I am from Warwickshire, living probably about 25 miles away from where the book is set, and I was able to guess the locations quite easily.

Billingham has told us enough but not all of the details of this thread and leaves the reader wanting to know more. Helen and Tom are on a much-needed vacation when Helen recognizes an old school chum on TV - the wife of a man just taken into custody for the kidnapping of 2 young girls. I like a few mystery series and am a very loyal reader of each book in the series as they come out -- Louise Penny, Michael Connelly, Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky, Camilla Lackberg to name a few. This is a question that bothers us as well and, as the truth is revealed, we are rewarded with a novel that isn’t just an exciting crime puzzle but also a complex and sensitive investigation into some very dark places. As ever a pleasure to spend time in Thorne's company - the whole series definitely comes highly recommended from me.I particularly liked the way the locals spoke, it felt very real and certainly they used phrases and words that people round here use all the time. While the story and denouement were worth the read, it was this ensemble of characters that kept me reading. Like The Bones Beneath, which was something of a departure from the standard London setting of the novels, Time of Death also uproots Thorne to a different location and presents him in a somewhat unfamiliar situation. That line is drawn when two girls go missing and Linda’s husband is taken in for questioning based upon some strong evidence and the race is on to find the missing girls. Neither seems particularly happy with each other but it's probably because they are both bloody minded and tenacious and touchy.

Now the unspoken rule with crime books is that the author can't just pluck the guilty party out of thin air at the end of the book, the reader must have met the guilty party during the narrative, and using this logic I figured I sussed it all out by the mid-way point. The holiday is short lived when Helen hears the news involving an old school friend whose husband has been arrested in connection with 2 missing school girls. As suggested above there are secrets to be revealed and a relationship tested to the extreme in a great example of modern British crime fiction. Cleverly you have become a bit player on this large stage and therefore have a vested interest in discovering the truth.There were enough clues to point me in the direction I took only to have the rug pulled out from beneath my feet towards the novels end. Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Thorne, and a new series based on the novels In the Dark and Time of Death will be broadcast on BBC1 in 2017. A television series based on the Thorne novels was screened in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne and a BBC series based on the standalone thrillers IN THE DARK and TIME OF DEATH was shown in 2017. For the first part of the read the couple are more observing than detecting so it seemed to start off quite slowly for me, but once they got into their stride I really enjoyed this story, which kept me guessing as to whether or not Stephen Bates had committed the crimes and if not, then who had done it, with quite a number of suspects emerging.

Helen and her partner DI Tom Thorne are on holiday when the news reports that a man has been arrested for the crimes, although no bodies have been found. I do love crimes that are set in small communities, there is something very distinctive about the way they operate, with everyone knowing so much about each other’s lives, the suspicion of outsiders, the gossip and the protection and tolerance of their own, up to a point. But this one was great with lots of simultaneous stories to attract your attention from the mystery. It was a bit of an inconceivable set-up, and the extent to which the two of them get involved in solving the crime (despite there being a supposedly competent local force who could/should do so) didn't quite wash with me.Following directions, staying out of trouble and closing his bothersome mouth are just too hard for him. Concerned to provide Helen with all the support she needs, Tom does his best to keep himself occupied while Helen sits with Linda and her two teenage children and that means poking his nose in where it’s not wanted.

With a girl still missing, Thorne sets himself on a collision course with local police, townsfolk - and a merciless killer. Although I picked up along the way that their partnership is fairly new, it was refreshing to have the detective in a seemingly stable, loving relationship. Helen spends a lot of time with Linda helping to support her as the suspect’s wife and I quite liked this angle, which is not one that we often come across in this type of read. Synopsis - Tom Thorne is on holiday with his girlfriend DS Helen Weeks, when two girls are abducted in Helen’s home town. The book starts off fast and strong with a story of two missing girls and continues to gather pace throughout.But the thing that annoyed me more, especially after Billingham mocking the maverick cop cliché himself, was that Helen and Tom suddenly turned into violent criminals halfway through - beating up a teenager in front of his friends (who fortunately seemed to be the only teenagers in Britain without smartphones to film it on) for the heinous crime of spitting, with no repercussions. Tom Thorne is on holiday with his girlfriend DS Helen Weeks, when two girls are abducted in Helen’s home town. As the evidence mounts up against the man a press feeding frenzy begins and the Bates family find themselves under siege from not only the press but hordes of angry people who seem to take it upon themselves to punish the family for the alleged crimes of Stephen Bates. Yes, it did get better once Hendricks, Thorne's pathologist best mate, pitched up half way through and no, I can't say I've particularly taken to Helen, even though I now know much more about her. I am such a huge fan of Mark Billingham; especially the Tom Thorne series and am always looking into when I can get my hands on the next one!