Easeful Death

Bill Slider #25

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A young woman is murdered at the height of summer in this gritty, page-turning mystery set in London and featuring DCI Bill Slider – “one of Britain’s most engaging coppers” (Booklist)

Most homicides are young male on young male, and that’s bad enough. But as a father of two daughters, DCI Bill Slider can’t help but take it harder when the victim is a young woman.

Rhianne Morgan, just eighteen, waiting for her A-level results, lies dead in her comfortable middle-class home in a nice, respectable area. Neighbours remember rows with her stepfather. Schoolmates talk of a boyfriend humiliatingly dumped. Her bestie mentions an unnamed new boyfriend, who possibly provided her with drugs. But the back gate was open, and anyone could have walked in. Did she even know her assailant?

Secrets and lies flourished around this troubled teenager, a thicket of thorns Slider and his team must cut through to find the truth. Who killed Rhianne?

As Slider’s boss says, it’s always the first person you suspect. Except when it isn’t.

This critically-acclaimed British police procedural series is a great choice for fans of Catherine Aird, Ann Cleeves and Peter James. If you haven’t met Bill Slider and his team, why not start now?

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature, Ebooks

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2025

About the author

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (aka Emma Woodhouse, Elizabeth Bennett)

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born on 13 August 1948 in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, where was educated at Burlington School, a girls' charity school founded in 1699, and at the University of Edinburgh and University College London, where she studied English, history and philosophy.

She had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, starting as a junior cashier at Woolworth's and working her way down to Pensions Officer at the BBC.

She wrote her first novel while at university and in 1972 won the Young Writers' Award with The Waiting Game. The birth of the MORLAND DYNASTY series enabled Cynthia Harrod-Eagles to become a full-time writer in 1979. The series was originally intended to comprise twelve volumes, but it has proved so popular that it has now been extended to thirty-four.

In 1993 she won the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year Award with Emily, the third volume of her Kirov Saga, a trilogy set in nineteenth century Russia.

Reviews

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

DI Slider and the team are looking into the case where a young woman appears to have been strangled. Murder, or could there be any contributing factors? There are suspects, but except for circumstantial evidence it is difficult to prove that they are involved. There is a lot of lying and misdirection, which of course makes everything more challenging. Even though I was unfamiliar with this series, I had no trouble reading it as a stand-alone. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Grandma Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book in this prolific series. I believe this could be read as a stand alone, but I do feel I would have enjoyed it even more if I had read the series in order. I do plan to start at the beginning of the series. It seems I would have appreciated the relationship between the police officers even better. The story gave me an in depth insight into the nuances of an investigation. This story also had the best police chase scene I’ve ever read. It was quite tense. This story was very British and that made it extra special as well. There were of course several red herrings and I didn’t know whom the murderer was until the reveal. The only negative for me was the occasional, mild profanity. I highly recommend this book and series.

I was blessed with an ARC by NetGalley and the opinions expressed are my own.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the 25th book in the Detective Inspector Slider series. I started in the middle of this series but have been reading it for years. There are changes in the lives of the characters as the series progresses, but the cases stand alone from book to book. DI Bill Slider balances the job with his personal life, and I love the banter between him and his friend and colleague, Detective Jim Atherton. Slider is a good leader and he and his entire team work well together.

The case in this one is a sad one. I was interested to find out who killed a young woman who was found dead at her own home. There were a few different suspects to make things interesting, but there are some slow spots in the book. In spite of that, I enjoyed the book, especially seeing Slider and team solve the case. There are also a couple of developments that fans of the series will appreciate.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of the ebook from NetGalley and Severn House for review consideration. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

[Gerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is number 25 in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Bill Slider series. I had been wanting to read this series for awhile, and this was my first. The author did an excellent job of bringing me in as a new reader to the series, She gave enough detail that I understood the relationships between characters as well as a little of the history of Slider. It was slipped in so easily and didn’t interrupt the flow of the story or give too much detail.

