Cover Image: Old Sins

Old Sins

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Member Reviews

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
Adam and Robin are enjoying the final days of their summer holidays in the park when there is a shooting. Several days later the men return to work and Robin is dealing with another shooting, which is made to look like a suicide, and Robin and his team are investigating both. As with the previous Lindenshaw Mysteries, Adam is gathering information from various sources to help Robin with his case and trying not to get into trouble.

There are many strands to this mystery, including two shootings, a local drug lord that the cops can’t seem to pin anything on, the mystery surround the death of a local boy during World War II, and the contents of a locked box. It was great watching the cops investigate and seeing how all the pieces fit together. I didn’t know who did it or why, so I was along for the ride with the cops and I learned what was going on as they did. I like not being able to figure out the mystery before it is solved.

While the crime solving is going on, Adam and Robin are living their daily lives and trying to decide when and where they will finally tie the knot. The mundaneness of their lives at home gives the story a down-to-earth feeling.

This series has really hit its stride with Old Sins. It was a fab read and my favourite book in the series so far.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
3.5 stars

This is a gentle and very civilised crime series. There is something very nostalgic about Robin’s old-fashioned police work and something reassuring about the idyllic rural life Robin and Adam have built together. Adam and Campbell do a bit of their own sleuthing in this fourth book as once again, Campbell takes a starring role.

As much as this is a charming read, sometimes gentle and slow can get a bit tedious. The characters do go round and round with the same clues and I found myself drifting off in a few places. I will admit that I didn’t follow the investigation easily and I kept having to go back for information I’d missed the first time around.

I enjoyed the characters and I love that Adam could be the most enthusiastic teacher I’ve ever encountered. Prue and Ben really come into their own in this book and I like the old secrets and the quirky village residents.

This is a charming, slow read and I love the nostalgic nods to classic British detective novels. It’s not the most exciting crime novel, but the characters are warm and the little slice of rural England is inviting.

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I really love this series… just putting that out there… in case anyone hadn’t gotten that impression yet. 😉

Adam and Robin find themselves right in the middle of another mystery, but this one comes a little too close to home. Not that that hasn’t happened before, but this time Campbell comes way too close to being in the cross fire and that is totally unacceptable to both Robin and Adam. This time it’s personal from the beginning – even before there’s a connection between the mysterious murders and a teacher who made Robin’s life miserable in grade school.

There were a lot of “connections” in Old Sins, some more obvious than others. I can honestly say that I had no idea exactly “who” did “what” to “who” and “why”… until I was actually supposed to… The mystery was only part of the story though and that’s just one of the reasons why I love this series. (Did I already mention that?)

Old Sins is definitely not the end of the Lindenshaw Mysteries series… at least I hope not. After all, readers still have to make sure that Adam and Robin finalize their HEA. 😉

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Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Detective Chief Inspector Robin Bright and his partner, deputy headteacher Adam Matthews, have just consigned their summer holiday to the photo album. It’s time to get back to the daily grind, and the biggest problem they’re expecting to face: their wedding plans. Then fate strikes—literally—with a bang.

Someone letting loose shots on the common, a murder designed to look like a suicide, and the return of a teacher who made Robin’s childhood hell all conspire to turn this into one of his trickiest cases yet.

Especially when somebody might be targeting their Newfoundland, Campbell. Robin is used to his and Adam’s lives being in danger, but this takes the—dog—biscuit.

The books in this series are not meant to stand alone but rather read with the understanding that you already know Robin, Adam, and their wonderful Newfie Campbell and all the events and history that has gone on before.  Trust me, that's considerable, both in their backgrounds and in the small village in which they live and work. Or did work.  Now the cozy cottage where they live (it was Adam's) and the village is both a distance from their new jobs and they are planning both a move and wedding when the new story opens.  How I love this series!



So yes, a lot has gone before Old Sins (Lindenshaw Mysteries #4) by Charlie Cochrane  and quite a lot is beginning to happen.   For things are never dull for long for these two who have just gotten back from a long needed holiday before the school year starts up again for Adam and the criminals start a wave for Robin and his crew.  Plus there is that wedding to be planned, pesky details and all.

For those new to the series, I do recommend heading back to The Best Corpse for the Job, the first story in the series. 

That is where Adan and Robin meet, and it all begins, including our love affair with Campbell, Adam's Newfoundland.  There are many secondary characters that appear , in varying stages of narrative importance depending upon the plot, book after book.  So meeting them and being able to identify them early is a great thing.  Then seeing them again is like greeting old friends, ornery or otherwise.  In these villages, the personalities swing widely!

Cochrane's characters are so beautifully crafted that it's  sometimes hard to tell which way the plot will fall, who will be the villain or the victim?  Sometimes both have the same personality traits!  You can emphasize with both or neither, an element I really love.  It makes them so human.

Here once again Robin's tortuous childhood is involved, one he is still dealing with and this case brings it back with an immediacy he never expected.  Plus a connection to Adam, as it always happens with these cases.  Throw Campbell into the mix, and things turn frightening, mysterious, and downright murderous.

I will admit to guessing part of the plot (the person partially) but got the motive all wrong!  No, the author kept me guessing on the twists and turns on that until the end.  There was a couple of things I wanted more neatly tied up  but that's just me.

On the whole, I found this extremely satisfying, it took Adam and Robin's relationship to a deeper place, and at least moved their wedding plans forward ! lol  Plus i got more Campbell which is always a wonderful thing.

If you love cozies like I do, this is one mystery series for you.  Start at the beginning and make your way here!  i highly recommend them all.

Cover art: L.C. Chase.  I really like the covers for the series.  I wish it had Campbell on the cover, but that was the last one.  Oh well.

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I have to admit that this is the first book in this series and I love it. I'm planning on reading previous books written for this series. Robin and Adam are the sweetest lovers in this book and their dog Campbell is cute. So far from what I've read this is an intriguing book that had my attention from start to finish and I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

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Robin, Adam and Campbell are back in a convoluted new mystery that will keep you guessing. Robin and Adam are as cute as ever. This mystery had so many threads my mind was all in a knot by the time we got to the conclusion. I really enjoy this series and look forward to the next installment.

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The thing with an entry in an ongoing series, the pendulum could go two ways - probably not the most fitting expression, but you get my meaning - and in this case it didn’t exactly go to the expected way. Adam, Robin, and their dog Campbell were as tight as ever (even if Campbell described as useless-guard-dog love-all-people easy-to-bribe-with-food most of the times) and settling into their family unit life. I wasn’t having problem with these guys, it’s the working of mystery solving that got me frustrated. After the time it took the law enforcements to solve the murders, the unveil of the culprits was far from satisfying. The too-much-telling-less-showing route the whole puzzle-unveiling did left me wanting more.

To be fair, the police got two murders and they connected with years old transgressions were rather tricky to solve. While I understand those involved wanted to find answers quickly and accept Robin would be open to his partner and sounding board, Adam - considering he wasn’t actually dragged into the drama this time - that Robin’s team took for granted his involvement in ”interviewing people and his opinions on things didn’t really ring true with me.

To summarize, I think what works for me the most in “Old Sins” was Adam, Robin, and Campbell interconnection as a unit. I wasn’t too keen on the sleuthing this time around and wishing the next book in “Lindenshaw Mysteries” series (here’s hoping the author still have lots on her sleeves for our favorite trio) would click more with me.


Advanced copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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