Left You Dead: A Realistically Creepy Crime Thriller (Roy Grace Book 17)

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The information that Detective Superintendent Roy Grace got at the end of the last book that would get rid of his nemesis comes into play - but nothing is happening with it. I’m pleased to report that Norman Potting is still delivering his cringe worthy one liners and DI Glenn Branson is as sartorially elegant as ever. One of the storylines that seemed to be irrelevant might have been because it was a major point in a previous book?

Left You Dead is the seventeenth instalment in the Roy Grace series and is Detective Superintendent Grace's most challenging case to date as he investigates the file of a missing woman in Brighton. Niall and Eden Paternoster start their Sunday the same way they always do – with a long drive, a visit to a country house and a quick stop at the local supermarket on the way home.Other plot points seemed to be mentioned (several times) alluding to some big twist, but again, they went nowhere. They had absolutely nothing to do with the murder mystery and I’m at a loss as to why they were included to be honest.

The pacing was really well done, and several of the plot twists genuinely made me put the book down as I couldn’t see some of them coming at all! It felt silly at times and the whole Rebecca thing I guessed quite early on and wondered why Grace hadn't. A few days later Niall is arrested on suspicion of her murder despite vigorously protesting his innocence. At times there is some repetition and on occasions it’s a bit over burdened with facts and some unnecessary detail. Found the whole Bruno thing could have been handled differently, Cleo has become dull and Humphrey the dog gets mentioned more than poor little Noah who always seems to be with the nanny or in bed poor little chap.Roy Grace’s attention is not wholly on the case as he has some other things going on, offering both heartbreak and potential joy, and yet he’s still the one to connect all the dots. Husband and wife Niall and Eden Paternoster spend Sunday taking a long drive to visit a stately home and a quick stop at the local supermarket to get cat litter for the family pet. The characters related to the case are mostly pretty unpleasant people although it is hard to pick a “winner” here. The two aspects of the story, the mystery and the “tagged on” personal tragedy, just didn’t fit for me. Also, this is crime fiction and not bioethics, but the utilitarian equation of 'not going to recover' to being 'dead' scares me.