The devil's claw by lara Dearman.
Following a traumatic incident in London, Jennifer Dorey has returned to her childhood home in Guernsey, taking a job as a reporter at the local newspaper.
After the discovery of a drowned woman on a beach, she uncovers a pattern of similar deaths that have taken place over the past fifty years.
Together with DCI Michael Gilbert, an officer on the verge of retirement, they follow a dark trail of island myths and folklore to 'Fritz', the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier. His work, painstakingly executed, has so far gone undetected.
Brilliant read. Loved it. 5*.

This is the first in the journalist Jenny Dorey series set in the Channel Island of Guernsey. Reading a book featuring the investigation lead by a journalist, and not from a police viewpoint was quite entertaining, and I felt at some times that Jenny considered herself a modern Nancy Drew! Recommended for anyone that loves an entertaining read.

The Devil's Claw
Lara Dearman

Excellent murder mystery. Each of the main chacters is well developed.The setting and history of the area are included in such a way to give the whold story life.
The killer's motive is not disclosed untill the later part of the book. I just love it when what is obvious is not the truth.
Needless to say this is one very good mystery. Well worth reading. I was very pleased with it. Great Cover Art.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So glad I did.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book through NetGalley.

This mystery thriller brings you to one of the small islands in the English Channel. The author obviously knows the place very well. Afterwards, I found out that Lara Dearman is a local of Guernsey which explains such an amazing representation of the island.

The plot is quite unusual. I found it intelligent, a mixture of mystery murder, history, a psychology of a killer, myths and storytelling. It was fascinating to read about Guernsey and life there and reminded me of life in a small town where I come from. Where everyone knows everyone and everyone knows everything, but still some things get missed which creates town legends.

The stories about Guernsey and its myths are just great. I had an urge to look them up online and read more.

I really liked the main character – journalist Jenny who had to come back to her hometown after pretty dramatic events in London. In my opinion, Jenny is extremely professional and doesn’t give up, trying to help people and find out the truth. She is driven by her profession, but also by natural curiosity. If I were a journalist, I would’ve liked to be like her.

The mystery part is good. The author keeps you guessing who the killer is and keeps throwing some twists and turns.

This is a debut novel and a first part of the series, so I look forward to reading more books by Lara Dearman.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer Dorey has returned home from London to be with her mother after the death of her father, a fisherman who fell overboard off his boat.. or she tells herself that this is the reason.

“I’m not afraid of the darkness. Only what hides in it.”

Returning to her childhood home in Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel,

“There was a joke about it: something about sixty thousand people clinging to a rock. At twenty-four square miles it wasn’t quite a rock, but it wasn’t far off.”

she thinks she will slip into a quiet reporter job at the Geurnsey News. Then a girl is found dead on the beach and everything changes…

When Jenny starts to find similarities between this girl and other girls who had drowned in the past she thinks that maybe they are more alike than she’d like and begins to delve into the folklore and history of the island and those who have been living on it

“Le Table des Pion, or the Fairy Ring as everyone called it, was a rough table hewn into a grassy plateau, surrounded by a ring of stones. On one side, dense foliage of bracken and gorse formed a natural windbreak, and on the other, flat, grassy headland led to sheer cliffs and beneath them, the sea.

Built as a picnic spot for officials who’d inspected the island’s roads hundreds of years ago, locals preferred the other stories surrounding the place. About witches. And the Devil. The Devil came here, disguised as a goat or a wolf, or a big, black dog and danced with witches. There was a tunnel somewhere here too. Not a real one, at least as far as Matt knew, but according to legend all of the Devil’s cronies used tunnels to get around”

As Jenny delves deeper into the deaths of these girls, with only Detective Chief Inspector Michael Gilbert to listen, she realises that the Devil may never have left the island… and he may be one of the sixty thousand still clinging to that rock closer than she thinks. Only

This was a nice cosy mystery. It was a little predictable, but I really enjoyed the descriptive way that it was written. It had some very beautiful descriptions that really made me feel like I was actually there:

“London, two years ago. An unpleasantly hot summer, untempered heat absorbed by roads and pavements and then thrown back up in hazy, iridescent waves floating above the sticky Tarmac. No breeze. No whisper of sea spray in the air to cool hot cheeks with its fresh, salty touch.”

