Dead Guilty

Calladine & Bayliss #9

by Helen H. Durrant, Jonathan Keeble (Narrator)

Detectives Calladine and Bayliss hunt for a missing child in a mystery with a shocking ending.

Sophie Alder is the three-year-old daughter of local factory owner, Richard Alder. Richard and his wife Annie are locals from the rough housing estate who’ve made it big.

Plus, there’s a crime wave in Leesworth and the police can’t cope. One thief even dares to break into Calladine’s house.

A number of local men have formed a vigilante group. On one of their patrols they catch the burglar and he ends up dead.

The investigation is complicated and the detectives keep hearing about a shadowy figure called 'Street', the mastermind behind the increase in drugs and theft.

With two more murders and Calladine’s personal life in turmoil, the detectives race against time to find 'Street' and the missing child.

In an ending with a huge twist, the detectives find everything they believed is turned upside down.

If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, Mel Sherratt, Ruth Rendell or Mark Billingham you will enjoy this exciting new crime fiction writer.

Dead Guilty is book nine of a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ruth Bayliss and D.I. Tom Calladine.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Thriller, Amazon, Procedural

6 pages, Audible Audio

First published May 3, 2019

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

DEAD GUILTY by author Helen H. Durrant is book nine of a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ruth Bayliss and D.I. Tom Calladine. Having read all the previous books in this series and really enjoyed them and the characters, it was like old home week, touching base with some of my old friends. I looked forward to starting the next crime thriller in the series. This book will have you turning the pages until the shocking conclusion. This is a crime thriller with an ending with a huge twist.

Detective inspector Tom Calladine is a workaholic, totally devoted to his job. But his personal life has not been so rewarding, being married and divorced before he was twenty-one. Now he has a new girlfriend, Layla, that lives down the street with Tom’s dog, Sam for safety.

DETECTIVES CALLADINE AND BAYLISS HUNT FOR A MISSING CHILD.

Sophie Alder is the three-year-old daughter of local factory owner, Richard Alder. Richard and his wife Annie are locals from the rough housing estate who’ve made it big. DS Ruth Baylis and DI Tom Calladine suspect that she has been kidnapped.

Currently there is a crime wave in Leesworth and the police can’t stay on top of it. Break-ins were increasing in the area. One young thief, a neighbour’s son broke into Calladine’s house. This lad was working with a villain, referred to as “Street”, robbing houses. Street is the mastermind behind the increase in drugs and theft in the area.

With two more murders the detectives race against time to find “Street” and the missing child.

This book can be read as standalone but it's always best to read a series in order to fully appreciate the ongoing character development, though the plots are standalones. This is a series I will continue to follow.

Looking for a brilliant best-selling crime mystery with great detectives? Look no further. Highly recommend this exciting new crime fiction writer.

Many thanks to Joffe Books via Netgalley for my copy.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 3.5 star read.

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not keen on books that involve missing children, but Aarhus one is from an author I like, I thought that I would take a chance. Three year old Sophie Alder has went missing and DS Ruth Baylis and DI Tom Calladine suspect that she has been kidnapped. She is the daughter of Richard and Annie Alder, who own a biscuit factory. They grew up on a rough housing estate. They seem to be having a crime wave. This is a well written story with lots of twists. This book can be read as standalone but it's always best to read a series from the beginning might miss out on some useful information.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Joffe Books and the author Helen H. Durrant for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Linda Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

DI Tom Calladine and DS Ruth Bayliss have their hands full with a variety of cases.

A 3-year-old girl has gone missing and her parents are frantic. The father is wealthy and hangs around some dubious characters. Is someone making him suffer for a deal gone bad?

There's a new crime wave that involves a pack of young people basically walking into an elder person's home and taking over. There are drugs and alcohol and parties while the homeowner is held prisoner in his/her bedroom. Multiple damages are done to the home and no one seems to be able to stop these hooligans. Who is "Street" who seems to be giving the orders?

A few local men have formed a vigilante group to stop the violence since the police don't seem to be able to. One teenage boy had the audacity to break into Calladine's home. The vigilantes caught up with the young man and beat him to a pulp. The boy is found later ...dead of a stabbing.

