A readable book set amid the quiet backwaters of the Norfolk Broads. The locations are made for a warm and relaxing read and the contrast to the macabre murder of a young woman is quite disturbing.
The premise of a new DI joining the local CID is a good one and placing him on an old sailing boat is a great idea.
His welcome and the resentment others have is also a rich seam that is ready to be mined.

Thereafter, I found the characters less rounded and a little unbelievable. Tanner is too assertive and his boss too weak. Jenny and Tanner strike up a quite unprofessional relationship from the very start. To me this seems inconceivable on one’s first day, that a junior officer would behave in such a manner and so quite unrealistic. The open rivalry with Burgess is to be expected but it is poorly managed.
Aside from the characters within what is a police procedural the cast of victims and suspects are limited and they appear to be assigned strange behaviours and only two-dimensional personalities. Inconsistencies abound and the police investigation is incompetent to the point of embarrassing. Norwich is so close to Wroxham that you wonder when a serial killer is suspected they do nothing to assist and manage the PR nightmare.
Finally the plot is good but poorly constructed. Not so original and only works to a point at the expense of such a botched investigation. It seems Norfolk is awash with simple police officers and Norwich ignores their county bumpkins.
The cavalier approach to policing is so amateur that it begs the question: Do they have to be so stupid just to allow the plot a sporting chance to work at all?
The police interviews under caution are also cringe worthy and the response of the suspects dim and dimmer.

So much potential but so little craft and guile.

This is a real disappointment to me as it is has legs as a series, set in s beautiful part of the country. It might have worked if more finesse had been appropriated in the plot management.

An experienced writer it seems has lost his way in the belief that crime fiction is a sure bet. Sadly this book does little to justify the thought that we all have a book within us. A second book is due to be published in the series around the two strongest but unbelievable characters. Unfortunately although I love the Broads I will not be reading it.

I enjoyed the premise of this book, and will say it kept my attention throughout. My only complaint -- and one that is purely my own personal preference -- is the (what is to me) awkward British phrases and slang. Apart from that, it was an engaging and truly scary story for all fans of the macabre.

*My sincerest thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reviewing an ARC at no charge.*

I was intrigued to see how Blake handled a serious crime thriller, as it is a completely different beast from his Space Police series. Those stories are zany, madcap and surreal. Broadland is none of those things - but it's a great book.

John Tanner has just moved to Norfolk from London following a personal tragedy. Some of his new colleagues are resentful at first, particularly DI Burgess who tries to rubbish everything Tanner suggests. But he finds a friend in Jenny Evans, and there's the distinct possibility of a little romance. Tanner is put onto missing persons, but his first case quickly becomes a murder enquiry, which soon escalates.

Tanner is a great character. Yes, he's tortured, like so many other fictional cops, but I found him to be a pretty straightforward, straight talking, decent and likeable chap. I liked that whilst it's his story, he wasn't the main player in the investigation itself but gave a different point of view. I loved Jenny too - easy to like, honest and flirty and they make a good partnership. Great rapport between them too.

This is the first book in a new series so there is a lot of scene setting, and things start off quite quiet and slow. I loved the descriptions of the Norfolk countryside, particularly the waterways, and the contrast with Tanner's previous home of London.

But things heat up in the second half of the book as the investigation starts to make progress. Secrets are uncovered, reputations ruined and mistakes made. The crimes are brutal but well described, and the story took several turns I wasn't expecting. The ending, for me, was unexpected and shocking - really quite gruesome. But it's beautifully written. Very descriptive.

With Broadland, David Blake has shown very successfully that he can write a serious crime thriller. I hope we haven't seen the last of his comedy stuff, but in the meantime, I'm delighted that we don't have to wait long for more for John Tanner, and hopefully Jenny.

A good story, well written. Very easy to read. More than one unlikely villain. Set in a rural part of England, where everyone knows everyone else, making it awkward for the newly arrived detective.

This is the first crime fiction story from this author and is an excellent police procedural featuring DI John Tanner. Relocating from the Met to Wroxham station in Norfolk after the death of his daughter Tanner is resigned to having a much quieter time of it, even if it seems that his wealth of experience may be wasted on a small CID division based on the scenic Norfolk Broads. He hasn't even organised a flat or house, instead having the loan of a small boat from an old boss to live on for the immediate future. Arriving at his new station on day one, he is obviously resented by his fellow DI Burgess, a younger and far more inexperienced officer who is delighted when Tanner is relegated to a missing persons enquiry. Paired up with young detective DC Jenny Evans, his first case is that of a missing wife who never arrived home after working her shift running a local pub. However when a woman's body is found strangled and mutilated in the river and caught up in a boat's propeller Tanner is sure they have found their girl. All the evidence points to her husband who had plenty of motive but he has an unexpected alibi, and detectives Tanner and Burgess have to cast their net wider for a suspect. With the discovery of a second similar murder things take a darker and more sinister turn, and the race is on to catch a killer bent on revenge. The story moves along well throughout the book with a nicely dramatic ending, and is set in a lovely part of the world where the author amply demonstrates his boating knowledge. The characters are well defined and I liked the relationships forming between them all. Some parts of the plot are reasonably easy to guess but the overall story is well thought out and there are plenty of little twists thrown in. I really enjoyed this story and I am hoping there will be more books in this series out soon. Definitely recommended.

First encounter with DI John Tanner and DC Jenny Evans Congratulations to David Blake a great story, great locations, great partnership look forward to it blossoming professionally and in their personal lives. Looking forward to more from them in St Benet’s.

David first came to my attention a couple of years ago when I first read book 1 in his Inspector Capstan series, The Slaughtered Virgin of Zenopolis and have read every book he has published since.

This book however is completely different to his Inspector Capstan, Abigail Love and Space Patrol books, as it is a serious Police procedural book instead of the comedy of his other series.

I was very intrigued to see how this worked and I am very to pleased to confirm that David is as brilliant a serious writer as he is a comedy one and I am very pleased he managed to pull this off.

As this is the first book in the series we learn all about the main characters early on and the scene setting can take a bit of time but it was all worth it as it made the story flow much better later on and visualising everything was easier when I knew what people looked like and the lay of the land.

The story line flows really well and had me guessing all the way through.

At times the book does seem to be very by the book in a police procedural process but it works really well and there are some very nice and unique twists throughout. I guessed a couple of bits but still ended up seconding guessing myself afterwards.

Overall this is a brilliant first serious book for David and I can’t wait to read the sequel, which is due out later this year.

Broadland by David Blake
D.I. Tanner #1

The introduction was strong with and drew me in with a woman hurrying home down a dark towpath only to...and then we move to the introduction of Detective Inspector John Tanner. He has just moved from the city, is living on a friend’s boat and has some trauma behind him to overcome when he lands on the scene. His superior does NOT seem to be a nice guy and is rather abrupt and caustic when he first speaks with Tanner. One of Tanner’s colleagues, Burgess, is not happy to have a new man on the team as he had high hopes of being top detective next. And, DC Jenny Evans, his sidekick for the book, is new on the job after a few years working in another arm of law enforcement. His assignment to a missing person’s case is a demotion of sorts but he gives it his all and proves wiser than most of the local constabulary who continue to remain rather cold with him. Jenny, on the other hand, is rather flirtatious and overly warm in her interactions with Tanner.

This book left me feeling ho-hum-ish. I felt there was a lot of describing and not much action at first then toward the end of the story the action picked up with some twists and turns and unexpected events taking place that eventually tied all the various cases up in a bow. I didn’t feel I got to know any of the characters very well, didn’t understand the interactions between John and Jenny finding them rather inappropriate for strangers working together on a case and ultimately came away feeling the story a bit unbelievable. I am on the fence as to whether or not I want to read more in this series. I might to see if future stories have more “meat” to them or I might not bother depending on what I have to read at that time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Oak Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars

I really enjoyed this book, the story was fast paced with short enough chapters to make me want to keep turning the pages. The twists and turns in the story kept me guessing and I enjoyed the characters which I felt were very believable and I could empathise with. I would recommend this author and book if anyone likes a fast paced crime.
story you can get your teeth into!

