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DI Mandy Wilde Novels #3
With Grave Consequences
Cardiff based, Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde is tough as they come. Nearly 6ft tall, with wild, curly hair and an attitude to match it, she spends her days (and most nights) hunting down Cardiff’s criminals. All her spare time is devoted to bringing up her teenage niece, Tabitha, who lives with her after being abandoned by Mandy’s twin sister, Joy.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 4, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 19, 2024
With Grave Consequences is the third, and I think the best so far, in the DI Mandy Wilde series.
Mandy is a tall, whip smart DI based in Cardiff with wild hair, a wild mouth and a wild twin sister, Wilde by name and so on. No filter and a gob like a cross between a potty and a machine gun.
The body of a teenage girl is found in a cemetary one cold morning by a lonely old man. Was it murder? One case quicky turns into two. The author leaves a trail of crumbs with little bits of red herrings thrown in.
The Mandy Wilde books as a brand are little different to your average crime thriller. Yes there are crimes but, and it's difficult to articulate this, the cause of much of the ills are just society. People fall through the cracks in life and the social rescue cant't help them buecause the net is either thread bare or non existant. This results in desperate people doing desperate things. The bad guys here are not men in black hats or Bond villians but people who are lost and hopeless. It's crime fiction that has a social conscience and it's done well.
In addition to a whodunnit with a social soft spot we also get a family saga. Twin sisters. One a high up cop and one bum, but the bum has the child that Mandy loves as a daughter. The sisters love each other but also resent each other and the sparks between them add zing to the whole narrative.
It's a serious crime fiction novel but the author does have a way with funny one liners too that pepper the tale through out. Towards the end of the book the ground work is laid out for what I hope will be DI Mandy Wilde IV.
An enjoyable and polished police procedural.Knows it's audience and hits the spot.
From grumpyoldbooks.blogspot.com
Mandy is a tall, whip smart DI based in Cardiff with wild hair, a wild mouth and a wild twin sister, Wilde by name and so on. No filter and a gob like a cross between a potty and a machine gun.
The body of a teenage girl is found in a cemetary one cold morning by a lonely old man. Was it murder? One case quicky turns into two. The author leaves a trail of crumbs with little bits of red herrings thrown in.
The Mandy Wilde books as a brand are little different to your average crime thriller. Yes there are crimes but, and it's difficult to articulate this, the cause of much of the ills are just society. People fall through the cracks in life and the social rescue cant't help them buecause the net is either thread bare or non existant. This results in desperate people doing desperate things. The bad guys here are not men in black hats or Bond villians but people who are lost and hopeless. It's crime fiction that has a social conscience and it's done well.
In addition to a whodunnit with a social soft spot we also get a family saga. Twin sisters. One a high up cop and one bum, but the bum has the child that Mandy loves as a daughter. The sisters love each other but also resent each other and the sparks between them add zing to the whole narrative.
It's a serious crime fiction novel but the author does have a way with funny one liners too that pepper the tale through out. Towards the end of the book the ground work is laid out for what I hope will be DI Mandy Wilde IV.
An enjoyable and polished police procedural.Knows it's audience and hits the spot.
From grumpyoldbooks.blogspot.com
February 5, 2024
An elderly man, Jeff Davis, finds the body of a girl in Cathay Cemetery, Cardiff.
Detective Inspector Mandy Wilds and Detective Sergeant Josh Jones are sent to the scene.
Rishi the pathologist is already there when they arrive and he tells them she is about sixteen years old and only half dressed, in spite of the weather being freezing. Prescription pills are found nearby made out to an Eleri Mathias.
Enquiries lead Mandy and the team to discover the body is of a Grace Mathias, the prescription was for her mother who is very ill. Rishi later drops a bombshell, Grace had recently given birth, also there is no sign of foul play. No one seems to know anything about the baby – where is it, is it even still alive?
Further inquiries reveal Grace was raising money for her mother, Eleri to go to America for an operation. However now it is too late as Eleri is expected to die very soon.
Meanwhile at home Mandy has her own problems, Joy her twin sister has come to live with her. Never an easy person to get on with, she is pregnant and drives Mandy mad. Joy’s teenage daughter Tabitha already lives with Mandy and is a delight, unlike her mother. The case of the dead teenager gives Mandy a good excuse to spend more time at work – she needs to as the death is very baffling. More than one person must know about Grace’s pregnancy but even her friends are disbelieving when they are told. So far, no trace of the baby can be found.
On inspection of Grace’s diary, Mandy and Josh come across the initials C. R. more than once, could this stand for the name of the father of the missing baby?
