What do you think?
Rate this book
Blood Notes: Steph Grant Murder Mystery Series, Book 1
A thrilling murder mystery set on the Suffolk coast of the UK
Former police detective Steph Grant has moved to the picturesque coastal Suffolk town of Southwold to rebuild her life following a bereavement, and gets a job working as the receptionist at a local sixth form college.
But when a student is found murdered in the music block, Steph is convinced to take up a new role as a civilian detective by her former boss, Chief Inspector Philip Hale.
The music department had become a hotbed of jealousy, after Edmund Fitzgerald, a musical prodigy, joined the school, monopolising the attentions of the college's ambitious Head of Music. Sheltered for most of his life by an overprotective mother, Edmund's arrival at the school caused ruptures in his life, as well as the delicate ecosystem of the school.
With a murder to solve, Steph and Hale will need to use all their sleuthing skills to unravel the dark truth. at the heart of this close-knit community . . .Blood Notes is a brilliant and powerful contemporary murder mystery by Suffolk-based novelist Lin La Versha, dealing with themes of teenage desire, jealousy and betrayal.
Former police detective Steph Grant has moved to the picturesque coastal Suffolk town of Southwold to rebuild her life following a bereavement, and gets a job working as the receptionist at a local sixth form college.
But when a student is found murdered in the music block, Steph is convinced to take up a new role as a civilian detective by her former boss, Chief Inspector Philip Hale.
The music department had become a hotbed of jealousy, after Edmund Fitzgerald, a musical prodigy, joined the school, monopolising the attentions of the college's ambitious Head of Music. Sheltered for most of his life by an overprotective mother, Edmund's arrival at the school caused ruptures in his life, as well as the delicate ecosystem of the school.
With a murder to solve, Steph and Hale will need to use all their sleuthing skills to unravel the dark truth. at the heart of this close-knit community . . .Blood Notes is a brilliant and powerful contemporary murder mystery by Suffolk-based novelist Lin La Versha, dealing with themes of teenage desire, jealousy and betrayal.
- GenresMystery
Audible Audio
Published July 29, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 4, 2021
Well if the author/narrator wanted to shock the reader with the first chapter then they certainly did! It was not what I was expecting at all and made me really pause - and re read the chapter again!
Setting the intrigue for the rest of the book, “Blood Notes” is a mystery whodunnit that features Steph Grant as an ex Detective Sergeant, rebuilding her life and now working in a sixth form college as a receptionist/secretary. When Edmond, a teenage music prodigy with an over protective mother joins mainstream education for the first time in seventeen years, he struggles to fit in. Everything is alien to him and he finds it difficult to make friends and understand modern life. When jealous teenage rivals start causing disruption and trouble for Edmund, dark events engulf the college community and a student is found dead. When the police are brought in, Steph’s old boss, Chief Inspector Hale leads the investigation and asks her to become a civilian detective to help solve the case.
With this being a debut novel all the characters are new and it always takes time to fully endear to them, so it was good to get a quick recap on Steph’s back story and how she came to have a breakdown. I would incidentally like to revisit this and her role as a Detective Sergeant at some point in the future in more depth, especially as they also feature Hale and ex colleague Carter, a character who at the present is tormenting her.
Set in Suffolk, present day and told between chapters featuring Edmund’s voice and his memoirs and Steph’s third person account, it was a clever way to construct a mystery with the reader having to determine what actually is the truth and what is lies.
The author, Lin Le Versha is a debut novelist who has used her experience in London and Surrey schools and colleges as the inspiration for “Blood Notes” and as a debut novel it really is quite impressive.
I’m Interested enough in this series to want to follow it and I’m glad to hear there’s a second book soon to be published, again by ‘Hobeck’ books and I look forward to reading what mystery Lin Le Versha has in store for the reader this time.
#BloodNotes - 4 stars
Setting the intrigue for the rest of the book, “Blood Notes” is a mystery whodunnit that features Steph Grant as an ex Detective Sergeant, rebuilding her life and now working in a sixth form college as a receptionist/secretary. When Edmond, a teenage music prodigy with an over protective mother joins mainstream education for the first time in seventeen years, he struggles to fit in. Everything is alien to him and he finds it difficult to make friends and understand modern life. When jealous teenage rivals start causing disruption and trouble for Edmund, dark events engulf the college community and a student is found dead. When the police are brought in, Steph’s old boss, Chief Inspector Hale leads the investigation and asks her to become a civilian detective to help solve the case.
With this being a debut novel all the characters are new and it always takes time to fully endear to them, so it was good to get a quick recap on Steph’s back story and how she came to have a breakdown. I would incidentally like to revisit this and her role as a Detective Sergeant at some point in the future in more depth, especially as they also feature Hale and ex colleague Carter, a character who at the present is tormenting her.
Set in Suffolk, present day and told between chapters featuring Edmund’s voice and his memoirs and Steph’s third person account, it was a clever way to construct a mystery with the reader having to determine what actually is the truth and what is lies.
The author, Lin Le Versha is a debut novelist who has used her experience in London and Surrey schools and colleges as the inspiration for “Blood Notes” and as a debut novel it really is quite impressive.
I’m Interested enough in this series to want to follow it and I’m glad to hear there’s a second book soon to be published, again by ‘Hobeck’ books and I look forward to reading what mystery Lin Le Versha has in store for the reader this time.
#BloodNotes - 4 stars
November 23, 2021
Firstly, thank you once again to Hobeck Books for the gifted copy of Blood Notes, I’m extremely grateful, as always.
Well I was hooked from the extremely shocking first chapter, I was not expecting that! Nope I’m not giving it away, buy it, read it!
From then on the storyline and plot is one of murder, jealousy and madness and I was hooked.
The main character of Edmund is written really well as a beyond his years, awkward with other teenagers, but brilliant Cellist. His upbringing has cocooned him from other children, just him and his Mother and his music, so when he starts at the local college it’s a clash of 2 worlds! His shock at how teenagers are is the start of a journey for Edmund and his Mother, Imogen.
The characters are all written and portrayed very well by Lin Le Versa in Blood Notes. The involvement of a retired police detective is frankly, a great plot! Steph Grant and her trusty sidekick Derek the dog (I loved that name) help the local Detectives to piece together what is happening when murders start occurring. In the meantime she is being blackmailed and threatened, and even Derek can’t help her! There’s a love angle, which has been simmering for years and her sleuthing ways help to lead us to the killer, in frankly a great finale.
This is the first in a new series of Steph Grant books, and I shall look forward to the next instalment!
Well I was hooked from the extremely shocking first chapter, I was not expecting that! Nope I’m not giving it away, buy it, read it!
From then on the storyline and plot is one of murder, jealousy and madness and I was hooked.
The main character of Edmund is written really well as a beyond his years, awkward with other teenagers, but brilliant Cellist. His upbringing has cocooned him from other children, just him and his Mother and his music, so when he starts at the local college it’s a clash of 2 worlds! His shock at how teenagers are is the start of a journey for Edmund and his Mother, Imogen.
The characters are all written and portrayed very well by Lin Le Versa in Blood Notes. The involvement of a retired police detective is frankly, a great plot! Steph Grant and her trusty sidekick Derek the dog (I loved that name) help the local Detectives to piece together what is happening when murders start occurring. In the meantime she is being blackmailed and threatened, and even Derek can’t help her! There’s a love angle, which has been simmering for years and her sleuthing ways help to lead us to the killer, in frankly a great finale.
This is the first in a new series of Steph Grant books, and I shall look forward to the next instalment!
November 17, 2021
I received a gifted ARC E-Book copy of ‘Blood Notes’ by Lin Le Versha from the publisher Hobeck Books in return for my honest review. Thank you to the publisher for my copy.
This book is set in Oakwood, Suffolk and follows two main characters:
Steph – She used to work in the police but after her husband passed away, decided to move away from her career. She is now starting work at a local Sixth Form College as a receptionist.
Edmund – He is a young musician already deemed a genius celloist. He has lived the first Seventeen years of his life being home schooled and controlled by his mother. He is now starting at the local college, to improve his performance under the tuition of a teacher called Harriet.
When a student is found dead, there is reason to believe her death was suspicious and a murder investigation is commenced.
The case is taken on by Steph’s ex-boss Hale, and soon Steph is asked to help as a civilian detective.
What follows is the unravelling of the secrets and lies around the lives of the staff and students at the College.
Will they find the murderer before anyone else gets hurt?
This book is told by the point of views of both Steph and Edmund separated into different chapters. Edmunds chapters are more regarding writing his Memoir and the events that have happened in his life, past and present.
I really liked Steph’s character as although she has had her struggles she still has moved onto another rewarding career. She really cares about young people and is a perfect fit for her role.
This book has you guessing until the end, as you start to switch between the different characters that could be the guilty party.
I would love to hear more about Steph and see how her character develops even more, although I’m not too sure if this is a character that is going to be included in future books.
Overall, a dark and intriguing thriller that will keep you guessing right to the end.
This book is set in Oakwood, Suffolk and follows two main characters:
Steph – She used to work in the police but after her husband passed away, decided to move away from her career. She is now starting work at a local Sixth Form College as a receptionist.
Edmund – He is a young musician already deemed a genius celloist. He has lived the first Seventeen years of his life being home schooled and controlled by his mother. He is now starting at the local college, to improve his performance under the tuition of a teacher called Harriet.
When a student is found dead, there is reason to believe her death was suspicious and a murder investigation is commenced.
The case is taken on by Steph’s ex-boss Hale, and soon Steph is asked to help as a civilian detective.
What follows is the unravelling of the secrets and lies around the lives of the staff and students at the College.
Will they find the murderer before anyone else gets hurt?
This book is told by the point of views of both Steph and Edmund separated into different chapters. Edmunds chapters are more regarding writing his Memoir and the events that have happened in his life, past and present.
I really liked Steph’s character as although she has had her struggles she still has moved onto another rewarding career. She really cares about young people and is a perfect fit for her role.
This book has you guessing until the end, as you start to switch between the different characters that could be the guilty party.
I would love to hear more about Steph and see how her character develops even more, although I’m not too sure if this is a character that is going to be included in future books.
Overall, a dark and intriguing thriller that will keep you guessing right to the end.
December 1, 2021
What an opening chapter: startling, intriguing, a bit shocking even – what does it lead to? A story told from the perspective of two different characters: Edmund – a musical prodigy, home schooled, under the control of his mother, about to start College and Steph – a former police officer with a new home, new dog, new job and a secret in her past that will come to haunt her. The ‘voices’ of the two points of view are written in very different styles, with Edmund’s teenager view being particularly resonant.
I found the beginning of the book a little slow, as I felt there was a lot of scene setting, but once it got going it was a real roller coaster of a story with lots of twists and turns, blind alleys, misdirection and surprises. Definitely recommended, as I found it very hard to put down once the action really started.
Thanks to Hobeck Books for a copy to review
I found the beginning of the book a little slow, as I felt there was a lot of scene setting, but once it got going it was a real roller coaster of a story with lots of twists and turns, blind alleys, misdirection and surprises. Definitely recommended, as I found it very hard to put down once the action really started.
Thanks to Hobeck Books for a copy to review
November 11, 2021
I loved this book right from the beginning, it was gripping and tense at every plot twist! Edmund is a strange teenager, a musical prodigy who's been home schooled by his mother all his life. When he starts college as a way to get to the Royal School of Music, he begins to form relationships with his peers and his teachers which reveal a dark obsessive side to his nature. When the music department has a murder on its hands and it's up to Steph, a former detective now college receptionist, to work as a civilian detective to solve the mystery. Very clever plot, kept me guessing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2022
A stunning debut crime mystery from a talented author at Hobeck Books. It hooked me immediately with a knockout opening chapter. Standout characters and plotting, and an authentic setting. In brief, a retired detective, now a school receptionist, helps her former police colleague to solve a murder at the school. The odd pair of Edward - a gifted cellist and newly arrived student at the school - and his pushy mother seem to be involved, somehow… Watch out for the startling twist at the end!
November 3, 2021
From the first chapter I was hooked. This debut has so many twists and turns and kept me guessing what would happen next. Well written, interesting characters and gripping plot. Looking forward to more in the future.
March 28, 2022
Blood Notes by Lin Le Versha has received a Chill with a Book Readers' PREMIER Award.
www.chillwithabook.com
www.chillwithabook.com
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews