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Dania Gorska #3
The Family Business
The third gripping novel in the Polish detective series featuring DI Dania Gorska.
In the north of Dundee, DI Dania Gorska is leading the search for a missing boy, with the police and volunteers combing the dramatic landscape in hope of finding the child. What they discover in a derelict hut in the hills isn't the boy, but is the remains of a body, chained to a wall.
This body isn't the missing child but is identified as another young boy, Cameron Affleck, who disappeared many years before in a case that could never be solved. Dania contacts the boy's father, who still spends much time digging around the fields where his son was last seen, in hope of finding his body.
Dania begins to unearth the old case, determined to discover Cameron's killer and looking for possible connections to the present-day missing child. But as she digs into the past, she realises that the Affleck family are hiding more than they let on and that there are some dark secrets that everyone wants to stay buried...
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2020
11 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Hania Allen
9 books36 followers Hania Allen was born in Liverpool of Polish refugees. She always wanted to go into space and came a fair way (but not far enough) in the Project Juno competition to find Britain's first astronaut. Her career in education culminated in information management at the University of St Andrews, a post she left to write full-time. When not writing, she plays the piano with her musically gifted godchildren, making up for in enthusiasm what she lacks in talent. Hania has lived in Scotland longer than anywhere else and loves the country and its people, despite the nine months of rain and three months of bad weather. She currently resides in a fishing village in Fife.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 17, 2020
This is the third in Hania Allen's Dundee based crime series featuring the recently promoted Polish DI Dania Gorska, with a sideline as a talented concert pianist, with a journalist brother, Marek Gorski, whose paths tend to cross in their separate investigations. Dundee is a city gripped by fear and anger, when a second child, 11 year old Euna Montcrieff, flower girl and bridesmaid, disappears from a wedding reception at a hotel, taken by a killer rapist who has developed an MO of leaving a trail of the young girl's clothes that leads to the bleached dead body. The police team is led by DI Owen McFadden, the search teams for Euna including Dania and Marek, and it is Marek who stumbles across the body of a chained 9 year old boy, dying through starvation many years ago, a cold case that Dania gets to be in charge of.
The boy turns out to be Cameron Affleck, whose father, Gregor, has never gotten over the grief of his loss, cutting a pitiful figure through the years as he has dug through numerous sites in the city looking for the body of his missing son. Gregor is a wealthy man, a taxidermist who owns and runs the Dundee Natural History Museum, with his other sons, the cruel and ruthless Ross and Kenny, both of whom live with Gregor. Ross is married to Allie, he is an abusive and coercive husband who terrorises and isolates his wife. Gregor is desperate to find out what happened to Cameron all those years ago, but he is not so keen on the police coming across his other rather more nefarious activities, that involve the local Freemason Lodge that all the family males are members of, run by his novelist brother, Niall. After a tip off from an informant, Marek goes undercover at the Freemason Lodge as a archivist, a dangerous position, after the suspicious disappearance of the previous incumbent, Murray.
Allen gives us a well plotted and fascinating narrative that engages, as Dania and her close team of DS Honor Randall and DC Hamish Downie, are caught between two separate investigations, the cold case that has her delving into the past of the Affleck family and the present horrors of a serial child rapist killer. Interweaved between them is Marek looking into the role of the Afflecks in the closed and secret world of Freemasonry, getting closer to receptionist, Allie. Whilst I very much enjoyed reading the latest in this series, for which I gave perhaps an over generous four stars, there is an issue that Allen needs to address if she wants to ensure the long term success of the series. She needs to more overtly address the much needed character development of Dania, and make her feel more like a real, rounded and authentic protagonist. I love the inclusion of Polish history, culture, food, music and politics, but it will not be enough to sustain my interest in the series in the future. I look forward to reading the next in the series in the hope that Allen tackles this critical issue. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.
The boy turns out to be Cameron Affleck, whose father, Gregor, has never gotten over the grief of his loss, cutting a pitiful figure through the years as he has dug through numerous sites in the city looking for the body of his missing son. Gregor is a wealthy man, a taxidermist who owns and runs the Dundee Natural History Museum, with his other sons, the cruel and ruthless Ross and Kenny, both of whom live with Gregor. Ross is married to Allie, he is an abusive and coercive husband who terrorises and isolates his wife. Gregor is desperate to find out what happened to Cameron all those years ago, but he is not so keen on the police coming across his other rather more nefarious activities, that involve the local Freemason Lodge that all the family males are members of, run by his novelist brother, Niall. After a tip off from an informant, Marek goes undercover at the Freemason Lodge as a archivist, a dangerous position, after the suspicious disappearance of the previous incumbent, Murray.
Allen gives us a well plotted and fascinating narrative that engages, as Dania and her close team of DS Honor Randall and DC Hamish Downie, are caught between two separate investigations, the cold case that has her delving into the past of the Affleck family and the present horrors of a serial child rapist killer. Interweaved between them is Marek looking into the role of the Afflecks in the closed and secret world of Freemasonry, getting closer to receptionist, Allie. Whilst I very much enjoyed reading the latest in this series, for which I gave perhaps an over generous four stars, there is an issue that Allen needs to address if she wants to ensure the long term success of the series. She needs to more overtly address the much needed character development of Dania, and make her feel more like a real, rounded and authentic protagonist. I love the inclusion of Polish history, culture, food, music and politics, but it will not be enough to sustain my interest in the series in the future. I look forward to reading the next in the series in the hope that Allen tackles this critical issue. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.
July 26, 2020
This is the third of the excellent DI Dania Gorska series set in Dundee. In this one we have a serial killer taking young girls in an audacious, opportunistic way and there’s also a cold case when the body of thirteen year old Cameron Affleck is found in a doocot (dovecote) during the search for one of the missing girls. The Affleck family are wealthy, they have a Museum of Natural History and a thriving taxidermy business. The story is dark at times and the investigation goes in unexpected directions.
There are several strands to the storytelling in this one but it works well and the novel flows. I like the police investigation team and Dania’s likeable journalist brother Marek Gorski plays a key role in this one. There are some deeply unpleasant characters especially in the Affleck family, especially Ross Affleck whose actions are vile. I like the touches of humour amongst the police team especially between Dania and DS Honor Randall who is a good character. The investigation leads them into the world of the Freemasons and that adds an intriguing element. There are some good twists in the storytelling that you don’t see coming.
I really like the character of Dania, there’s a lot to her as she’s also a very good concert pianist and her Polish background is very interesting. However, I don’t feel that her character is advanced much in this one and whilst I did enjoy the polish history and the taxidermy details they feel like story padding and didn’t advance the investigation. The resolution of two cases is a bit of an anticlimax although there are a couple of good twists at the end which helps mitigate that!
Overall, although I think this is good and enjoyable I don’t think the storytelling is as compelling as the previous two.
3-4 stars rounded up
With thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC.
There are several strands to the storytelling in this one but it works well and the novel flows. I like the police investigation team and Dania’s likeable journalist brother Marek Gorski plays a key role in this one. There are some deeply unpleasant characters especially in the Affleck family, especially Ross Affleck whose actions are vile. I like the touches of humour amongst the police team especially between Dania and DS Honor Randall who is a good character. The investigation leads them into the world of the Freemasons and that adds an intriguing element. There are some good twists in the storytelling that you don’t see coming.
I really like the character of Dania, there’s a lot to her as she’s also a very good concert pianist and her Polish background is very interesting. However, I don’t feel that her character is advanced much in this one and whilst I did enjoy the polish history and the taxidermy details they feel like story padding and didn’t advance the investigation. The resolution of two cases is a bit of an anticlimax although there are a couple of good twists at the end which helps mitigate that!
Overall, although I think this is good and enjoyable I don’t think the storytelling is as compelling as the previous two.
3-4 stars rounded up
With thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC.
August 9, 2020
I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for a review copy of The Family Business, the third novel to feature Dundee based DI Dania Gorska.
The police are hunting for a missing child, Euna Montcrieff, when they find the skeletonised remains of a child locked in a dovecote. He is quickly identified as 9 year old Cameron Affleck who went missing 13 years ago. With most of her colleagues working on the missing child it is left to Dania and her team to investigate what happened to Cameron and uncover the many family secrets.
I enjoyed The Family Business which has an interesting plot with several different strands. It follows Dania in her cold case but also has the Euna Montcrieff investigation humming in the background and it follows Dania’s brother, Marek, who, as an investigative journalist, is following a tip of “something big” coming into Dundee. I like the way the author keeps the investigations separate with neither of the siblings talking about their work, although it is apparent to the reader early on that they will meet because the novel is told from both points of view. I am, however, unsure about how much I like having so much more information than the investigators as it doesn’t leave so much to guess at.
The novel is full of interesting information about Poland and more than I wanted to know about taxidermy but it’s all about the plot, which is quite unusual and has a nice touch in revenge in one of the strands and a sorry tale of unexpected consequences in another. This, however, does not leave much room for character development. It’s quite an old fashioned approach with the detective being a catalyst in the investigation rather than the centre of attention. After three novels I know very little about what makes Dania tick but, to be honest, it doesn’t bother me as I like this task oriented approach.
I always like a Scottish novel as it offers a certain familiarity but Dundee is a closed book to me - I don’t even recognise some of the colloquialisms, although they’re not difficult to guess, but that’s Scotland with more than geography separating the east coast from the west.
The Family Business is a good read that I can recommend.
The police are hunting for a missing child, Euna Montcrieff, when they find the skeletonised remains of a child locked in a dovecote. He is quickly identified as 9 year old Cameron Affleck who went missing 13 years ago. With most of her colleagues working on the missing child it is left to Dania and her team to investigate what happened to Cameron and uncover the many family secrets.
I enjoyed The Family Business which has an interesting plot with several different strands. It follows Dania in her cold case but also has the Euna Montcrieff investigation humming in the background and it follows Dania’s brother, Marek, who, as an investigative journalist, is following a tip of “something big” coming into Dundee. I like the way the author keeps the investigations separate with neither of the siblings talking about their work, although it is apparent to the reader early on that they will meet because the novel is told from both points of view. I am, however, unsure about how much I like having so much more information than the investigators as it doesn’t leave so much to guess at.
The novel is full of interesting information about Poland and more than I wanted to know about taxidermy but it’s all about the plot, which is quite unusual and has a nice touch in revenge in one of the strands and a sorry tale of unexpected consequences in another. This, however, does not leave much room for character development. It’s quite an old fashioned approach with the detective being a catalyst in the investigation rather than the centre of attention. After three novels I know very little about what makes Dania tick but, to be honest, it doesn’t bother me as I like this task oriented approach.
I always like a Scottish novel as it offers a certain familiarity but Dundee is a closed book to me - I don’t even recognise some of the colloquialisms, although they’re not difficult to guess, but that’s Scotland with more than geography separating the east coast from the west.
The Family Business is a good read that I can recommend.
September 23, 2023
Love this series and great plot yet again…
August 7, 2020
The third book in the Dania Gorska series set in Dundee. This time the plot centres round a serial killer abducting young girls and the cold case of a 13 year old boy found in a dovecote. The story is fast paced and easy to read but I was disappointed at the lack of any character development. A quick summer read. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.
August 9, 2020
My thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is the third book in this series featuring the Polish Detective set in Dundee, and whilst there are references to previous cases the story works perfectly as a standalone book. Well written this is an absorbing engaging intriguing Police procedural with quality characterisation, particularly our heroine who somewhat surprisingly has no obvious problems, which seem such a common theme with most detective series, unless you include being an excellent pianist, and enjoying the odd Polish vodka. This story sees Dania investigating a cold case, whilst a child serial killer is also on the loose, while her reporter brother Marek is working undercover as an archivist in the Freemason's lodge. Will all three cases come together, read this enjoyable book to find out.
Recommended.
This is the third book in this series featuring the Polish Detective set in Dundee, and whilst there are references to previous cases the story works perfectly as a standalone book. Well written this is an absorbing engaging intriguing Police procedural with quality characterisation, particularly our heroine who somewhat surprisingly has no obvious problems, which seem such a common theme with most detective series, unless you include being an excellent pianist, and enjoying the odd Polish vodka. This story sees Dania investigating a cold case, whilst a child serial killer is also on the loose, while her reporter brother Marek is working undercover as an archivist in the Freemason's lodge. Will all three cases come together, read this enjoyable book to find out.
Recommended.
April 11, 2020
What a brilliant book this was. The writer gets better with each book. This is the 3rd book she has written and I’ve read. I also love it because I live in the area where she is writing about and it’s even better when you know and can picture her streets shops churches etc. This one holds a bit of a secret where the main character Dania is heading up the case where a young boy has been found chained to a doocot wall having been missing for 13 yrs. alongside this runs another case where there are young girls being kidnapped and raped before bodies start appearing throughout. Dania is on the case and makes headway in both whilst unwittingly aided by her journalist brother. A great read and can’t wait for her next one .
June 24, 2020
An easy-to-read, engaging crime novel about a Polish detective, set in Dundee. I really enjoyed Dania as a character and liked that she wasn't as much of a fucking sad sack as so many detective fiction protagonists - no, she just likes playing Polish concert piano and eating pierogies. HOWEVER! Points off for a pathologist saying it would take THREE WEEKS for a restrained child to die of hunger and thirst - something so biologically basic it doesn't really need me to point out why this is wrong. Also it'd be interesting if we could have a book where someone practicing taxidermy is just normal and banal and not weird at best and evil at most. But there we go.
September 5, 2022
This was a good read, light, well-written. Dania Gorska has a few interesting angles to her, including her apparently effortless ability to play advanced pieces of music on the piano, though it is doubtful her occupation as a police detective leaves her much time to practice; her brother, Marek, lives in the same city and as a journalist often pursues criminals without confiding this to his sister; and lastly, she reportedly has a Polish accent on her fluent Scottish brogue. The promotion of all things Polish gets a little tedious, especially when the epitome of Polish cuisine appears to be holopchi and perogies.
June 19, 2025
Solid 3.5.
DI Dania Gorska is leading the search for a missing girl, whilst they are searching they come across a derelict hut where they find a body of a young boy who has been chained up. As more girls go missing and with Dania looking at the entire family of the boy. What will she discover and who will get hurt in the process?
Enjoyable read, the storyline was interesting and I enjoyed trying to determine who the kidnapper was plus all the other twists within the book but it also felt a bit unrealistic towards the end with how things ended but overall I enjoyed and would read more of Dania's books.
DI Dania Gorska is leading the search for a missing girl, whilst they are searching they come across a derelict hut where they find a body of a young boy who has been chained up. As more girls go missing and with Dania looking at the entire family of the boy. What will she discover and who will get hurt in the process?
Enjoyable read, the storyline was interesting and I enjoyed trying to determine who the kidnapper was plus all the other twists within the book but it also felt a bit unrealistic towards the end with how things ended but overall I enjoyed and would read more of Dania's books.
September 16, 2020
This is the second book I’ve read in this series and really enjoyed it! I like the fact that the main character is polish and this is woven into the series well. I felt an awful lot of research must have gone into the Masons which as I knew nothing about them made the storyline enjoyable. This is book 3 in the series, I’ve read book 1 but not book 2 , will definitely be reading that soon. Excellent read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book UK for an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book UK for an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review
September 16, 2020
This is the second book I’ve read in this series and really enjoyed it! I like the fact that the main character is polish and this is woven into the series well. I felt an awful lot of research must have gone into the Masons which as I knew nothing about them made the storyline enjoyable. This is book 3 in the series, I’ve read book 1 but not book 2 , will definitely be reading that soon. Excellent read.
July 31, 2020
Set in Dundee, and the beautiful Tay countryside, this hard to put down story quickly draws in the reader’s attention. Children have gone missing, and the skeleton of a young boy is found chained in a dovecote. Appearances can be deceptive, as one prominent family’s secrets are revealed to be shocking and unsettling.
Thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an advance copy.
Thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an advance copy.
August 11, 2020
A very strange and intriguing storyline involving Masons based in Dundee, Scotland. Police officer Inspector Dania Gorska from Poland has to keep on top of the murder and rape of young girls and the cold case from 13 years ago when they find the body of a missing boy.when they were searching for the abducted girl. Great story, will look forward to more from this author.
December 22, 2025
During the search for a missing child, the body of a child, long-dead, is found. As Dundee is gripped by fear of a child killer, DI Dania Gorska and team must identify and find the killer of a much older crime. There are many sub-plots in this story, resulting in a very satisfying read. I enjoy the characters and highly recommend the series.
July 8, 2021
First of the series I’ve read. A lot to like. The Policewoman who is also a concert pianist. The mystery was nicely laid out and whilst the crimes were gruesome, the detecting was well written. I like the ending too. Nicely tied up.
December 8, 2021
Another enjoyable trip back to Dundee, with three interlinked cases for DI Dania Gorska & her journalist brother Marek Gorski to solve.
As the others in the series a bit gritty & not for the faint hearted, as deals with missing children.
As the others in the series a bit gritty & not for the faint hearted, as deals with missing children.
February 15, 2024
I enjoyed this book especially the twist at the end. I felt it was well written about the area it was set in as it is very close to where I live. The characters are believable. In this book there were two cases to solve, an ongoing one and a cold case. I would recommend it.
October 16, 2024
The Family Business by Hania Allen:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Make way for a new detective thriller author! Hania has done it again. She develops a captivating hook and just when you think it’s over there’s more solving to do. One of my new “easy to read” authors.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Make way for a new detective thriller author! Hania has done it again. She develops a captivating hook and just when you think it’s over there’s more solving to do. One of my new “easy to read” authors.
July 14, 2023
Excellent story.
March 28, 2024
Excellent as always!
September 16, 2025
Everyone a winner
She artfully weaves stories that have links and leaves some things unsolved whilst bringing everything to a satisfactory conclusion. Page turner as always.
She artfully weaves stories that have links and leaves some things unsolved whilst bringing everything to a satisfactory conclusion. Page turner as always.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews