The Complete DCI Cook Thriller Series - Six Powerful Stories. Six Edge of Your Seat Thrillers. Six Books at a Discounted Price.
Murder is a Tricky Business (Book 1) -There’s a secret, that much is certain, but who knows?
The missing actress? The executive producer, his eavesdropping assistant? Or the actor who portrayed her fictional brother on the Soap Opera?
Why has DCI Cook been taken away from more important crimes to search for the woman? It’s not the first time she’s gone missing, and why does everyone assume she’s been murdered?
Murder House (Book 2) - A corpse in the fireplace of an old house. It's been there for thirty years, but who is it?
It's clearly murder, and what connection does the body have to the previous owners of the house? It was bound to be discovered eventually but was that what the murderer wanted?
The main suspects are all old and dying, or already dead. There's a motive, but what is it?
Those who know are not talking out of an old-fashioned belief in that a family's dirty laundry is not to be aired in public, and certainly not to a policeman - even if that means the murderer is never brought to justice!
Murder is Only a Number (Book 3) - Before she left, she carved a number in blood on his chest. But why the number 2, if this was her first murder? And why is she keeping count?
The woman prowls London. She kills at will. Her targets are men who have wronged her, or have they?
DCI Cook knows who she is, at least after she has killed the first four, but the woman disappears in plain sight. The pressure’s on to stop her, but she’s always one step ahead.
Murder in Little Venice (Book 4) - A dismembered corpse floats in a canal in London. Isaac Cook is baffled as to why it’s there. Is it gang-related, or is it something more?
Whatever the reason, it’s clearly a warning, and Isaac and his team are sure it’s not the last body that they’ll have to deal with.
Murder is the Only Option (Book 5) - A man, thought to be long dead, returns to exact revenge against those who had blighted his life. His only concern is to protect his wife and daughter. He will stop at nothing to achieve his aim.
‘Big Greg, I never expected to see you around here at this time of night.’
‘I’ve told you enough times.’
‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,’ Robertson replied. He looked up at the man, only to see a metal pole coming down at him. Robertson fell down, cracking his head against a concrete kerb.
The two vagrants, no more than twenty feet away, did not stir and did not even look in the direction of the noise. If they had, they would have seen a dead body, another man walking away.
Murder in Notting Hill (Book 6) - One murderer, two bodies, two locations, and the murders have been committed within an hour of the other. There’s a connection, but what is it?
They’re separated by a couple of miles, and neither woman has anything in common with the other.
Isaac Cook and his team at Challis Street Police Station are baffled as to why. One of the women is young and wealthy, the daughter of a famous man; the other is poor and hardworking and unknown.
Phillip Strang is a crime fiction writer with over 150 novels published across multiple series. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has spent much of his life travelling extensively — installing telecommunication networks across remote regions of Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. That experience of working in difficult, culturally complex environments shapes his writing: his books are grounded in real places, real tensions, and believable characters under pressure.
His main series are DI Keith Tremayne (Salisbury and rural Wiltshire), DCI Isaac Cook (London), DI Sarah Lynch (Scottish Highlands), Natalie Campbell, Alex Harlan, and Maya Thorne. Between them, they span village murders, urban homicide, remote Highland crime, and beyond — all with the same focus on detectives who don't give up, whatever the politics thrown at them.
These books are good, they're well written and the stories are interesting but there's a lot of repetitiveness in them, i.e the boss rebuking them every 5 mins for not having solved complex murder cases as if cases were solved in a day or two.
The thing that really annoyed me though was the author tried to be clever with some of the endings of the books, without giving anything away not the way I'd have ended some of these books.
They're still entertaing enough to keep your interest and the characters are well rounded with their own back stories and you're really pulling for them to solve the murders but I feel these books could have been so much better.
They're a good way to wile away the hours not my favourites but they're ok as a collective.
I purchased the complete series DCI Isaac Cook books by Phillip Strang. I liked the first book Murder is Tricky, then ,Murder House. I really loved the second book and decided to write a review now, because some of the reviews seemed lackluster and I wanted readers to know that I found the books to be wonderful examples of police procedurals. I liked the characters, the stories are complex, and I love the English setting. Having given my opinion as to their worth to fellow readers, I will now go back to reading the rest of them myself.
This set was supposed to be 1-6, except instead of book 6 it was book 12. I disliked the first few books but they improved slightly. Judging by book 12 the storyline improved. Initially Cook seemed to spend most of his time bedding suspects which should have had him disciplined considering his rank.
I’m uncertain whether to read books 6-11 but as I had downloaded the Tremayne series I will try them first.
I enjoyed the relationship between the characters. I thought that Isaac was going to be a great investigator. Unfortunately there was too much padding in each storyline. It became quite tedious at times. Quick fire investigative policing it certainly wasn't. Davies and Caddick were an unbelievable duo,both being totally incompetent. Having said all that I would love to know what the next installment brings!
The story lines are good but the endings seem abrupt and unsatisfying. Like he reached the end, done and dusted, move on. I could almost see him clap his hands and get up for a break. Characters to me were 2 dimensional. A pity because as I said, the plots were good, they just never thickened
Guess I don't want to believe all cops are promiscuous cheaters..
The story was an interesting mystery but way to much was focused on the principals hopping into bed with random suspects. The CMs did not appear to have an ethical or moral compass at all. I'll pass on this author. Thank heavens I got it on Kindle Unlimited. Back it goes
It’s difficult to write a short review to cover 6 books. So no storyline giveaways but a recommendation to settle in and read these books. Full of twists and turns, murder, mayhem, love, hate, frustration and success. I love the trials and tribulations of DCI Cook professionally and personally.
I loved this book. It was full of action and suspense throughout the stories. The situations seemed realistic in that people who often don't know what to do are in charge of organizations.
Entertaining stories. As with most books these days, the proofreading and editing are sloppy, but if you can ignore that, they are not a waste of time. The first five books ended rather abruptly, but the sixth was better in that regard.
i thought the book was very exciting and hard to find a place to stop reading. the characters are a very good fit . the plot is on going as to is guessing as to who or whom are the guilty party