Things get even more hectic at the police station when news comes in of the disappearance of Amy Johnson, aged thirteen. They are so busy now Superintendent Withers, Mandy’s boss, brings in Detective Chief Inspector Lucas Manning. Mandy is flabbergasted, she was once engaged to him but then he walked out on her. Can things get any more complicated for Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde? Oh yes!
Somehow through it all she retains her sense of humour – just. Even at one point happily enlisting the help of local newspaper reporter Ted Blakeney, a person she usually avoids like the plague.
This is the second book by Jacqueline Harrett that I have read and enjoyed it every bit as much as the first. I am a great fan of Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde – every police force should have someone like her! Really highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group
Detective Inspector Mandy Wilds and Detective Sergeant Josh Jones are sent to the scene.
Rishi the pathologist is already there when they arrive and he tells them she is about sixteen years old and only half dressed, in spite of the weather being freezing. Prescription pills are found nearby made out to an Eleri Mathias.
Enquiries lead Mandy and the team to discover the body is of a Grace Mathias, the prescription was for her mother who is very ill. Rishi later drops a bombshell, Grace had recently given birth, also there is no sign of foul play. No one seems to know anything about the baby – where is it, is it even still alive?
Further inquiries reveal Grace was raising money for her mother, Eleri to go to America for an operation. However now it is too late as Eleri is expected to die very soon.
Meanwhile at home Mandy has her own problems, Joy her twin sister has come to live with her. Never an easy person to get on with, she is pregnant and drives Mandy mad. Joy’s teenage daughter Tabitha already lives with Mandy and is a delight, unlike her mother. The case of the dead teenager gives Mandy a good excuse to spend more time at work – she needs to as the death is very baffling. More than one person must know about Grace’s pregnancy but even her friends are disbelieving when they are told. So far, no trace of the baby can be found.
On inspection of Grace’s diary, Mandy and Josh come across the initials C. R. more than once, could this stand for the name of the father of the missing baby?
Things get even more hectic at the police station when news comes in of the disappearance of Amy Johnson, aged thirteen. They are so busy now Superintendent Withers, Mandy’s boss, brings in Detective Chief Inspector Lucas Manning. Mandy is flabbergasted, she was once engaged to him but then he walked out on her. Can things get any more complicated for Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde? Oh yes!
Somehow through it all she retains her sense of humour – just. Even at one point happily enlisting the help of local newspaper reporter Ted Blakeney, a person she usually avoids like the plague.
This is the second book by Jacqueline Harrett that I have read and enjoyed it every bit as much as the first. I am a great fan of Detective Inspector Mandy Wilde – every police force should have someone like her! Really highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Tricia Chappell
For Lizzie Sirett (Mystery People Group
June 4, 2024
The third in the Mandy Wilde detective series is a twisty mystery set in Cardiff and the surrounding area. A girl is found dead, and partly undressed,in a cemetary. Drugs are found nearby. There could be easy explanations but the answer isn't at all easy. Does it have to be murder for there to have been a crime? It's a story about loss on many fronts. The world has lost Grace Mathias, who would have lived up to her name in every way. She has done all she could to prevent the loss of her mother. An old man is losing his mind. Siblings have lost each other. Babies are lost. Foster children are lost. Some of those lost are found. Some are lost forever. No-nonsense DI Mandy Wilde has to deal with the complications of the case and complications in her own life, including losses, and ultimately balance the letter of the law against moral judgements. Interesting conundrums that sweep the reader along.
May 7, 2025
Book 3 in the DI Mandy Wilde serie was as good as I was hoping. A police procedural less cozy and more somber than other instalments on that serie, which is a thing I liked. A young girl is foud dead in the cemetery. Did she die of natural causes? And even so, why? The tone is dark, an ailing mother and a dead teen can assure that, but as always DI Mandy and her team provide some lightness and humor!
I loved following the personal developement of main characters along with the murder investigation, and althought having read book 4 a couple of months ago I already knew how this line was going... it didn't detract from my enjoyement! Some people said this book is the best one in the serie, but for a full enjoyement I still recommend to read them in order (but as I prove they could also easily be read as standalones)
I loved following the personal developement of main characters along with the murder investigation, and althought having read book 4 a couple of months ago I already knew how this line was going... it didn't detract from my enjoyement! Some people said this book is the best one in the serie, but for a full enjoyement I still recommend to read them in order (but as I prove they could also easily be read as standalones)
December 17, 2023
DI Mandy Wilde and DS Josh Jones are called to a suspicious death in a cemetary of a young girl, lying amongst the trees. This sets off a chain of events that will keep you reading to the very end. This book has plenty of twists and turns with a few red herrings thrown in. It is roller coaster of a read with well thought out characters and the locations are very well described. The ending was a surprise for me. Bring on book 4 is all I have left to say!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews