Published 4th March 2021 by Orenda Books.
From the cover of the book:
When the official investigation into the murder of a respectable local businessman fails to add up, and personal problems start to play havoc with her state of mind, New Zealand's favourite young detective Sam Shephard turns vigilante..The New Zealand city of Dunedin is rocked when a wealthy and apparently respectable businessman is murdered in his luxurious home while his wife is bound and gagged, and forced to watch. But when Detective Sam Shephard and her team start investigating the case, they discover that the victim had links with some dubious characters.
The case seems cut and dried, but Sam has other ideas. Weighed down by her dad's terminal cancer diagnosis, and by complications in her relationship with Paul, she needs a distraction, and launches her own investigation.
And when another murder throws the official case into chaos, it's up to Sam to prove that the killer is someone no one could ever suspect.
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Bound picks up nicely where Sam Shepard's previous adventure, Containment, left off - with Sam now a fully fledged Detective, although still struggling to get the recognition she deserves from her less than pleasant boss, DI Johns. Things on the personal front are also going well with fellow cop Paul, now working in Dunedin with Sam, although they are trying to keep their relationship low-key at work, but Sam's father's illness is now in its later stages and she can no longer avoid the fact that his end is near.
However, Sam has little time to dwell on her own triumphs and tragedies when an apparently respected businessman is brutally murdered in his own home, with his bound and gagged wife forced to watch. The plot thickens when it seems the 'respectable' victim was involved in various murky business practices and had a habit of rubbing shoulders with some of Dunedin's less than reputable crowd.
As events play out, it looks like this is a cut and dried case, but Sam can't shift the nagging feeling that something is not quite right about where the clues are pointing them. It's up to her to go out on a limb on this one and take action that is going to make her less than popular with her fellow cops, especially when she discovers more than she bargained for - but everyone deserves the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, don't they?
It was an absolute delight to meet up with Detective Sam Shephard once more, and this time Vanda Symon has a devilishly delicious plot up her sleeve that takes you right round the houses before the truth is revealed. Sam is in the middle of quite a lot as far as her private life is concerned in this book, but, even so, she remains every bit as dedicated and focussed on the job in hand as ever, and the strength of her conviction to uphold the law and ensure that justice is served, whatever the personal cost, really shines through here - just what I love about her.
The pacing of the story is perfection, as usual, with short punchy chapters that keep the business end of the story flowing, and there is plenty of heart mixed in to ensure you are completely invested in the characters too. The twists and turns on both Sam's professional and private fronts in this book throw up rather a lot of interesting moral dilemmas and juicy themes to pick through once you are done with this one - the right to a fair trial, unconventional love stories, family dynamics and parental responsibility, sexism in the work place, the care of the terminally ill, among others - all wrapped up in a cracking crime story that takes draws you right into life in Dunedin. I am never sorry that Orenda's lovely Karen Sullivan encouraged Vanda Symon to make things 'more Kiwi' in these books, as I enjoy lapping up every little crumb about New Zealand life - the people, the backdrops, and even the weather all play an important part.
Intriguingly, there are some threads left hanging after the end of this one which serve as tantalising hooks to take us into book five, which I really hope will be on the horizon soon as I need to know what happens next!
If you are looking for an intelligent and gritty Down Under crime series that will keep you entertained all round, then this is definitely a series you should have on your reading pile. I love it!
Bound is available to buy now in paperback, e-book and audio formats from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to Vanda Symon and Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books for providing me with a e-book copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tour for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors.
The Sam Shephard series has climbed to number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for best crime novel.
She currently lives in Dunedin, with her husband and two sons.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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