There’s a body found near Bamburgh Castle and at first it looks like an accidental death but then Ryan realises there’s more to it. To find out more about the many philanthropic ventures Louise has founded and sponsored through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, please visit ‘Philanthropy’. Royal Mail 24™ – the aim is to deliver your parcels the next working day upon handover in the United Kingdom.

Don’t get me wrong – the writing is still good; the characters interact with each other in familiar and heart-warming ways, making the bonds they’ve developed over the years and many cases rock solid… or are they? This service is entirely free, and your details will never be shared with any third parties whatsoever. It seems to me that the L J Ross, perhaps due to the pressure of fans and publishers, is being pushed with getting the next book out as quickly as possible whilst sacrificing the skill demonstrated in the earlier books that kept me hooked from page one. When I started this series, I loved how the books built up to be one big conspiracy, wonderfully connected. The ideas – the structure, the character, the psychopathy, the ability to fool peers and family for decades, everything, have been used not once, but twice before.As always there’s some great humour mixed in with the crime stories and this is one of my favourites in the series. two plot lines ran side by side - one was brilliant and very reminiscent of Agatha Christie set against the Bamburgh backdrop. But 18 books later, Ryan and Anna's relationship is still going strong and I began to enjoy their chemistry much more easily. Meanwhile, after a recent revelation about her sister, DC Melanie Yates' quest to avenge her death is becoming an obsession - much to the concern of those around her.

But as Melanie delves deeper into the secrets of the past to uncover the truth, she soon realises it lies much closer to home. The crime and investigation didn't grip me at first, but what held my attention was the fantastic characters. I thought this one was an improvement on the last which I didn’t really enjoy (the only one I wasn’t keen on).

This story legit had everything - memories, cameos (I see what you did LJ - and I am here for it), suspense (at one point I thought I was going to fall into the book I was so close to the page), and so much witty humour (there’s the bin, where it happened). One of the previous books tried to clear the force, but still we found some rotten ones in the previous book.

Optional Extra - Have your items come hand wrapped in brown paper packaging tied up with string and with their very own North East tourist tip. The only reason I kept reading is because I think every book should be given a chance to redeem itself.From the moment LJ Ross’s marvellous series about aristocratic copper DCI Ryan and his close-knit team appeared, I’ve been a huge fan. As well as poor plot development, the team are beginning to get a bit irritating – and to have a Chief Constable who doesn’t question for one second, Ryan’s instructions (as good as he is) regarding another senior colleague, just seemed very lame.

Anna, DCI Ryan’s wife, has all of DCI Ryan’s CID team at a masquerade party taking place in the King’s Hall at Bamburgh Castle which is being held to support the archeological dig at the castle when Chief Constable Morrison introduces the team’s new DCS - Andrew Forbes. Maybe revealing he’s the bad guy after half the book would have kept me interested and not continually rolling my eyes at the things that kept happening.In fact, when a new character was introduced, I had the fleeting thought, ‘oh, please don’t make this person behave like…’ Well, Ross did.