This was a very well written police procedural with some humor and well drawn characters. The mystery kept me guessing throughout. It started off with the murder of a teenaged girl who had been giving her parents some grief and gone off the rails a bit. The story took us through the investigation and gave us insight into the police team and relationships. I’m anxious to read the rest of the series now, beginning with the first one.
If book 25 is this good, then I have high hopes for the whole series. I think if you enjoy the writing of Martha Grimes or Elizabeth George, you would enjoy Cynthia Harrod-Eagles as well.

#EasefulDeath #NetGalley #SevernHouse

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easeful Death, the 25 th book in the DCI Bill Slider series is a great example of a police procedural. It's always a treat to spend time with DCI Slider and his fellow officers. Ms Harrod-Eagles crafts her characters so well that I feel I’ve come to know them over the course of her many books. The dialogue between them is interspersed with humor and believably real life. It is not easy to maintain this high level of writing over so long a time but I am happy to report that it has happened yet again. This book can be read as a stand alone but treat yourself to some of the earlier works to really feel you know the characters.

[Emg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't seem to have the energy of her earlier books.

[J Kromrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

In Easeful Death, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles delivers a quietly unsettling police procedural that questions not only whodunit—but what exactly makes death “easeful” in a world that struggles with justice, consent, and moral ambiguity. As the 11th entry in her long-running Bill Slider series, this installment shows a writer unafraid to deepen her character's complexity.

The story opens with the death of a celebrated music critic, whose elegance in life is matched only by the peculiar gentleness of his death: a seeming suicide that raises more questions than it silences. What begins as a routine case for DCI Bill Slider and his team turns more sinister, unraveling into a chilling exploration of mercy, manipulation, and the fine line between assisted death and calculated murder.

Harrod-Eagles deftly avoids melodrama. Her prose is polished yet unsentimental—clinical when needed, but often touched with a wry humor that punctures the bleakness. The pace is measured, almost classical, inviting you not just to solve a crime, but to listen closely to the silence.

Bill Slider remains an understated but profoundly sympathetic detective—a man more interested in truth than in performance. His dialogues with his musically-inclined partner Atherton sparkle with dry wit, but they also expose the emotional fatigue of those who must wade through humanity’s worst impulses without losing their own moral compass.

The supporting cast, too, is given space to breathe and evolve. Harrod-Eagles excels in portraying professionals not as procedural cogs but as individuals marked by their own personal rhythms and ghosts. Even the victim, despite his absence, becomes a character etched in negative space—his contradictions uncovered note by note like a complex symphony.

What elevates Easeful Death is its philosophical undercurrent. The title evokes Shakespeare’s Hamlet—“to die, to sleep… perchance to dream”—and this literary echo isn’t incidental. The book interrogates euthanasia, artistic legacy, and how society navigates death when it’s wrapped in aesthetics or ideology.

The atmosphere is quietly claustrophobic, like the echo of a string quartet in a closed room. It feels intentional: Harrod-Eagles isn’t trying to thrill you with adrenaline but to disturb you with questions. The effect is slow-burning, contemplative, and curiously intimate.

🎼 Easeful Death is less a murder mystery than a moral fugue. It’s cerebral and compassionate, structured like a Bach partita—layered, precise, but rich with emotional undertow. If you’re looking for an elegantly written procedural that hums with intellectual and ethical resonance, this might be your perfect note.

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is on the grittier side of whodunits – though don’t expect anything in the way of violence or gore. Harrod-Eagles is too classy for that. Neither is there much in the way of bad language. What makes this a difficult read at times is that the author never lets you forget that a young girl has died and that her death is a terrible waste of a young life. There were several times I had a lump in my throat – and that doesn’t happen all that often when reading this genre.

However, I don’t want you to go away with the idea that this is an unremittingly grim read – it isn’t anything of the sort. DCI Slider is a compassionate man with a happy home life and a good relationship with his team – to the extent that the banter between them is funny enough to make me laugh aloud at regular intervals throughout the story. This welcome relief amid the investigation makes this murder mystery a thoroughly readable tale – to the extent that I finally put it down with a real sense of loss. I’ve only read a few books in this long-running series and keep promising myself to tuck into more of these entertaining, intelligently written whodunits – because while the characters are well depicted and nuanced, the descriptions vivid – it’s the plotting that sets these books apart and makes this one an excellent, memorable read.

