Absolutely loved this book, could not put it down at all.

Great characters, liked the fact Priest has a dissociative identity disorder as it made him seem more human, which some main characters can lack. Did I like all of the characters no, but maybe that's just me, I didn't get Jess at all.

Very interwoven storyline but not done in a way that it was confusing at all, brilliantly written and was a real page turner with a twist at the end.

Highly recommend this book and look forward to the next in the series. Thank you for giving me the chance to read.

The Mayfly – James Hazel
I started to read this story with high hopes. We are straight in to the story and meet DCI Tiff Rowlinson but soon get enmeshed in unnecessary and turgid word counting prose. The log cabin was 60 years old, built as a summer house and has been grotesquely defiled. Hazel uses over 70 words to tell us that. Did we need to know who it was built by?
Then the action, as such, switches to Buchenwald in April 1945. Did we see Dora? Who cares, it is a gun and largely irrelevant to the plot. Chapter 3 and we are switched to Charlie Priest and the present day. We eventually learn that Priest is an ex-policeman and now a lawyer, but it takes time to get there. Chapter 5 and back to 1946 and we start to get bogged down in trivia. ‘Two Tommies, Lewis guns hung over their shoulders.’ Hazel demonstrates his lack of attention to detail. The Tommies are supposed to be armed guards guarding a prisoner. It is a WW 1 machine gun over 4 feet in length and weighing over 28 lbs. A guard would much more likely have a holstered Webley Mk VI.
The prisoner is supposedly wearing the rags of a POW, more a sack than a garment, he is desperately thin. He had been deprived of sleep and food for several weeks. The prisoner’s interrogator is Colonel Ruck, Military Intelligence, Section Five, he is a specialist in interrogation, covert intelligence gathering and espionage. The latter is the preserve of MI 6 (two words and not 4 that Hazel used). Ruck may have been a specialist in enemy espionage but that is usually covered by counter intelligence- tautology?
I managed to get a quarter way through the book but it never engaged my interest. I have not deleted it and may return should I have nothing better to do. In the meanwhile I will only award 3 stars.

Wow I loved The Mayfly. More than I expected to (always a good thing) and that is probably down to the completely compelling characters (Charlie Priest my newest book crush) and the rest (Georgie my newest girl crush) plus the brilliantly horrific plot which does get right under your skin. **slight shudder**

I won’t give anything away but the story fairly rocks along, whilst at the same time fleshing out (so to speak) the characters, digging them into your consciousness so when bad things happen to them you are all discombobulated – and bad things do happen. Boy do they.

I like to find new crime fiction that has a different spin to put on things – what James Hazel does here is give you all the elements of a decent crime thriller with added oomph. Charlie Priest really is no ordinary lawyer – I’ll let you find out why for yourselves – but it adds a brilliantly intriguing twist on things that allows for some really meaningful moments in a plot full of layered depth. Also, his family is kind of weird – in the best reading way, I loved them. Even the one that I should probably be wary of.

I loved the past/present elements that all fused together ultimately, I really had no idea where this was going to end up, another reason for enjoying it thoroughly – I like the unpredictable not a lot get me that way these days. Even if I’d worked out every nuance though I would still have loved it – the characters are so fascinating, their relationships in our infancy of knowing them here are cleverly addictive – can’t wait for more now. Really. If the next book in the series is as good then its heading straight onto the must buy list.

Occasionally horrifically shiver inducing, never less than irresistible, The Mayfly is really top notch. Intelligently constructed, characters to die for and a truly sterling opening to what I hope will be a long running series. Charlie Priest. Remember the name.

I love this part.

Highly Recommended.

This book was interesting and good. I would recommend this book for people who like mystery novels. The ending blew me away because I didn't see it coming. Charlie Priest reminded me of a old time private eye.

Wealthy London businessman Kenneth Ellinder hire attorney Charlie Priest to investigate the murder of his son. Priest, a former cop, is like a dog with a bone, and won’t let up on the case, even when it threatens to destroy him. The case leads him back to the Holocaust and uncovers connections to modern political and business leaders. More people die as prominent figures will do anything to keep their ugly secrets from seeing the light of day. A slow build of suspense leads up to the exposure of the rotten interior of a city and its leaders