Published 11th April 2013 by Pan Macmillan.
From the cover of the book:
Four a.m. on a wet stretch of the A1 and a driver skids out of control. Quick on the scene, Senior Investigating Officer Kate Daniels and partner DS Hank Gormley are presented with a horrifying image of carnage and mayhem that quickly becomes one of the worst road traffic accidents in Northumberland s history. But as the casualties mount up, they soon realize that not all deaths were as a result of the accident . . .On the other side of town a house goes up in flames, turning its two inhabitants into charred corpses. Seemingly unconnected with the traffic accident, Kate sets about investigating both incidences separately. But it soon becomes apparent that all is not what it seems, and Kate and her colleagues are always one step behind a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Deadly Deceit is Mari Hannah's third gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels.
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DCI Kate Daniels and DS Hank Gormley's day gets off to the worst start when they are called to the aftermath of a horrific, early morning pile-up on the A1. As some of the first responders on the scene, they are spared nothing of the bloody carnage that one of the worst road traffic accidents in Northumberland's history has to show them, and it is something they will never forget. Daniels is appointed SIO of the investigation into the accident, and a difficult task becomes much more complex when it appears not everyone in the tangled wreckage died as a result of vehicle-related trauma...
On the same night, as the public are consumed with World Cup fever, a case of arson across town seals the fate of a father and his baby son. Already with a mammoth task on her hands dealing with the massive RTA, Kate finds herself with another tragedy to get to the bottom of... one that is also not quite what it seems.
In Deadly Deceit, the third outing for DCI Kate Daniels and her team, Mari Hannah fashions an extremely knotty mess for them to investigate with two murky parallel investigations into tragedies that happen on the same night. The book starts with a real bang, dropping you into a full on multi-vehicle pile-up on one of the country's busiest roads, and then goes into slow-burn territory for almost the entire story as the narrative flips between the police investigations, and two females connected with the crimes.
It is not until Daniels gets to see the bigger picture that the action takes off with oodles of bloody violence, high-speed chases, and an unsettling view into the mind of a cold-hearted killer, and the start-stop-start pace does make this a difficult book to immerse yourself in easily. I have to admit that I did not get into the story until a long way down the path, as the two storylines take a very long time to converge, and this delays the rewarding light-bulb moments. However, I really enjoyed where Hannah goes once the direction becomes clear, and the action scenes later in the book are as thrilling as anything I have read in the first two instalments of the series. I also liked the echoing themes Hannah builds up between the two female characters - one at the heart of each case - which brings a mighty kick to the twisty conclusion.
This has probably been my least favourite books in the series so far, but Hannah's skill in pulling you along through the personal stories of Daniels and her team kept me reading, as this adds lovely texture and emotional substance in the background of the police procedural elements. There is a dollop of almost unbearable suspense in the Kate-Jo part of the story this time around, as their on-off relationship continues to keep you guessing, and I am looking forward to where this goes next.
Onwards to book four, Monument to Murder.
Deadly Deceit is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to join #TeamDaniels.
About the author:
In July 2010, she won a Northern Writers' Award for Settled Blood. In 2013, she won the Polari First Book Prize for her debut, The Murder Wall. She was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library 2017 as the author of the most enjoyed collection of work in libraries. In 2019, she was awarded DIVA Wordsmith of the Year. In that same year, Mari was Programming Chair of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Festival. In 2020, Mari was named as DIVA 'Wordsmith of the Year' and won Capital Crime's 'Crime Book of the Year' award.
She lives in Northumberland with her partner, an former murder detective.
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