We have a young woman who has been strangled in unusual circumstances – to the extent that initially, it doesn’t look as if she’s been murdered. Indeed, there are those who aren’t convinced that there’s been any foul play. Obviously, the main suspects are those closest to her. As the investigation wears on, DCI Slider finds himself under ever greater pressure to produce a viable suspect, especially as it becomes apparent that Rhianne was a troubled young woman with issues that put her at greater risk.

It was increasingly difficult to put this one down as Harrod-Eagles skilfully increases the tension – and as ever, produces a convincing and very satisfying conclusion to this nasty murder. And yes – I’m definitely going to fulfil that promise to myself and get hold of more books in this series. Ideal for fans of quality police-led murder mystery adventures. While I obtained an arc of Easeful Death from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

[beth mclaren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easeful Death

Very disappointing. I have read the entire series and usually have found them enjoyable and well worth the time. (Although I noticed some falling off in quality in the last couple).
This one is extremely disappointing - the plot is hackneyed and the characters rounded up by Slider's squad pathetic. The police spend most of their time trying to pin a conviction on the wrong person while the very obvious suspect continually eludes them. This is not the case of a brilliant criminal outwitting his pursuers, rather the police, blinded by their urge to capture a suspect they decided was guilty, ignore all the obvious signs that they are chasing the wrong man. This makes for some heavy going for the reader who must plow through loads of extraneous information related to the wrong suspect...all the while wondering what is the problem with Slider and his crew.
The author shows her usual barely disguised contempt for lower class people who wander around in cluttered flats, eating greasy meals while portraying a distressing
lack of any education or even common sense.
Even the friendship between Slider's crew seems forced and, at best, half-hearted. Slider himself is fixated on the wrong person and attempts to divert him are abandoned as being useless.
All in all, a depressing book by a usually very competent author - certainly not worth the time it takes to read it.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thank NetGalley and Severn House for an advance reader copy of Easeful Death. All opinions and comments are my own.

The usual witty chapter headings are present, as is the laugh-out-loud dialog between participants in Easeful Death, the latest in the long-running series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. It’s a quiet August so far, Slider’s working through paperwork, and our favorite sergeant Atherton is back from holiday and thinking about proposing. Surely the world is coming to an end. But not before they’re called to a crime scene, a young woman dead from apparent strangulation. And soon it will be up to our policemen extraordinaire to solve what becomes an intriguing case of back-and-forth alibis, of obvious and not so obvious suspects. Will our intrepid duo, of quick speech and dapper dressing, sort through the facts and bring a killer to justice? Gentle reader, you know they will.

Complete with the author’s firm grasp of description, people, and places (each one brought to life), quips, and of course, DCI Porson’s mangling of the English language, one mustn’t forget that Easeful Death includes a thorough police investigation with a successful case at the end. Now, on to the next one. Can’t wait.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book that I have read in this series, although it is book 25 in the series. I felt given this it held up very well as a standalone book, and this very much makes me want to pick up this series from the beginning.

I felt the book made me very much buy in to DCI Bill Slider, and his tenaciousness at trying to find out who had murdered the young victim in the book, an event that many just wanted to put down as an unfortunate death caused by an unknown medical condition. I also enjoyed spending time with Bill’s various team, and unlike some detective books a good amount of time was spent on his personal life which only added to the book.

This as quite an intriguing murder plot and at times it was hard to see who could have committed the murder. At points in the book there were either no key murder suspects, or too many of them. I like the way the author explored the situation and the various murder suspects / murder theories.

The book was well plotted and had good dialogue within it which I feel is always key in a good crime book. It was also well resolved in the end and based on this book I would strongly recommend this series. It had all the elements I would want in a good crime book, and made good use of the modern world in which we live!

[Stephanie Bull · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 25th book in the brilliant DCI Bill Slider series. Reconnecting with DCI Slider and his Sergeant Jim Atherton is like a long awaited meet up with old friends you haven't seen for a while. Catching up on their lives outside of the force, laughing at the wonderful malapropisms of Mr Porson, Slider's boss, is a joy.

Slider and Atherton are called to investigate the murder of 18 year old Rhianne Morgan who was found by her step father in the kitchen of their home. Slider and Atherton soon hear from neighbours about arguments between Rhianne and her step father and from school friends about a boyfriend she had unceremoniously dumped quite recently. As always, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has written a great police procedural tale with a number of suspects, plentiful lies, misdirection and only circumstantial evidence for Slider and Atherton to base their theories on.

This is another excellent story in the series, which I highly recommend.

With many, many thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for my advanced reader copy in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Susan Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Slider and the other coppers are on the hunt for whomever was responsible for the death of a young woman. What makes things frustrating is the actual cause was a heart attack but the events leading up to it were certainly exacerbating if nothing else. There are a couple of pretty obvious suspects at first whose stories get disproven as the investigation continues. But does that make them culpable even if they had contact with the victim.

As probably happens in real life, the more the detectives learn about both the deceased and the people with whom she interacted, the less innocent any of them seem. But dislike does not cut it when pressing charges. The characters are all gritty and realistic and it heightens the story. Plus there are some good twists that will have the reader turning pages. It held my interest from beginning to end. I have read previous books in the series and can recommend them to fans of mysteries set in London.

Five solid purrs and two paws up.

[Anna Penney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all the books in this series and have enjoyed everyone of them. Mind you, Before I Sleep was one of the saddest books I've ever read.
I loved DS Porson and his metaphors, they never get tiring and it is so worthy of Ms Harrod-Eagles that she can fit them into every conversation and I don't think we've read the same one twice.
It was great to catch up on Bill Slider and his family and his still loving relationship with Joanna.
I love the police procedurals and how they examine each motive, and how nothing is as it seems.
Each of these books have bought me so much contentment in reading them, it is difficult to find an author as good as Cynthia Harrod-Eagles when it comes to British police series.
Now the hard part, I have to wait another year or two for the next one.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easeful Death by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was disappointing and almost boring. This is the 25th instalment of the Detective Inspector Slider series and I think after so many books the author might be running out of fresh ideas. A young woman of eighteen is found by her stepfather at their home. She has been murdered and Detective Inspector Slider and his team are tasked with finding the killer and bringing them to justice. It was a good beginning and I had much hope for this mystery. However the story died under its own weight. The detectives seem to go around in circles with their suspects. One is suspected, then another one and another one again. And then the plot repeats itself until the reader loses interest. I stayed with it till the bitter end but there were no improvements. This is only my opinion.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars. I'd been looking forward to this book (I've read all of the earlier ones), but I thought it didn't quite measure up. The physical descriptions of characters seemed to follow a single recipe: color, texture, length of hair; eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears; size and shape of body; full description of clothing). Almost every new character got the same treatment. The puns and corrupted wise sayings that used to make me laugh out loud here seemed a bit half-hearted. The police procedural was interesting, but since little real progress was made until the end it seemed repetitive and a bit tedious. But the final pages implied that Harrod-Eagles is not done yet, and I will certainly read the next one if and when it comes out.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read every single one of the Bill Slider books. This is number 25 and this is the first one that I was less than thrilled with. I found it disjointed, and there were no breaks in the paragraphs when they flipped from one scene to another, which threw me off quite a bit. I still love Bill Slider and his team, but sometimes the team dynamics got a little bit too detailed for me. The book moved fairly slowly right up to the end. I still didn’t know whether it was a murder or not. The supporting characters, I found, were not that believable either and they didn’t grab me. So therefore, I’m giving this book 3 stars conditionally, conditioned upon the observation that I don’t know whether this is the end of the line for me with this series.

[Pgchuis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Here Slider and Atherton investigate the death of Rhianne, a teenage girl awaiting her A-Level results, found apparently strangled on her patio. Slider looks after Atherton's cats and Atherton proposes to his girlfriend.

I found this instalment a little disappointing: Mr Porson's mangling of the English language was entertaining as ever, but otherwise the story was full of men treating women badly (or very badly indeed). There were a couple of red herring-type investigative paths which the police followed, but the ultimate solution was unpleasant and ever so slightly random.