More murders follow and Calladine's supervisor is calling a halt into their looking for "Street". Now the detectives aren't sure who they can trust. Are there members of the police that are protecting the drug lords?

This one is full of action with solid police procedures throughout. Although 9th in this well-known series, it reads easily as a stand alone. There are twists and turns that lead to a very surprising ending.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Netgalley / Books n All Book Promotions for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 9th book in the Calladine and Bayliss series by author Helen H Durrant, that can be read as a stand alone.
I am a regular reader of this authors work and always find them to be entertaining reads with meaty characters and decent plots. This book meets those standards and is a great read.
DI Tom Calladine is typical of the strength of the characters in this series. He loves his job and gives it 100 per cent but like a lot of fictional detectives his personal life does not run so smoothly. A failed marriage before the age of twenty-one he is now trying to find love again with his new girlfriend Layla. This story follows Detective Calladine and Bayliss hunt for Sophie Alder, a missing 3 year old of local factory owner, Richard Alder. Richard and his wife Annie are locals from the rough housing estate who’ve made it big. With a crime wave hitting Leesworth, the police are being stretched to the limits and a local vigilante group decides to take their own action. Police get involved when the group catch a burglar who ends up dead.
The Detectives are told of a mysterious character called 'Street' who appears to be masterminding the increase in drugs and theft. The hunt is on to catch Street and find the missing girl which is further complicated by Calladine's personal romance issues.
If you have not read the writing of this author then it is well worth a try. Good solid read.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Joffe Books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead Guilty is book nine of a new series of detective thrillers featuring D.S. Ruth Bayliss and D.I. Tom Calladine, and this has to be the most compelling and exciting so far. It's complex and well plotted with enough twists in the tale to keep the reader guessing. Although challenging there is never any point that you feel confused or lost even when there are a variety of characters involved. As in her previous novels, the easy breezy, highly readable writing style means that once you begin there will be no putting it down. Towards the end, the two distinct threads of the plot merge to create a stunning conclusion. This is a riveting read with an addictive plot and flawed, believable cast. Many thanks to Joffe Books for an ARC.

[Kirsty ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in the Calladine and Bayliss series. This time they are on the hunt for a kidnapped child that is not all what it may seem while also trying to track down where a sudden influx of drugs into the town is coming from. I'd never heard the term 'cuckoo' before in terms of crime but I read a few news articles after finishing this and what an awful thing (gangs befriending elderly and vulnerable, moving in and using the property as a drugs den). You learn things every day but sometimes you wish you hadn't. There are a lot of drugs flying around in Dead Guilty but rather than street sales it is being done by using young children and this cuckoo method. Now I know more about it I found it so much more chilling. 

The story itself takes place over 10 days and as such is quite tight and the pace matches the need to move fast to find the missing toddler. No one is quite what they seem and I did like the big twist at the end. It was all tied up a bit too quickly for me. They needed some evidence to arrest the bad guy, the evidence then walked through the door and the bad guy did the classic movie 'love the sound of their own voice and spilled all' trope. I would have liked that to be more sower paced but I guess when things come together they do so at speed. I'm nitpicking though because I loved the book. An excellent addition to the series. 

[Books 'n' All Promotions · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow brilliant read

This is book 9 in the Calladine & Bayliss series but it does work well as stand alone.

A missing 3 year old child, Drugs, vigilantes, burglaries and murder. Calladine and his team are really up against it. When a fellow Detective has a heart attack Calladine finds the whole lot is for his team to investigate.

There is a lot going on in this book as the team buckle down to start following leads. They are getting nowhere fast. Who is the elusive Street and why are the criminals they have arrested being released? It smacks of corruption and when Calladine is ordered to back off investigating Street his worst fears are realised.

Reading this series is a bit like coming home. Familiar characters but you always learn something new and the advantage of these books is Helen is such a brilliant author she manages to write the books so you can step in at any point in the series and quickly catch up. No repetitive text to bore the readers who are following the series but enough to fill in blanks for new readers.

This is a twisty turny book that I simply couldn't put down there are real shockers all the way through and it is packed with suspense to keep the adrenaline pumping. WOW what an awesome read and when it gets towards the end and the clues start to link the different threads you think you have worked out what the ending is going to be..... Wrong! The ending is a total unexpected mind blowing shock.

An absolutely brilliant read that had me turning page after page. 5 golden stars from me.

[Donna Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...

I am a massive fan of this author’s books and I love this series too so I was delighted to see that she had a new book out, this one, Dead Guilty, and I will admit that I had read the book from cover to cover within hours of it landing on my Kindle!

I thought that the plot line was addictive, there were quite a few twists and turns as the plot developed, I certainly had a few oooh moments too when things started to be unravelled!

Everything was well planned out and the development and execution of the story was simply superb. I thought I had guessed who was responsible a few times for what had been going on in the book only for me to be wrong – and I loved the book for that!

I love the main character, DI Tom Calladine and have really enjoyed getting to know him as the series has progressed, his supporting team are great too and I love their interaction and the team work that they have to resolve the cases that come in front of them are great.

This is book nine in the series and for me it is the best to date that the author has released with Calladine & Bayliss at the helm - something that isn’t always that easy to do! I think that this one would also read fine as a standalone.

The author has a brilliant writing style and she really brings her stories and characters to life and she remains one of my favourite authors of her genre.

It is definitely five stars from me for this one, it is another well written thrilling story from this author and genuinely cannot wait for her next release!!

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Dead Guilty, the ninth novel to feature DI Tom Calladine and DS Ruth Bayliss, set in the fictional northern town of Leesdon.

When three year old Sophie Alder goes missing the team are quick to suspect kidnap but not the trouble they will have to establish the truth. With finding Sophie made their main priority from above it means that their investigation into the increase in drugs and violence, lead apparently by a shadowy character called Street, is put on the back burner until a murder pushes it back to the front.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Guilty which is an absorbing read with plenty of twists and turns. It has a fairly complicated plot with many characters, angles and motives but it is never difficult to follow as Ms Durrant has an easy writing style and a way of explaining things that makes it simple to follow. Nevertheless I imagine that plenty of thought went in to the planning an execution and it shows. The novel blends the two plot strands of the missing Sophie and the hunt for Street together seamlessly. It is helped by having a small team covering every lead as it comes up as they don’t have the luxury of enough staff to keep everything separate. I found it quite compulsive and read it in one sitting.

I also like the ordinariness of the characters. Calladine and Bayliss are friends as well as colleagues so their interactions are both pleasant and honest. The focus in this novel is on Calladine’s life. He is going through some changes which he has no choice but to accept and some more are hinted at in his future. It will be interesting to see where Ms Durrant takes him.

Dead Guilty isa good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

Missing children cases are the worst. I also don't like to read about them in books, to be honest. Nevertheless, it is a missing child that forms the spine of Dead Guilty. Of course, there is still a lot of other stuff going on as well.

It was another quick read which I needed, but I thought some of the story lines were spinning a bit out of control now that we have reached this point in the series. I wonder how many more books there will be with Calladine & Bayliss.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Find this and other reviews on https://www.urlphantomhive.com

[Joanna Larum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 9 in the Bayliss and Calladine series and each one gets better! As I started the book, I felt as though I was meeting old friends again and I settled down to find out what the problems would be this time. Calladine is woken in the middle of the night and goes downstairs to find a young man who has broken in and is looking for something to steal. Calladine knows him as he is a neighbour and he rings the boy's mother. The boy is frightened of a man called only 'Street' and is stealing to pay him.
A child goes missing from a back garden in a very posh part of Leesworth. Sophie is three years old and her parents are frantic to find her. Her father was born on a rough estate but has grown rich because of his biscuit factory.
The two events seem unconnected but then Street's name comes up in other crimes. Calladine is warned off following up leads which mention Street and is told to concentrate on Sophie's disappearance but the two investigations come together until the finale is reached.
This is a wonderfully written crime novel, with lots of clues leading in different directions. Once again, I was unable to work out the ending before I reached it but I couldn't put the book down until I had reached that end. A must for any lover of police procedural novels and a five star read!

[Jennifer (Jaye) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*A Unlikely Villain*

This instalment see’s Di Tom Calladine & Ds Ruth Bayliss tackling vigilante’s, a spate of burglaries, drugs, a kidnapping and someone at the top in the police force is making paperwork disappear. There is also a shadowy figure under the name “Street” that seems to be pulling all the strings.

As Calladine and the team try to pull the pieces together they realise they have been duped along the way which has cost them time as well as murders to deal with. When they catch up to the real culprit there is a shock and along the way Ruth gets injured…

[LJ (ljwritesandreviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is the ninth in the Calladine and Bayliss series but can easily be read as a standalone. I know I say that a lot but I felt like this book gave you enough about the characters and their history to enjoy the novel without spoiling any of the previous books.

These books just gets better and better as it goes along! I think this is my favourite out of this series to date, there is honestly never a dull moment.

There a few threads running through the story, the first being a kidnapping of three year old Sophie Alder. Her father is local boy who done good but is he really as clean as he says he is?

A crime wave is sweeping through Leesdon, controlled by the mysterious ‘Street’. In response a group of local men form a vigilante group to fight back against these yobs. After an attack, a young burglar ends up dead.

Helen Durrant blends these three storylines together seamlessly, none of them overshadowing the other, with a good pace and plenty of twists and turns along the way.

I also love Bayliss and Calladine, they’re such likeable characters, even though Calladine is back to his old ways, not committing to yet another relationship. I have hopes he’ll settle down one day!

Dead Guilty a thrilling police procedural that you will find hard to put down, I know I did!

[Sharon Rimmelzwaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this book, the 9th in a series but it can easily be read as a standalone without much detriment.
I find Helen's writing to flow smoothly and easily, I started it and was eager to contine with the story as soon as possible.

The book continues with DI Calladine and DS Bayliss's story that began way back in Book 1 titled Dead wrong, and flowed into another 7 books until the arrival of this, fantastic piece of work!

One case is a missing child, that they inherit from another ill officer, while they also have other cases. Searching for a mysterious figure known as " The Street" is another.

Helen has absolutely cracked it for me personally, as she has fully rounded the main characters to a depth that I love! The cases within the story are switched from one to another so you have no idea where it will go and the twists make it such an ending!!! I loved it! Definitely one to read!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a twisty book! I love a good crime novel, and Dead Guilty was brilliant with an ending I didn't see coming.

It's clear by the number of novels in the series, but Helen Durrant is an incredibly detailed and thorough author! She was able to keep my attention the entire novel and I honestly had trouble putting the novel down.

With realistic detectives and a fast-paced mystery, Dead Guilty is worth checking out. I'd like to go back and read the rest of the series!

*I received a copy of this book as part of a blog tour with Books N All Promotions. All opinions are my own.*

[CD {Boulder Blvd} · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is #9 in the Calladine & Bayliss series of which I've read almost all of. This is a really good series and when this book came out, it was on my must read list. This can be read as a stand alone, but the character development is better if you read the series in order.

Between a missing child, vigilante justice, crimes against the elderly and drugs this is a fast pace plot with a lot of puzzle pieces that Calladine & Bayliss have to pull together. I enjoyed the read and look forward to additional books in this series.

Thanks to Net Galley, Joffe Books and the author Helen H. Durrant for an ARC of this book!

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dead Guilty by Helen H Durrant is the WoW......Ninth book of the Detective Calladine and Bayliss Series and I just Loved it.
Detective Calladine and Bayliss are on the hunt for a missing three year old child Sophie.
She is the daughter of a local factory owner Richard Alder and his wife Annie. They're locals of a rough housing estate.
There's a big crime wave in Leesworth and Detective Calladine's house is broken in to, whilst he was a sleep one night. A number of local men form a vigilante group as the Police can't cope. On one night the vigilante patrol catch a burglar and he ends up dead.
The investigation then becomes complicated and the detectives keep hearing the name "Street!"

Who is he?

All they know, he's the mastermind behind the increase of the theft and drugs in this area. There's another murder and a missing child. Detective Calladine and Bayliss have a lot on especially as Calladine's personal life is in turmoil and his daughter has some great news to tell him as well.........

Are they going to find and catch the person who is street?

Is Sophie still a live?

Are they going to find Sophie in time?

This books has lots of twists and turns throughout and with a cracking ending to this brilliant book.

Highly recommend this series of books.........Just Loved it.

Big Thank you to Joffe Books Publisher, Netgalley.

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best of the series

[Nerys Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young child has been kidnapped. Her father, Richard Alder, is a local boy done good. He grew up on one of the roughest estates but now has his own business making biscuits. DI Tom Calladine and his team have taken over the case as the original detective has had a heart attack. Leesworth also seems to be experiencing a crime wave - break ins and thefts - and it is worrying the residents so much that they have set up a vigilante group. Then a young man is killed - he is known to Tom as a day earlier he’d caught him breaking into his house. It’s assumed that the vigilantes have gone too far but it soon becomes clear that there is someone in the town running the drug trade but all that is known about them is their nickname “Street”. Despite everything going on in Leesworth orders from on high are to forget about “Street” and concentrate on finding the girl. Tom and his team refuse to do so.

Really enjoyed this book - read it in a day. The story kept me guessing from the beginning. The Calladine and Bayliss series is one of my favourites and I look forward to reading more soon.

Thanks to Joffe Books and Helen H Durrant for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

[Jessica Zweiacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. I did not realize that this book was an installment of an established series. I felt a was missing something of a backstory while reading. I will definitely go back and begin with book number one. It was a fabulous police procedural, the characters where very well developed and the plotline had a seamless flow.
Thank Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.
#netgalley
#deadguilty

[Aileen (Ailz) Grist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A missing child, cuckooing for drugs, a couple of murders and a group of vigilantes, DI Calladine and DS Bayliss have their work cut out this time. Who is 'Street' and why does the DCS keep on trying to stop Calladine from finding out?

Helen H Durrant is one of my favourite contemporary mysytery writers and she doesn't let us down this time - I read it in one sitting. Thank to Netgalley and Joffe Publishers for this arc.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the first book I read in this series and I'm happy I requested it because it's a very good one.
I liked the style of writing, the cast of characters and the plot.
The mystery is good, no plot hole, and it kept me guessing till the end.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Susan Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic instalment in the brilliant Calladine and Bayliss series. The shocking case of a 3 year old child, of wealthy parents, being abducted makes for tense reading. The characters of Calladine and Bayliss compliment each other so well , it is like meeting old friends. During the investigation to find the missing child, they sense there is something they are not being told.. A great plot which also involves murder and drugs, had me gripped from start to finish. Looking forward to the next book in series.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is the ninth book in a series, it really didn't matter. An excellent book with plenty of twists and turns. I really must get to read more books by this author! I never write what the story is about as i prefer one to read the book for themselves, but i do recommend. A well deserved five stars.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers. This is my honest review.

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a fantastic and exciting instalment in a series featuring DS Ruth Bayliss and DI Tom Calladine!

Written by best-selling author Helen H. Durrant, this was a fast-paced crime thriller that had me hooked, even before I had swiped my e-reader to take me to the second page.

Helen H. Durrant has drawn some marvellous characters in this novel. I loved DI Tom Calladine as he was portrayed to have immense strength of the character. He loved his job and gave it his all, but his personal life was not running as smoothly. In this story, he was attempting to find love again with his new girlfriend Layla, after a failed marriage. I also liked the ordinariness of the characters. Calladine and Bayliss were friends as well as colleagues so their interactions were both pleasing to read about and honest.

Dead Guilty was complex and well plotted with enough twists in the tale to keep me guessing. Although challenging, there was never any point that I was confused or lost. The easy and highly readable writing style of Helen H. Durrant meant there was no putting this one down to go and do something else!. Towards the end, the two distinct threads of the plot merged, creating an exciting conclusion. This was an incredibly riveting read with an addictive plot and a believable, if flawed, cast.

This is a must read, very highly recommended and I absolutely loved it. It would be great for any lover of police procedural novels and it is a five-star read!

Thanks to NetGalley, Joffe books and the author, Helen H. Durrant for the complimentary advanced copy. This is my honest and totally voluntary review.

[Carole Gourlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another excellent book in the Calladine & Bayliss series and follows on with another gripping story.

I do love Helens books and I think this one is one of her best yet.

It starts off with a three year old child being kidnapped, calladine being broken into and murders taking a lace on the streets. Coupled with a vigilante group who are determined to make a difference where the police can’t.

The end is soooo good, I really didn’t see the twist it wasn’t who I expected. Well done for keeping us all guessing.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, and one I read in a day.

My thanks to Joffe Publishers and Helen for the ARC. Looking forward to the next one now.

[Christine Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC, which I have enjoyed reading.
DI Calladine and his team are a hard working police team investigating the influx of drugs and a series of murders. It is an easy to read police detective story and is one of a series in The Calladine and Bayliss Mystery Series.
Recommended.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a Detectives Bayliss and Calladine groupie ever since I picked up their first book, which only seems weeks ago but it’s actually a couple of years ago. Little did I realise that the series would continue for as long as it has (not that I am complaining because I love the detective duo) and that the series would continue to go from strength to strength. Each time Helen releases a new book in the series, I put all of my other plans on ice and I endeavour to read it just as soon as possible before waiting (impatiently) for the next one. Well ladies and gents, the wait is temporarily over because the most recent book in the series is called ‘Dead Guilty’ and it was released on 3rd May 2019. I absolutely blinking well loved it but more about that in a bit.
I absolutely adore the detective duo Bayliss and Calladine. They have worked together for a fair while now and at times they seem like an old married couple. They know what makes the other one tick and they both know that they can turn to the other one if the chips are down or if they need a friend. Of course with such good friendships comes brutal honesty and each will not hesitate to tell the other one the truth, even if they don’t want to hear it. Any disputes that they have with each other don’t seem to last for long. Both detectives are strong characters but they have their vulnerable sides, they are loyal, stubborn, determined and they both share a gut instinct that is almost 100% accurate. If something doesn’t seem right to them, then that means that it usually isn’t and they will not hesitate to investigate until their curiosity has been satisfied and the matter has been investigated as thoroughly as possible.
Oh my goodness gracious me, ‘Dead Guilty’ was another one hell of an often brutal but thrilling tale by Helen. For me, the story was perfectly paced. It certainly hit the ground running and maintained the pace throughout. I felt like it was one of those books that you didn’t dare put down because you feared missing something. The book wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it came everywhere with me. To say that reading ‘Dead Guilty’ became addictive seems to be the massive understatement of the year. Whilst I had ‘Dead Guilty’ in my hands, I simply lived, breathed and blooming well enjoyed reading the story. Whilst I was reading, I lost all sense of time and when I first looked up to check how much I had read, I was stunned to realise that I had read over half of the book. I seemed to race through this book and it seemed to take next to no time to get to the end. I was most disappointed to get to the end of the book. I realise that sounds bad but I don’t mean it to. I was enjoying the author’s writing style, the storylines and the characters so much that I just wanted the book to continue on and on and on. In fact the only negative thing about this book was that it had to end.
Helen has one of those writing styles that draws you in from the first word on the first page and she constantly dangles enough bait to keep you interested in the story and makes you feel desperate to find out who is doing what to whom and why. That’s what happened to me anyway. I was gripped by the story all the way through and I was frequently on the edge of my seat, which got rather painful at times but you don’t want to hear about that. There were also times when I almost had to read through my fingers as I feared what was going to happen next but then I realised that if I wanted to learn how the story concluded then of course I had to keep reading. Silly me.
In short, I absolutely loved, no make that adored, reading ‘Dead Guilty’ and Helen surely has another bestselling hit on her hands. The series featuring Detectives Bayliss and Calladine just keeps getting better and better. I wholeheartedly recommend this author and her books to other readers. I can’t wait to read what she comes up with next. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.