had a lot of problems with it. I'm not sure that the story was thought out properly, and it just kind of annoyed me. Then there were the kids named within - who were called Jonathan, Mary, Tom, Jane and Anne! Come on, find me a classroom in 2025 which includes those five children, I guarantee you cannot. Kids don't have names like that! Come on. It's not hard to name some kids. 

I also didn't think the ending really paid off. It felt a bit like Ellis had seen a topic that he wanted to address but hadn't really done enough research and didn't make sure enough justice happened. That annoyed me too. Really, I might be done with this series now, but then I feel bad because my mum will want to talk to me about them!

Anyway, the plot. A man called Adam Blake escapes from prison in a planned escape. He is a serial killer and when he was found guilty he threatened Oldroyd so now that he has escaped Oldroyd and his family all have to have protection so he can't get to them. Andy goes off to help look into the escape and where Adam is now, and has to investigate both prison warders and friends that Blake had on the inside. 

Meanwhile, Oldroyd and Steph are investigating a bizarre murder in Otley. In the new Arts Centre, which used to have some prison cells in it, a body is found. He wasn't killed there, so his body has been put there on purpose. It becomes obvious that some of the elders of the town know about historical things but they are still keeping it to themselves to stop any blame. It was this element that I just didn't feel worked properly. I enjoyed what Oldroyd and Steph did, for sure, but. But. 

In all I can only give this three out of five. 

The Canal Murders by J R Ellis - Review

As you know, I love this series of books by J R Ellis, and have read all of them. I was eagerly awaiting this one and have had it on preorder since like last November or something. It arrived on my Kindle at the very end of April and I started reading it just a few days later. My mum was excited about it too, so when she's read it I will have to see what she thought. I didn't love it, though. I liked the story but I thought the writing was just a bit terrible. It felt very much like J R Ellis is just churning them out. I've always thought that his writing a slightly terrible - he relies too much on adverbs, and he uses other words when he can just say 'said', and if I had to read about Oldroyd and Andy 'munching' on biscuits one more time I was going to scream. But this time it really felt like the dialogue especially was just rubbish. There were people pontificating all over the place, and a lot of 'telling' involved in the speeches people made, too. 

All of this is a real shame, because I love these books. I probably will read the next one, yeah, but it feels a bit like cheesy chips from a takeaway - you know it tastes good at the time but you also know you couldn't read nothing but this type of stuff because it wouldn't be good for you in the long run. 

So, the story. Steph and Andy are on a canal boat holiday from near Leeds somewhere, and they're in Saltaire near Bradford, staying overnight. They go into a pub nearby and witness a woman having a go at a woman in a group of people at the folk night there. The next morning, Steph is up early when she sees a boat coming downstream, and then she realises the woman at the tiller is slumped over, dead. Steph and Andy secure the boat and call the police. Javed Iqbal, who used to work with them in Harrogate, is the detective on scene. He soon realises it's a strange case - there is no sign of anyone being on the boat with Annie Shipton, the victim. He asks Steph and Andy to help (of course), and then asks if they can get Oldroyd to come along and help (also of course). 

Annie Shipton was one of a group of friends who lived on the canal. The others are Bridget, Bob, and Liz. Her ex, Ben (there were way too many people with names starting with B in this book), now lives near Haworth, and Liz's husband Roger is dead. But all six of them used to be in a folk band together, called Rowan. They split up and fell out a bit over copyright issues and money, but then Annie had persuaded them all to buy canalboats near each other. They all, middle class hippy types, seemed to think of themselves as a bit above everyone else. Annie had written a blog about people she didn't think belonged on the canal, and one of these people, Laura, was the woman who had a go at her in the pub the night before her death. Then there's mysterious loner Len, who speaks of the spirits who live on the canal. 