[Hannelore Cheney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
As usual, I was thrilled to bits to receive a Bill Slider mystery on my Kindle. I have loved this series from the beginning.
This time the case comprises the death of a teenage girl in her backyard. Her stepfather finds her and becomes a suspect, but there are a couple of other young men who could be involved.
Slider and his team take quite a while to solve the case, but it
finally comes to a righteous end. I love all of the characters:
their banter, their treatment of each other as well as their private lives. Love the cats! This is such a great series, I don't ever want it to end!

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

253 pages

5 stars

I truly enjoy the play on words that Ms. Harrod-Eagles employs in her dialogues. It adds a bit of fun to the serious discussion of crime and dastardly deeds as portrayed in the fiction novels.

A young girl has been murdered. Recently, she has been having difficulties at home and running a little wild. She has gotten into some trouble - a lot of trouble.

This is the latest Bill Slider novel and it is a good one. As usual, the cast of characters are back and engaging. I especially like Mrs. Slider’s character.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this vert good boob for me to read, enjoy and review.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

18 year old Rhianne Morgan is found dead in her garden, with strangulation marks around her neck. Bill Slider and Jim Atherton as well as others of the usual crew are investigating the people who might have wanted this young woman dead for some reason. And there are more than you might expect given she's a middle class kid still in high school. The banter between the characters continues, Porson, as always is ready with a malapropism at every turn, and Slider's home life with the lovely Joanna and their children continues. But while I enjoyed it, I found it not to be her best and it was slow in places, and that the continual jokiness of the chapter headings and banter can perhaps get old.

[Amy T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easeful Death is the first DCI Slider book I’ve read and now I want to read them all! This is a story about 18 year old Rhianne Morgan who is found dead in her suburban home. This was an enjoyable mystery with lots of twists. I loved the characters and the detective’s banter.
Thank you NetGalley and Seven House! I’m happy this is the 25th book in the series—I’m looking forward to reading the other books!

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

No greater delight than a new Bill Slider mystery. This one was as witty and engaging as the previous ones; the lives of the characters continue and develop, but never to the detriment of the murder mystery. I love the conversations between the characters, and especially the malapropisms of the chief, Porsons. I was a bit irritated by the cover--the book mentions more than once that the teenager in the story was reading magazines in the garden, yet there she is with, apparently, a Kindle.

[Patricia Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a royal reader of the DCI Slider’s series of books, I felt unease as how this book was progressing in its’ plot and characters. For me, it leads me to believe that Slider’s future novels might be geared for a younger readership. I missed the large amount of humor and the clever endings of the previous books.
Thank you Netgalley and Severn House for the eARC to review.

[Linda Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was #25 in the Bill Slider series, and I've read them all. This one has all the usual treats: catchy chapter titles, banter among Slider's team, and of course Mr. Porson. Plus two additional cats staying with the Slider family as Atherton's romance heats up. Oh, and there's a suspicious death to be solved.

I can't wait for the next one.

[Kay Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written with many of the character touches and humourous chats that the author does so well. Too many unhappy characters though and the crime and its resolution has unpleasant echoes for someone living in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Not that long ago a young woman visiting here from Britain met a similar end and the attitudes covered by the book are unpleasant reminders.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is 3.5 ⭐️ read that deserves to be rounded up. I like this series a lot & this was a good story overall. Perhaps I’ve read one too many thrillers of late, but I thought this entry wasn’t well paced toward the end. Can’t put my finger on it exactly but I suspect it only needed a wee bit of tinkering. Nonetheless a good read!

[Carolyn Rector · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treat to read another Bill Slider mystery, but then I love a good police procedural. Good dialog, good characters, good leads to follow. Good car chase, what's not to love.#25, read them all in order.

[Sharron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slider and Atherton are terrific characters and, as always, the author serves up an enjoyable portion of quick witted remarks and malapropisms. But the plot itself seemed labored and dragged at times. Unusual for this series.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bill Slider #25. 18 year old girl found dead in her home. Various suspects ruled out, then one ruled back in. A seamy disagreeable cast of characters. Not one of my favourites in this generally brilliant series.