“He parked up and walked down to the shoreline , which was swathed in slick brown ribbons of vraic, the islanders’ name for the local seaweed. It covered the wet, leaden sand in thick banks, lighter-coloured branches reaching up out of the piles, like emaciated arms searching for daylight. In the summer, the smell was overpowering, rotting and stale, and the flies were legion. Now, in November, the smell was bearable, almost pleasant, a sea-earth hybrid of salt and vegetation with only the odd sleepy bluebottle taking a break from the tip down the road to hover around a dead fish, scales shimmering between the seaweeds’ fronds.”

My main complaint was some of the mentions that went nowhere. DCI Michael and his affiliation with the Christian Fellowship Foundation, everything that made Jenny leave London, etc. I understand that Lara Dearman was leaving these things open for more books… I assume, and I would like to check out another one if she writes it, it was just that there were things that I felt didn’t have to be mentioned in this book that probably could have waited until they were going to be a focus of some sort.

All in all though it was an enjoyable read for a rainy night!

This is a good start to a new series. Set in Guernsey, Jenny is a journalist returned from London and working with her local newspaper. She finds the body of a young woman and despite the verdict of suicide, jenny is convinced it is a murder. She investigates other mysterious deaths and soon finds herself hunting for a killer. The book is told from three different perspectives and it didn't quite work for me. i would have liked to have seen more character development and I just felt that the book was a bit disjointed. Despite this, I would read the follow up. Thank you Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

EXCERPT: Naked, her breasts and hips were heavier than he thought they would be and he wondered if he should feel disappointed, but he forced himself to concentrate on her slim waist and her skin. Her skin was perfect. White, like moonlight. He thought how wonderful they must look together, two beautiful people, happy and free, and how important this was, that he saved her. From the filth and the alcohol and the little people and the loathsome, repellent men, whose hands would never touch her again. She ran to the water. He followed. Their bodies clothed in darkness, their footsteps silent on the soft sand, their splashing obscured by the breaking of the waves, he pulled her towards him. Stroked her arms, from her wrists, over smooth skin, soft hairs tickling his fingers, to her elbows, which were bony and rough, and then up to her shoulders. She shook. Laughed. He pushed her under. She was smiling as her head dipped below the water, her hair fanning out on the surface, spun gold, like in a fairy tale, rippling and flowing, a life of its own. She didn't struggle, not at first. It took her a moment, he supposed to understand. And then he felt her, bucking and thrashing, her screams silent, carried away with the tide. Gently, but firmly, he held on. And then she was still. So, so still. He held her limp body against his in the water. Absorbed the heat as it left her. Stayed there for as long as he could, until he was sure he had taken as much of her warmth as he could.

THE BLURB: Jennifer Dorey thinks she is safe.

Following a traumatic incident in London, Jennifer has returned to her childhood home in Guernsey, taking a job as a reporter at the local newspaper.

After the discovery of a drowned woman on a beach, she uncovers a pattern of similar deaths that have taken place over the past fifty years.

Together with DCI Michael Gilbert, an officer on the verge of retirement, they follow a dark trail of island myths and folklore to 'Fritz', the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier. His work, painstakingly executed, has so far gone undetected.

But with his identity about to be uncovered, the killer now has Jennifer in his sights.

And home is the last place she should be.

MY THOUGHTS: The Devil's Claw is a debut novel by Lara Dearman. And it is good. Amazingly good. I knew that after the first five minutes of reading. It just felt so right. Don't mind me, I have a book hangover. Hours after finishing, the plot and the characters are still buzzing around in my brain. Not even a trip to the supermarket for the weekly shop has dampened my enthusiasm.

I felt like I was there, in the novel, living alongside the characters, experiencing what they were. The story is mainly told from Jenny's point of view, and that of DCI Michael Gilbert, with occasional flashbacks from the unknown killer starting in 1959, and moving forward a decade with each kill.

I had three suspects in mind for the killer, and I am pleased to say was right with one of them, though he wasn't my first pick. Dearman has crafted an intricate plot, full of misleading clues, that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.

