Death on Dartmoor is an excellent British police procedural.  DI Hellier and his team are three dimensional, the differences in their personalities, talents and approaches making for a realistic investigation.  They have lives beyond their jobs. The cases they are faced with are daunting. In the one, they have a pair of teens, one dead, one severely injured from the use of badly made “legal” highs.  Finding the seller and the maker of the drugs before someone else is killed is a necessity. They are also tasked with finding the identities of two headless, handless corpses as well as their killer - a case made all the more difficult by the state of decay.  


Death on Dartmoor is appealing because it combines a complex plot with a very human set of investigators and supporting characters.  It makes for a solid addition to the genre.


4 / 5


I received a copy of Death on Dartmoor from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


— Crittermom

Loved the fast action and the unfolding of the story. Mix that with a pretty accurate tour around the stomping grounds of my youth, for me, the best read of the year so far.

I was drawn to this book on NetGalley by the Dartmoor setting and thoroughly enjoyed the local flavour of the novel. I'll be thinking of those bodies in the bog next time I'm in Princetown! Although I hadn't read the first book in the West Country Crime Mystery series I was able to pick up the story easily and it worked well as a standalone novel. The characters were well realised and the plot was nicely paced. The focus was rather more on the second of Dan Hellier's cases than the 'boggies' themselves (with a rather convenient coincidence, perhaps, to tie the two together) but this provided more of a sense of urgency for the team than the cold case alone would have done. I would definitely look out for other books in the same series having read this one.

The following sentence felt wrong to me. Hope it gets corrected prior to publishing. Chapter 6 location 406 "He was very glad he'd not got the car."
I'm glad that through NetGalley and Bloodhounds Books Publishing I got to read an ARC copy of this book. In my opinion this is worth a five star in its category. I did not have the first book in the series but did not feel lost reading this book so it can be read as a stand alone. I have to admit that I was curious enough to the previous history of the characters that I pre-ordered both "Death On Dartmoor" and "Death In The Wood" from Amazon as soon I was finished reading this book. Hope there will be more to come.
In "Death On Darmoor" the team deals with two cases at the same time" The book does not end in a cliffhanger which happens to be a frustrating habit in some of today series. Both cases come to a conclusion. The characters are well developed so that you feel you get to know them as individuals and as a team who you like to hear more about in the future. I would recommend this book to anybody that like a good mystery.

Another DI Dan Hellier book, good read with lots of twists and turns. Kept me wanting to read to the end! Can’t wait till the next book arrives.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bloodhound Books for an advance copy of Death on Dartmoor, the second novel in the West Country series of police procedurals, featuring Exeter based DI Dan Hellier.

Dan and the team are wondering if they will be back to directing traffic for lack of work when a couple of headless bodies are found in a local bog. It is soon established that they are modern corpses so the hunt is on to identify them but progress is slow so when Ryan Carr, a local teenager they met on their last big case, dies of a drug overdose Dan and the team are asked to find the drug dealer.

I enjoyed Death on Dartmoor which is a very good police procedural but must admit that I found it slower and less absorbing than the previous novel, Death in the Woods. This is probably due to the nature of the crimes they are investigating as it is difficult to inject pace into an old murder where memories and records are harder to excavate and interest isn't as pointed. I liked the use of technology to help identify the bodies and while none of it is new to me, an avid documentary viewer, it will surprise many readers as being possible. The drugs case is different in that it requires a lot of surveillance and obtaining proof of intent to supply, never mind the charge of manslaughter the team hope to bring, so it is necessarily painstakingly laborious. Ms Steadman is excellent on the procedure and raises some valid points about the politics of drug supply and usage but I found it slow going as entertainment.

Dan Hellier is settling into life and work in Exeter after returning from the Met with a new girlfriend, a good team and an interesting job. He does, however, seem to be accident prone with casualties on almost every raid he undertakes even if they aren't his fault. I have no doubt that Ms Steadman has the official response correct but it doesn't ever make much sense to me with procedure ruling over common sense and results.

Death on Dartmoor is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Today was my lucky day: I received Death on Dartmoor by Bernie Steadman which is the second book in the West Country Crime Mystery series starring DI Dan Hellier. I was just reviewing the first book in the series a week or so ago and absolutely loved it. I am 1/3 of the way through this second book and so far it is just as amazing as book one which sometimes is hard to do but it hasn’t disappointed yet. Unfortunately I have now finished the book and it ended just as great as it began. Ms Steadman is fast becoming one of my favorite writers and I am looking forward to more West Country mysteries. The characters stayed the same as in the first book which was nice because there was no need to change them. I never guessed the ending and was pleasantly surprised. I only have one question and that is why two of the sergeants are called the flowerpot men? Maybe a British phrase I haven’t come across previously. No matter, I happily will recommend this series to anyone who loves good mysteries. A 5 star rating as the first one. Thanks again to #NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

It didn’t take me long to realize that “Death on Dartmoor” was the second book in a series: The D.I. Dan Hellier series. Which helped to explain why I had some difficulties sorting which characters belonged to D.I. Hellier’s Team, which didn’t, who reported to whom, and the like. I worked it all out eventually, but was still frustrated at times because of my lack of understanding of past events referenced in this book. Despite this, as I settled into Death on Dartmoor, I was delighted with the story and with the characters.
This is a murder mystery, but it’s also a story that is as much about developing the main characters as it is about solving murders. In Death on Dartmoor, D.I. Dan Hellier and his team tackle two cases. There is the headless and handless “Bodies in the Bog” case, and there is the death of a teenage boy as a result of taking tainted drugs. In both these endeavours, Hellier’s team is ably assisted by Detective Chief Inspector Oliver and members of other teams. Following in the footsteps of these dedicated detectives as they work their way through two complicated cases was a tense build-up to a surprising, and, sometimes heartbreaking, end. Ms. Steadman took us smoothly step by step through the ups and downs of both cases and kept me guessing to the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The parts of a book devoted to brain storming in the Incident Room can be rather dull if not done well. Instead, these meetings were full of really great moments between team members. When in serious mode, the team knows who is boss, but it doesn’t stop such comments as: Sally to Hellier” “It’s just a car, boss, get over it.” And, from one team member to another, referring to Hellier”s white board notes: “Another ‘mind-map’ I’ll bet. Why can’t we have a list” Like a normal team.” And: ...”adding to the growing epidemic of late-onset diabetes in the UK by providing yet more doughnuts, but he had one anyway...”. Light moments of stress relief for the over-worked detectives.
The characters are human. I quickly came to establish close bonds with several of them. We get to see their doubts, their frailties, their mistakes as well as their successes. We get a look into some of the team’s personal life, and I suspect and hope that as the series grows, we will become even more embroiled in what drives these characters. Team members are close and obviously dedicated to Dan and to each other. They do not hesitate of take action when one of their own is in danger, quite happily pry into each other’s lives, and don’t hesitate to poke fun at each other when the occasion arises. They are, quite frankly, a delightful bunch.
All in all, a murder mystery that takes us into some very dark places whilst providing us with both sadness and humour, and which left me wanting more. In many ways, it is a book that reminds me of Peter Grainer’s D.C. Smith series. I suspect that D.I. Hillier will become as much a favourite to me as is D.C.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bloodhouse Books for providing an ARC of Death on Dartmoor in exchange for an honest review.