Review

Once again Helen Durrant has crafted an impeccable police procedural where she successfully combines three complicated cases - two current and one from 17 years previous.

17years ago, Josie Wilkins’s daughter Jessica disappeared without a trace. No clues and no witnesses. Now someone has discovered an urn accompanied by what appears to be the toddler’s effects
Flora Appleton, a 16 year old is discovered in the boot of an abandoned car after being missing a week - a fact not reported by the mother
A local money lender with known violent tendencies is knifed and pushed over the rail of the housing block.

With the recent death of Imogen weighing on their minds, and Rocco away at an IT course, Calladine and his team are short-handed and out of sorts. His DS, Ruth Bayliss is having problems with her husband and is trying to balance her career with being the mother of an infant. Part of what makes Durrant’s stories so realistic and believable is that her characters are individuals with lives. They are more than their job - just as the wider cast are more than victims or suspects. You see the impact these cases have on the lives of those involved.

If you are looking for a well done British Police Procedural, Dead Jealous is a fantastic choice. I’ve read a number of Durrant’s novels and have enjoyed every one.

5 / 5

I received a copy of Dead Jealous from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Dead Jealous, the seventh novel to feature DI Tom Calladine and DS Ruth Bayliss of the Leesdon CID.

The plot has 3 main strands, the murder of a sixteen year old girl, Flora, in a frenzied attack, the ashes of a toddler, Jessica, who disappeared 17 years ago have been found and the toll moneylending takes on the poor.

I loved this book and think it's probably the best so far. It held my attention throughout and I read it in one sitting. It's not particularly profound but it is very readable. As always the deprived Hobfield Estate takes centre stage with Flora's body being found in an abandoned car's boot, Jessica's mother, Josie, living there and obviously it is fertile ground for moneylending and much of the interest I had in the novel was how all the characters touch each other's lives and the difficulty Calladine and Bayliss have unravelling these connections and establishing the truth.

I also like the fact that the criminal investigation is interspersed with with the detectives' personal life. This time the focus is on Bayliss and her relationship problems. She feels her partner Jake is not pulling his weight and has no respect for her job - something I, personally, can relate to and many other people too I'm sure. there is a surprise in store which I loved.

I think Ms Durrant has the balance absolutely right in this novel. No plot strand is more important or given more time than the others, although the discovery of Jessica's ashes is heartrending and Bayliss's domestic tribulations inform both Calladine's and her characters but are not overly stressed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Jealous as an absorbing, easy read and have no hesitation in recommending it.

5 stars

A young girl, just in her mid-teens has been murdered. Her body was found in the trunk of a car – a week later by three teenage boys. DI Tom Calladine and DS Ruth Bayliss are on the case. Her name is established quickly, she is Flora Appleton.

At the same time, a woman shows up at the station carrying a pot and a pink blanket. She found it behind a chimney while remodeling her house. She shows it to Tom and lo and behold, it rings a loud bell. It looks to be the remains of Jessica Wilkins a two-year old child who disappeared without a trace some seventeen years earlier. Her mother never gave up hope that her child was still alive. This is going to be devastating. They send the ashes in the pot, the blanket and a pink hairclip to the lab. But Tom knows that the distinctive hairclip and the blanket belonged to Jessica Wilkins.

The local n’er-do wells, the Hopwood brothers are terrorizing Hobfield Estate, where both Jessica and Flora’s mothers live. The brothers call themselves moneylenders, but they really are thugs. Sean is the one who is quick with his fists and beats one of the residents badly and then sets fire to Dolly Appleton’s apartment. Ricky is good-looking and slightly easier to deal with. Sean even beats him, however, and the stakes are rising. The terrorized people of Hobfield gather in secret and decide they must do something about Sean Hopwood.

Ruth’s review of the Jessica Wilkins case and shows several inconsistencies. It sets Tom to thinking why they didn’t notice these things all those years ago. They are going to have to talk to Josie Wilkins again.

This book rolls along at a breakneck speed until the denouement when Calladine and Bayliss and their team solve all of their cases. This book is very well written and plotted. I liked it quite a lot. I like the characters. The team got along well for the most part and worked well together. There was enough information given about the backgrounds of the major players, but not so much that it interfered with the story. There were no wasted words in this book; no padding. I’ve read Helen Durrant’s other Calladine and Bayliss books and I like this one the best. Well done!

I want to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read.

Great book. Brilliant plot and main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Very enjoyable.

A teenage girl is found in the back of a car on the notorious Hobfield estate.She has been dead for a week and yet no one has reported her missing.Why was she killed and why do her friends all seem to have something to hide?.

Meanwhile an old jar containing ashes and bone is brought into the station.It was found carefully wrapped in a pink blanket with a child's pink hairclip.

Seventeen years ago little Jessica Wilkins disappeared from Leesdon Park one summer afternoon.

Her Mother had gone to get the child an ice cream and when she returned the child had gone.Over the years there were no sightings,no witnesses - nothing.

Detective Tom Calladine had been part of the original investigation and the case has haunted him ever since.Will he finally be able to solve and close this unsolved mystery?.

I really enjoyed this gripping,twist packed mystery.It made a refreshing change to read about a police team who were friends as well as colleagues and worked well together as a team.I loved the closeness and banter between Tom Calladine and Ruth Bayliss,they obviously were very close and cared deeply about each other.It was lovely to read a book in which the police investigations weren't bogged down by interdepartmental back stabbing and point scoring.

Both of the cases were intreguing and kept me guessing from the shocking prologue to the unexpected conclusions of the crimes.The chapters were short and snappy and the story flowed along nicely with no parts of the story being over descriptive and coming across as padding.The characters and settings were well developed and realistic.

Although events from earlier books in the series are mentioned this book can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone.This is the first book that I have read by this author and it most definitely will not be the last.

As always Helen gets it right! A nice paced storyline, with believable characters! I really enjoy this series of books and I am always left looking forward to the next one

This series gets better with each book. Helen was on fire with this one it was fantastic! It was tense, gritty and emotional and very well written. I loved everything about it and if I could give it 6 stars I would.