Along the way, we learn quite a bit about the history of Guernsey, its legends and folklore, all of which adds to the atmosphere Dearman has so cleverly created.

There was nothing I didn't like about The Devil's Claw. A very enthusiastic ☆☆☆☆☆ from me for this slow burning book that develops into a raging bonfire. I sincerely hope Lara is busy writing #2 in the series.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Devil's Claw by Lara Dearman for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

ENTICING PROLOGUE!

THE DEVIL'S CLAW by Lara Dearman is a fine debut....and a great start for her new series. It has a good storyline, good lead characters you can hook your teeth into and an atmospheric town with some intriguing DARK folklore. A bit wordy, it did take me a long time to get through it.

The story is about a 30 year old journalist who leaves London....and a life threatening experience.... to return to her home town of Guernsey where she often recalls loving memories of her father.

Living with her mother now and working for the local newspaper, with pressure to produce more stories, a still cautious Jenny finally starts to get out more....then happens upon a dead body. Shaken and disturbed by the find, she soon finds herself being interviewed by Detective Chief Inspector Michael Gilbert and involved in an investigation that brings back haunted memories of her past.

With a title like THE DEVIL'S CLAW, I was hoping for a bit more of a creep factor, but still enjoyed this multi-layered mystery.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC NOW AVAILABLE in exchange for an honest review.

A compelling debut that takes place on the beautiful island of Guernsey. A solid police procedural with a great cast of characters. Dearman reels you in with her great writing style and she did a very good job with her use of the red herring, although I did guess the bad guy early on. Thrilled that this is going to be a series as I’m looking forward to reading more from Lara Dearman!!

In this author's debut novel, journalist Jennifer Dorey has moved to her home town. Her last article, written when she was in London, didn't end well. Jennifer decided to get away from dead bodies.

Unfortunately, for her, she discovers the body of a drowned woman. Writing it up for her paper, she discovers a long list of similar deaths over a period of 50 years.

Teaming up with DCI Michael Gilbert who is about to retire, they have to wade through myths and folklore to get at the secrets and lies that have been hidden for many years.

It turns into a cat and mouse chase ... but who's the cat and who's the mouse?

This is a bit of a historical fiction, drawing in elements of Nazi Germany during World War II. The book follows the killer from his birth to the present day, giving a glimpse of why he does the things he does. The book is populated with memorable characters and hopefully the will be returning in a continuing series.

I did not consider this a fast-paced thriller, but it is well written and like a glass of fine wine, goes down easily.

Many thanks to the author / Crooked Lane Books / Netgalley for the advance digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

The Devil's Claw is the first book in the Jennifer Dorey Mystery series and I read a sample of this book a while back and loved the intro of this book and couldn't wait to get the chance to read the whole book.

Now, I read a lot of mystery books and I especially love harsh island settings like in this one. Part of the charm of reading this book was just that the mystery takes place in Guernsey, an island that was occupied by Germany during WW2. Add this dark history seems to have a connection to the crimes that journalist Jennifer Dorey thinks has been committed for several decades. But, how to stop a killer if there is no proof that a murder has been committed?

The Devil's Claw is an interesting book. I loved the setting, the Nazi connection was intriguing. And I found Jennifer Dorey to be an is an interesting character whos return home from London occurred when her father died. But something happened in London that made her afraid to go back. DCI Michael Gilbert is also a great character with a tragic past that almost killed him a few years back. Now they, this odd duo starts to work together to solve a maybe crime. I wish I could say that the crime captivated me, but one some level I felt that I never really got truly invested in the criminal case. I wonder if it is because it was not hard to figure out who the baddie was. There are a couple characters introduced as the potential candidates and I nailed it quite easily. Sure, there were moments when I wondered if I was truly correct. But, in the end, I was right, so yay to me. But, I think that the main problem is that the case just did not really get suspenseful. The case moved too slowly forward.