No shortage of suspects already, for sure, but then we add in people from Salts Mill nearby. The CEO there has grand plans to expand the mill, but Annie has been at the forefront of a petition against it. Then there's Sam, a young lad who got into an altercation with Annie over his cycling down the towpath. He's not a bad lad really but he's a worry to his mum, and he's also a suspect. 

There are far too many suspects I think in this book, which ended up a little bit confusing. I liked the setting, as always, for sure, but I just felt the story left me a bit cold. In all I'm given this three out of five. It's really a 7 out of ten, haha. 

The Brewery Murders by J R Ellis - Review

You know I love J R Ellis and have read everything his written. He writes a series focussing on DCI Jim Oldroyd and his two sergeants, Andy and Steph. Oldroyd is now living with a woman, Deborah, in Harrogate, and Andy and Steph are a couple and live together in Leeds. I love the series because of its North Yorkshire setting, which is a place very dear to me, and I love to read about it. This is the ninth book in the series, and takes place in lower Wensleydale which I visited recently! It's a lovely part of the world. 

So in this book there's a beer festival to begin with and there are two breweries present who both brew in Markham and who are rivals. The older, traditional one is run by Richard Foster, who took over from his father. His father made a beer called Wensley Glory back in the nineties which won many awards, but the recipe was lost upon his death and so Richard can't remake it. The other brewery is run by Richard's sister, Emily, and she employs mainly women. Her partner Janice works there too. The women's brewery is subjected to a lot of abuse and harassment from Richard's brewery, mainly because a lot of the men who work there don't think women should be brewing beer. A man called Brendan Scholes turns up to talk to both Richard and Emily. He used to work at Richard's brewery and his dad Wilf was the only other person who knew the missing recipe other than Foster Sr. He has recently died and Brendan says he has a copy of the recipe. He wants either Richard or Emily to pay him for it. 

However, he is then found dead in a vat of beer in the older brewery. There are any number of people who might have wanted Brendan dead, including of course Richard and Emily, who may have both wanted the recipe, if it exists, the husband of a woman that Brendan had an affair with, and any number of people who just disliked him. Oldroyd and Andy are put on the case and are helped by a young and enthusiastic DC who I think we'll see more of in future books. One of my only criticisms of this book is that there's very little Steph in it and I like her, I always want to see more of her! 

I did guess one of the major twists before Oldroyd got there, which pleased me. I found the mystery a good one and in all I'm giving it four out of five. 

The Railway Murders by J R Ellis - Review

You know I love J R Ellis' series focussing on DCI Oldroyd, based in Harrogate, but which take place all over North Yorkshire. You can read my previous reviews here. I like crime fiction anyway, and I especially like these as they're set in places I know and love. I've read all the previous books so I had this one on pre-order on Kindle, meaning it arrived on my device the moment it was released! Perfect! My mum really likes this series and she reckons she liked this one as one of the best of the series. I enjoyed it enough. 

So the book takes places in Skipton, on a heritage railway a bit like the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway that exists in real life. It is being used for the filming of a film, and on the day of the murder, a heritage engine and train reverses up the track for around a mile, then comes back down the track, passing through a tunnel, so that it can be filmed arriving at the station. Daniel Hayward, one of the stars of the film, will then get out of the train compartment to greet his family on the platform. The film is Edwardian, so everyone is dressed up in period costume. The train goes up the track, pauses in the tunnel, and the crew start filming for it coming back. They are waiting for Daniel to get off the train, but when he doesn't, the crew realise that he has been murdered in the compartment. Thanks to the set up of the train, there's little chance that someone could have got in or out of the compartment while the train was moving, meaning it's a bit of a locked room mystery. 

The officer in charge in Skipton, Bob Craven, calls Oldroyd over from Harrogate to help him with the case. Most of the actors are staying in a posh hotel, with a spa and outdoor pool, so Oldroyd decides to stay there too and take his girlfriend Deborah with him. That way they can have food together in the evenings and he'll have someone to talk to. However, this may end up putting Deborah in danger...!

I liked the book, although there was less of Oldroyd's underlings Steph and Andy than I'd have liked. I did feel like the end came a bit quickly, but all in all this kept me reading. I'm giving it four out of five. 

Murder At St Anne's by J R Ellis - Review

At the beginning of May I wasn't feeling too well so I needed something easy to read, so I went for the next in J R Ellis' series of books set in Harrogate. This is the last one which is out at the moment, although I've pre ordered the eighth in the series so that's something to look forward to in November! 

DCI Oldroyd is back in this book, but called very quickly to Knaresborough. A vicar by the name of Clare Wilcox has been found murdered in her parish church. Oldroyd and Andy head over there and are immediately told about the stories about a ghost monk that haunts the church - could there be a supernatural element to the murder? There's no obvious murder weapon, but Clare has extensive injuries to her neck and shoulder. 

Oldroyd and Andy get snowed in and end up having to spend the night in the vestry of the church. They have a ghostly visitation - but Oldroyd remains unconvinced that a ghost could have murdered Clare. After all, he can't arrest a ghost.

There are lots of suspects in the murder, from Clare's husband Jeremy, who was having an affair, to one of the church wardens, Donald Avison, to a few of the parishioners who are against women priests. Then there's Violet Saunders, the church cleaner, who seems just a little bit too keen to tell Oldroyd and Andy all about the story of the ghostly monk. 

Clare was also friends with Oldroyd's sister, Alison, so her death is a huge blow to Alison. I like Alison and was glad to see her again. There's barely any of Steph Johnson in this book, which is a shame - I hope next time she gets to go and have some adventures with Oldroyd!

I enjoyed this book and read it quickly. I liked the mystery and the look at the Church of England - I work for the CofE so am quite used to the jargon and hierarchy,  but I thought it was quite funny to read it in a book! I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Whitby Murders by J R Ellis - Review

I fancied something light to read so turned to the next in the DCI Oldroyd series. I actually read the 5th book first, then went back to the beginning, so I missed out the fifth one and went on to this, the sixth in the series. I have the 7th in line to read too and I don't think it'll be long before I get to it! When I've got a lot going on in my life I like to read easy books like this because they keep me turning the page and, being crime novels, I know everything will work out by the end. 

So, DCI Oldroyd's daughter, Louise, is in Whitby for the goth weekend in October, with some of her friends. There's Dom and Andrea, who are a couple but who argue sometimes, Maggie, and Ben. Maggie's boyfriend Mark is on his way too, but a day later than the first part of the book. There's another person who arrives later too. But the five have booked to do a Dracula themed escape room, while all dressed up in goth clothes. 

They are shown into the room by a Romanian woman called Elaine. She explains the escape room and also that a Dracula will follow them and if he catches up to them the game will be over. The five manage to escape the first room but once into the second everything goes wrong. Dom and Andrea have been rowing, and he suddenly pulls out a knife and stabs her. Then he says something like, oh god what have I done, and disappears through the emergency escape door. 

Ben falls to Andrea, trying to save her life. Louise goes back to reception to get help. But Andres dies before help can get to her. Dom is missing, but police are certain they'll find him before long, especially as he has no known links to Whitby. 

But Louise isn't sure. She feels like something felt wrong in what happened, even though everyone agrees that Dom stabbed Andrea before escaping. She phones her dad in Harrogate, and he manages to get himself seconded to Whitby to work under one of his old mentees, Alice Granger. Oldroyd believes his daughter, and presses the investigation to go further, utilising his current underlings Stephanie and Andy to do so. Of course there's more to the story. I really liked the mystery and how it unravelled, and the chance to get to see a bit more of Louise and her life. 

I would probably have given this five out of five but what annoyed me was some of the names of the children! There's no reason to believe that this series of books isn't set right now, as it's published, but for some reason Alice's children are called Ian and Lesley. Am I supposed to believe that a child born in around 2003 is called Lesley? Because I don't. And there's a few things like this, and they annoy me, and just smack of a writer that can't be bothered to do some proper research and find what children are actually called these days. 

The Royal Baths Murder by J R Eliis - Review

As you know, I've enjoyed three of J R Ellis' DCI Oldroyd books previously, and knew I had two more to get to. I needed an easier book to read recently so started this. I find crime novels easy to read, especially if I know the main characters already. Plus you know I love a bit of Yorkshire in my novels!

This one is set in Harrogate. The local Crime Fiction festival is on (based on the real one) and at one event, a famous author called Damien Penrose comes up against some other writers. No one much likes him, and there's a group of writers who think he's plagiarised them and stolen plots from them. The confrontation carries on in the bar after the event, but then everyone settles down and goes to bed.

However, early the next morning Damien goes to the Royal Baths to swim and use the steam rooms, and he is then found dead in the hot room, strangled. The police are quickly called and they secure the area. The masseur and the receptionist are adamant that no one has come past them, but there's no way out of the baths below. Carter and Oldroyd start to investigate, finding that Damien had no shortage of enemies, including two ex wives and all the aforementioned authors. But it seems like while everyone had a motive, everyone also had an alibi. 

Oldroyd does his typical thing of spending a lot of time thinking about the case. He is also encouraged by his daughter to try online dating, and he ends up meeting a woman called Deborah. The two get on really well, but Oldroyd does then find himself in the middle of live crime scenes while she's about. 

Meanwhile, Stephanie Johnson, Oldroyd's other protege, is seconded to work under a DCI Fenton. She knows him of old, and his underlings, known as Cock and Bull. Fenton has a fondness for trying it on with women and it take him no time to try it on with Johnson. The two of them are sent to investigate an allegation of corruption within the local council, but Fenton quickly shuts down the investigation. Johnson is determined to find out why... 

I really liked this book, I read it really quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it and the mystery. For that, I'm giving it five out of five. 

The Murder at Redmire Hall by J R Ellis - Review

I got round to reading the third in the DCI Oldroyd series at the beginning of September, I have previously read the first two and another one in the series and enjoyed them, and I really liked the premise of this book. It's a typical 'locked room' mystery and I thought it sounded really interesting. However, it didn't live up to my expectations. Not a lot happens, which I found annoying. There's a lot of annoying conversations between suspects which don't really further the story and which just lead to all the suspects suspecting each other. And it's overwritten - there's quite a lot of pompous language that I haven't noticed in the other books. So, maybe it's a blip. But those are my thoughts, so I'll write them down. But they do explain why I haven't given this as high a rating as the other books in the series. 

So, at the beginning, Oldroyd is invited to Redmire Hall to see the current Lord Redmire, Freddy, perform a magic trick that was previously performed by his father, Vivian, to great acclaim, in 1980 I think. Oldroyd asks Stephanie along. When they get there, there's a live TV crew there and many other people, including all of Freddy's family and close friends, including an ex business partner and an ex mistress. The trick involves a locked room - everyone is invited to examine it to make sure there's no way out of it, and then Freddy is locked in. The curtain is drawn back - and Freddy has disappeared! The idea then is that Freddy will reappear after the curtain is closed and opened again, but when he does, he is dead. He has been stabbed in the back.

Shortly after, an ex employee of the estate, Harry Robinson, is murdered in his cottage. Oldroyd and Stephanie immediately jump into action, forbidding the family and friends from leaving and starting their investigation. They can't work out the locked room trick, although they try hard to. All the family seem to have a motive for killing Freddy. He inherited the estate but has gambling debts and had been planning to sell off part of the estate. His son Alistair will inherit and become the new Lord. Freddy's daughter Poppy has had a lot of money out of her dad, and her boyfriend Tristram has gambling debts too - but would they have killed him? His brother Dominic has always been jealous that Freddy inherited the estate from their father, and his own business is not doing too well. Freddy was unfaithful to his wife Antonia, including with Alex, who is also present. Are either of them angry enough to kill Freddy? Alex's partner James was ripped off by Freddy in their business, so has he finally got his revenge? And what about all the estate staff? What did Harry Robinson know about the trick that led to his murder? 

I really liked the mystery but my criticisms are as above - there just wasn't enough depth in it for me. No mind, I will read the other and see what I think about them. But I'm giving this three out of five. 

The Quartet Murders by J R Ellis - Review

Things have got a little bit out of sync on my blog so it'll look like I read this only a couple of books after I read The Body in the Dales. But I often have to swap things around for my blog tours, so I had had more books in the middle, I promise! But even so, I wanted to get on with the next one in the series because I'd really enjoyed the first one. 

So in this one, DCI Oldroyd is off to Halifax from his home in Harrogate to see a string quartet play a show at the Red Chapel. They've just finished the second movement, around 9pm in the gig, when the violinist, Hans Muller, is shot dead from the back of the building. One of the organisers of the gig, Frank Dancek, immediately rushes to try to find the gunman, but comes up empty. 

Muller was the owner of a very rare Stradivarius violin, and it is stolen from next to his body in the chaos. Oldroyd is asked by the local DCI, Armitage, to stay around and help solve the crime. He asks Carter to come from Harrogate too, and the three men set about investigating Muller and anyone who may have had a grudge against him.

Then a second member of the quartet is killed, and the remaining members get worried. They are keeping things from the police. It then becomes obvious that this second member of the four stole the priceless violin, but it has now disappeared. The crimes must be connected, and there are plenty of suspicious people about, as well as lots of collectors of rare instruments who would love to get their hands on the Stradivarius. 

I loved that part of this was set in Halifax, which I know somewhat, as I could imagine exactly where the detectives were. I liked the mystery over the violin and the history behind some instruments like that. I liked the political nature of some of it. I enjoy Oldroyd a lot, but I wish we'd had more Stephanie Johnson in this book (she's back in Harrogate). I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Body in the Dales by J R Ellis - Review

This book is the first in a series about the same detectives - DCI Oldroyd, and his underlings Carter and Johnson. I read the fifth one, The Nidderdale Murders, back in September 2020, but I don't think I can have reviewed it? I cannot for the life of me find the post if I did! But I enjoyed the book and the setting of Harrogate and the Yorkshire Dales and recommended it to my mum, who loves the Peter Robinson books. She read it and all the rest in the series, and at the end of May told me in passing that the new one - The Whitby Murders - was out. I had totally forgotten about the series, but was pleased for the reminder. I bought the others in the series on Kindle. The older ones were only a pound each, and the newest one was around £4 I think. That's fine by me, I don't want to spend more on thrillers like these which I read quickly and which I don't need paper copies of. 

So, in this book, it's Adam Carter's first day on the job in Harrogate. He's moved up from London. He's in reception at the nick in Harrogate when DCI Oldroyd grabs him and takes him across to the Dales, where a body has been found in a cave system. The dead man is Dave Atkins, a well known caver who is not popular in the village. He is a known womaniser and also owes quite a few people some money. There's no shortage of people who would have liked to kill him. 

But what's strange is that his body is at least two hours into the cave system, and he wasn't wearing any caving equipment, meaning that his dead body has been taken there - but why? And by whom? Oldroyd and Carter start their investigations, going round a whole list of people in the area. 

I like Oldroyd as a DCI - he's a good Yorkshireman with a good sense of humour, who works on his hunches and lets his team do the same. I like Carter, but I think he'd settled a bit by the end of the other book I read. There's not as much Stephanie Johnson in this book, which is a shame cos I like her too. 

I was in hospital at the beginning of June and took my tablet with me to read on. I didn't have to stay overnight but was there for hours longer than I might have been because my spinal block wouldn't wear off in my left foot! So I had a lot of time to read and finished this book then. I'm giving it four out of five and I can't wait to get to the other books in the series soon!