Monument To Murder (DCI Kate Daniels Book Four) by Mari Hannah

 

Monument to Murder (DCI Kate Daniels Book Four) by Mari Hannah.

Published 21st November 2013 by Pan Macmillan.

From the cover of the book:

He selects. They die . . .

When skeletal remains are found beneath the fortified walls of an ancient castle on Northumberland's rugged coastline, DCI Kate Daniels calls on a forensic anthropologist to help identify the corpse.

Meanwhile, newly widowed prison psychologist Emily McCann finds herself drawn into the fantasy of convicted sex offender, Walter Fearon. As his mind games become more and more intense, is it possible that Daniels' case has something to do with his murderous past? With his release imminent, what exactly does he have in mind for Emily?

As Daniels encounters dead end after dead end and the body count rises, it soon becomes apparent that someone is hiding more than one deadly secret . . .

Monument to Murder is Maria Hannah's fourth gripping crime novel featuring DCI Kate Daniels.

***********

The discovery of human remains in the dunes below Bamburgh Castle, on the Northumberland coastline, sparks a challenging new investigation for DCI Kate Daniels and her team - especially when the help of a forensic anthropologist reveals that the sand holds more secrets than they realise.

Meanwhile, Kate's friend Emily, recently widowed and weighed down with grief, returns to her job as psychologist at a nearby prison, where a convicted sex offender has become obsessed with her - the very prison where Kate's former lover Jo is now working. The time of his release grows near, and Emily is increasingly concerned about the threat he poses to the public - and potentially to herself and her family. As his mind-games put her under pressure, and call her professional judgement into question, old sins are revealed that might just link to Kate's current case...

Monument to Murder is the fourth book in the DCI Kate Daniels series, and it picks up hot on the heels of book three, Deadly Deceit. As winter gets a grip on the Northumberland coastline, Kate and her team set up a new murder wall in the northern reaches of their operational area, to try to get to the bottom of a horrifying series of murders that have intriguing links to the history of the area. 

The tale unfurls in two absolutely gripping threads - one covering the intricate police procedural ins-and-outs of an investigation into the murders of young girls in the north of England, and the other following Emily's side of the story behind prison walls. This is Hannah at the absolute top of her game, with perfectly timed reveals, and beautifully contrived twists, that serve to entwine both sides of the story - and there are more red herrings than you can poke a police baton at. This one really kept me guessing right until the end, as Hannah cleverly keeps the shocking truth of the matter murky enough to have you convinced of the guilt of more than one likely suspect. Along the way, Kate's personal family and relationship issues continue to run through the story, with all the will-they-won't-they suspense between Kate and Jo that Hannah does so well - I am starting to want to take them to one side and bang their heads together, so I hope there will be a resolution to this situation soon in the series!

For me, this is the book that throws up the knottiest issues to mull over so far when it comes to DCI Daniels' cases. Emily's role as a prison psychologist casts a lot of thought provoking light on the problem of tackling the release of serious sex offenders back into the community, particularly when it comes to the balance between allowing parole and keeping them contained until the end of their sentences. Lots of things to think about here around public safety, monitoring, and how we approach dealing with prisoners with psychopathic tendencies - both insightful and menacing writing from Hannah here. I will be thinking about this for quite a while...

This is definitely my favourite book of the series to date. The story flows with perfectly judged pace, and the pages fly by as all the little pieces of the mystery come together to make a thrilling whole - I devoured it! Well played, Mari Hannah!

Monument to Murder 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 hon3st review, and to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to be part of #TeamDaniels. 

About the author:

Mari Hannah was born in London and moved north as a child. Sponsored by the Home Office, she graduated from Teesside University before becoming a Probation Officer, a career cut short when she was injured while on duty. Thereafter, she spent several years working as a film/television scriptwriter. During that time she created and developed a number of projects, most notably a feature length film and the pilot episode of a crime series for television based on the characters in her book, the latter as part of a BBC drama development scheme. In 2010, she won the Northern Writers Award. Monument to Murder is her fourth novel.

She lives in Northumberland with her partner, an ex-murder detective.