Nevertheless, I quite liked the characters, and, despite the slowness of the case was it an interesting one to try to figure out the motive for and I would definitely read the sequel.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is the first in the Jenny Dorey series set in the Channel Island of Guernsey. Jenny has returned home to Guernsey after a traumatic and scarring time in London. She was chasing a story on Eastern European cleaner Madalina, who disappeared, feared murdered by the guilt ridden Jenny. Threatened and violently assaulted by a gang, she is now living with her mother, Margaret, working as a reporter on the Guernsey News. Loved it

3.5 stars--somewhere between liked and really liked.

If you enjoy smart suspense novels, give this one a try--the first Jennifery Dorey mystery was an enjoyable read for me. I liked Jenny's character, as well as the minor characters, but most of all I liked the Guernsey setting. I don't know a lot about the English Channel, so I enjoyed learning about it in a fictional setting (the author was born there, and her familiarity shows).

I'm always a sucker for creepy cults and "old ways" religions, so having elements of that in the mystery was an added bonus. I'll likely read the next book in the series.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

The Devil's Claw was a fascinating story that focused on three characters: Jenny, a reporter for the small town of Guernsey who recently moved back after living in London; Michael, a detective constable who is still struggling to deal with the death of his daughter; and an unnamed character whose story unfolds in flashbacks. When a young woman drowns in apparent suicide, Jenny investigates further and finds a disturbing connection to other drowning deaths from the past. Together with Michael she discovers that a serial killer may be at work. I hadn't heard of Laura Dearman before I saw this book on Goodreads, but after reading this I hope she writes more about this character.

This is the first in the Jenny Dorey series set in the Channel Island of Guernsey. Jenny has returned home to Guernsey after a traumatic and scarring time in London. She was chasing a story on Eastern European cleaner Madalina, who disappeared, feared murdered by the guilt ridden Jenny. Threatened and violently assaulted by a gang, she is now living with her mother, Margaret, working as a reporter on the Guernsey News. She is still feeling the intense loss of her beloved father, Charlie, a local fisherman, who filled her childhood with the folklore and pagan history of the island, the horrors of which were mitigated by his child friendly spin on the stories. Her grieving mother has become isolated, reluctant to socialise, welcoming the return of her daughter. Jenny is at the scene of the drowned young woman, Amanda Guille, assumed to have committed suicide after a history of depression and self harm. In charge of the case is close to retirement DCI Michael Gilbert, who in the wake of the devastating death of his precious daughter, Ellen, and the consequent disintegration of his marriage, finds religious faith to anchor and stabilise his life.

Jenny is feeling vulnerable and stalked, receiving countless threatening emails and followed by a motorbiker. As she delves into the life of Amanda, and other drownings in recent history, Margaret regales her with the drowning of Elizabeth, her schoolfriend in the 1960s. Six dead young women and girls have similarities that has Jenny suspecting murder and the existence of a serial killer operating for at least fifty years, of which Amanda is the latest victim. Warned off by her boss, Jenny reveals her findings to Michael, who is harbouring concerns about Amanda, worried that the police have pre-emptively accepted it as suicide without looking deeper. The two join forces, although Michael has an uphill struggle as he is treated as a pariah in the force for being too honest and too diligent in his working of cases. The narrative is delivered through the perspective of Jenny, Michael and the serial killer. We learn of the Nazi occupation of the island during the war, and how the women who fraternised with the enemy were called jerry-bags, hounded and stigmatised, their illegitimate childre bullied mercilessly and forever tainted. Guernsey people view themselves as donkeys, proud of their stubborn nature.

The most iconic character in the novel is Guernsey itself, the sense of location so strong that it permeates throughout, the cold and dangerous seas, its changeable weather, its history, its culture, and the recent growth of the political anti-immigrant group. I particularly enjoyed the folklore, the stories of witches, the devil, and the superstitions. The mark of the Devil's Claw is a tale that Jenny is familiar with, thanks to her father, and is pivotal to the investigation. The serial killer is the result of a union between his mother and a Nazi officer, he finds his childhood is blighted as he is publicly spurned and scorned. A childhood that is instrumental in pushing him on the path to becoming a multiple killer. A highly engaging and entertaining beginning to this new series. I eagerly look forward to the next book. Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for an ARC.

I loved this book and the different aspects to the story. I especially liked the descriptions of the area and the cold sea swims almost had me shivering. I will certainly look out for more from this author.

Jennifer Dorey needed to return to the quiet town of Guernsey after a traumatic experience on her job as a journalist in London. Taking a job at the local newspaper in the town Jenny never expected to find herself stumbling onto a big case involving a serial killer but that is just what she did when the body of a woman is found. Jenny started to dig into similar cases of drowned women and finds a pattern leading back fifty years.

DCI Michael Gilbert is a distant relative of Jenny’s on the verge of retirement from his job when Jenny brings him what she has found with the case. Michael is not one to push her concerns to the side as he sees the pattern in the cases that Jenny has found and becomes determined to help her figure out if there has been a killer hiding in Guernsey for the last fifty years right under their noses.

The Devil’s Claw by Lara Dearman is the first book in the new Jennifer Dorey mystery series. The story is told by switching the point of view between three characters, Jenny, the reporter, Michael, the detective, and an unknown voice of the killer. The chapters told from the point of view of the killer give the reader a look into his beginnings and his crimes over decades all without revealing just who he is until the very end.

For me the one thing I found with this book that had me a bit hesitant to really and truly enjoy the story was that I found it a bit odd to have Jenny be sort of a tormented and timid character but yet a journalist that goes out and digs into a story. The two sides describing her sort of clashed in my mind and it just felt a struggle to picture this as one character. In the end I felt this was just an OK read to me with not totally connecting to Jenny but the writing was good otherwise so I may try the next in the series regardless.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is a thriller with a good solid storyline with plenty of twists in the plot.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Lara Dearman for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

I wanted to like this book. The story had a lot of promise and I like books set in the Channel Islands with their recent history: but I found myself skipping page after page of irrelevant text which added nothing to the story.
The death of a girl the police want to treat as suicide. The local reporter, who was one of the first to find the body, and who is convinced that it wasn’t
The link to suicides of the past, including the reporters father, bring the case from the 50’s up to the modern day
As I said the story is not bad, but it seems to me to be dragged out n

I would like to thank Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a review copy of The Devil's Claw, the first novel in a projected series to feature Jennifer Dorey, a reporter based in Guernsey.

Jennifer has returned to Guernsey after some unexplained problem in London and is working at the local paper as a reporter when she stumbles across the recently deceased body of a young woman, Amanda Guille. The authorities suspect suicide but are prepared to record a verdict of misadventure, only DCI Michael Gilbert has misgivings but nothing firm enough to investigate. Jenny thinks it's murder but has to accept the findings until a chance remark by her mother leads her to 6 very similar looking women and deaths.

I was very excited to be offered this book to read and would have bought it anyway as the premise is so interesting, a location I'm unfamiliar with, an undiscovered serial killer and elements of my favourite genre, the police procedural but, unfortunately, the execution lets it down and it is only a so-so read.

Firstly I will say that the depiction of Guernsey is first class from the physical location and mindset of the inhabitants to the history and folklore and really gives me the urge to go and see it for myself. I loved this aspect of the novel.

The novel is told from 3 distinct perspectives, Michael, Jenny and the unnamed killer. The author doesn't have the flow quite right and it makes for a choppy read. Helpfully the chapters are labelled either Michael or Jenny and the killer's are italicised to leave no room for doubt. The plotting is interesting but rather perfunctory and seems to take a backseat to the characters' history which is lengthy and revealed in dribs and drabs over the course of the novel. The disjointed timeline of this again makes for a choppy read and takes the reader's attention away from the crime narrative. Jenny's time in London was cut short by a serious incident which while initially unexplained leads her to believe she is being followed and the source of abusive e-mails. Ms Dearman does not follow up on this plotline and one has to assume that it is a trailer for a future novel. It's a bit of a pointless inclusion in this novel. To my mind the whole novel is a bit disorganised and could have done with some clearer goals.

The characters of Michael and Jenny are pleasant enough but not particularly well developed. Both have past traumas in their lives which are slowly revealed over the course of the novel but you never get a sense of what makes them really tick and there are again loose ends about these lengthily explained traumas which will no doubt be picked up in future.

The Devil's Claw is an interesting début with some good ideas but lacks a little polish. I'll be interested to see where Ms Dearman takes the sequel.