This crime novel is set in the Norfolk Broads, a beautiful area of the country that I know well. I particularly enjoyed being able to visualise the characters in the localities.
I liked the characters and found them human and believable. The friction between some of the characters was understandable
I will look out for other books by this author.

DI Tanner, newly arrived in Norfolk from the Met, is in charge of a Missing Persons case to ease him into the area. His opposite number DI Burgess has a dead body on his hands. They are one and the same. Suspicion fall upon the victim's husband, until a second body turns up....

Excellent

This is a really good book! I finished this in 2 days flat. It was quite the page turner and had me hooked from the very beginning. I really enjoyed the style of writing and the characters. were well crafted. I enjoyed the rapport and the banter between DI Tanner and DC Evans. The ending I could guess but I still enjoyed it. My only point of contention was that the ending felt a bit simple and rushed. Overall a good book, one which I thoroughly enjoyed and wouldn't hesitate to recommend. And a big thank you to NetGalley and Black Oak Publishing for giving me the chance to read this ARC in exchange of my honest review.

It was a monumental change for DI John Tanner: used to the shortened vistas of life in London it wasn't going to be easy to come to terms with the wide open skies of Norfolk. But it was his own choice: his daughter had died nine months before and his marriage had failed. He needed a new start and he'd been offered the job at Wroxham and a family friend had suggested that he could live on his boat. It was a little cramped and the facilities were limited, to say the least, but it would do until he could find a flat to rent.

The other officers at Wroxham weren't all quite so pleased to see him. DCI Barrington made it clear that he'd wanted someone with local knowledge to replace an officer who'd retired and he couldn't really see what use Tanner would be. To start with he was put on missing persons - not really the job for a DI, but it kept him out of DI Burgess's hair. Burgess was nervous of Tanner, who had the experience of leading big cases, which Burgess lacked. Barrington pandered to Burgess and put him as senior investigating officer when Tanner's missing person case turned into a suspicious death. Tanner was to assist him.

There was a redeeming feature to the arrangement: DC Jenny Evans came along as part of the package and whilst it was early days for Tanner, he had to admit that despite the age difference she did appeal to him. Jenny's what my mother would have called forward (accompanied by a knowing look) and she's not shy about announcing her attraction to Tanner. But there's work to do, as the suspicious death turns into the first murder.

I found the book heavy on description: I knew so much about the police station that I felt I would have been in a position to make a bid for the cleaning contract. I prefer to gather impressions on the way rather than know about gleaming screens and carpet tiles. Once author David Blake moves away from building and onto what he obviously loves, the book picks up. He knows the Norfolk Broads and his knowledge shines through: he creates the feel of the Broads before the season gets started with remarkably few words.

Characterisation was a little two dimensional and the interactions between the police officers was superficial. Perhaps future books will build on the good foundations and deliver rather more. The plot was reasonable if not exceptional, although I didn't guess whodunit until it was revealed.

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to Bookbag.

2 stars

I feel like I've come upon an episode of the Keystone Cops.

DI John Tanner turns up for a new postion. He meets with DCI Burgess who is a totally unlikeable man in the form of a blowhard. Tanner himself seems a little inept and has a bad temper. (Would a cop really get away with talking to his boss that way?)

He and his subordinate DC Jenny have an immediate attraction to one another. How cliché. Jenny was sizing Tanner up for boyfriend material before they even got to the car to take them to interview the husband of the missing woman. It made her look really bad, as though that were her aim rather than being a good and competent policewoman.

There is far too much dithering and detail given in the book. It detracted from the storyline and made the book move very slowly.

By the time I got through half of the book, I found I really didn't care who murdered the woman – or about any of the characters either.

I want to thank NetGalley and Black Oak Publishing for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read and review.

A thoroughly enjoyable read. I could not help but compare the characters and situations found here with the tv series “Midsomer Murders”. The writing and plot development was skillful and smooth. I will look for future books in the series. Well done!

I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Inspector John Tanner is a destroyed man by his daughter's murder and from the crowded and crime-filled streets of London, he moves to a small village, Wroxham near Norwich, England. Here he is in charge of the Missing Persons section and immediately, on the first day, he finds himself investigating the disappearance of a woman, Jane Richardson, with DC Janny Evans. Soon the disappearance turns into murder and Tanner clashes with a veteran of the department, DI Burgess.

In my personal opinion, I liked the book, the chapters are short and so this is in favor of the author. I like the style and also the criminal investigations narrated during the plot. The only two flaws, but this is a very personal opinion, are the "clash" between Tanner and Burgess and the romantic story between Jenny and Tanner (which is not really a story because we are at a high school crush level in this first book).

As for the first point, I find the clash too cliché, because it is used in many crime books and is an expedient to humiliate one of the two (usually the non-protagonist) and to bring out the protagonist as the good character of the situation. Do not misunderstand me, I don't like when the protagonist is diminished, but neither when he/she is put in the light at the expense of someone else.

As for the second point... what can I say... it was clear since the beginning that the two were attracted to each other, before even starting with the case, we see this attraction and I find it out of place and deterrent to the figure of Jenny Evans. But is it possible that police women always have a crush for the boss? Ever heard of a policeman having a crush for the boss (woman boss, not that there are many)? This chauvinism must end. If this romantic story had started a little later in the books, maybe I could have accept it (but maybe not), but I find it another cliché having it so early in the book.

If you take out these two points from the equation, I like the plot, the murderer's motivations, even if it was easy to understand the trick he used. For this reason I will most likely read the second volume.

I have a question... but in England and Ireland don't policemen have guns? Both here and in another book (the Irish one) I find that they don't have guns when they are face to face with a murderer...

An easy read. I liked the setting and how the backstory started unraveling. Interesting storyline with an interesting end. The potential romance between the lead and another character seems to be happening very quickly, makes this read a bit too much like a romance for my liking

I’ve always enjoyed reading David Blake’s comedy books full of British slapstick.
This is a turn to the serious DCI Tanner has relocated from London to the Norfolk broads to get away from bad memories of his daughters murder.
He is new to the area and is treated as such by his contemporaries which he takes on the chin.
He is assigned to missing persons with DC Evans. He strikes up a good working relationship and possibly more as they investigate a missing woman.
The story moves along well, I want to let you know it’s highly entertaining but don’t want to give any plot spoilers, there’s great chemistry between the main characters and although some of the plot is easy to gauge there are some nice twists.
Can’t wait for the next book in the series.

I am a big fan of this author's comedy space series so I was very intrigued when I heard that he had "gone all serious" for this, the beginning of his police procedural crime series, set in the Norfolk Broads. Would he really be able to put all the bonkers, irreverent humour behind him and set his mind to something a little more serious?
And... the verdict is... yes he blooming well can! Although it did hold echos of his trademark humour in some of the dialogue between the two main characters, but nothing on the scale of Capstan and Dewbush! So, for all you who didn't quite gel with these books, and are not sure whether to take a punt on this series, have no fear, they are nothing the same!
Jane Richardson is missing. Daughter of a prominent local millionaire, could it be money related? Could it be kidnap? New boy to the team, just transferred in, DI John Tanner is teamed up with born-and-bred DC Jenny Evans to investigate. Then Jane's body turns up and fingers start to point at the husband. But he was, well, he was pretty well occupied at the time. Or was he? Tanner and Evans continue with their investigations, alongside other officers and it soon becomes evident that this is going to be a tricky one to solve.
As with all new series, there is quite a bit scene setting and character development to be found in this book. Nothing more than the average series opener, and it doesn't distract from the main plot. Personally, I can do without all the boaty stuff but as the setting is quite important to both the series and the crimes being investigated, and also spoke to character development, I was happy to accept their inclusion.
Yes, there are a few cliches to be found herein. The wounded cop with a dark past, a colleague who is less than welcoming and a sidekick that, well, you'll discover that when you read the book. But, that formula generally works, and this book is no exception to that.
The crimes in the book are well plotted and the investigation flows along nicely, with twists and turns aplenty, along with the usual secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour. Yes, I did think they were a bit slow on the uptake regarding one key thing that I saw a mile off, and I did spend a bit shouting at them to see it too but they did get there in the end!
The characters were all well described and I took to the majority right from the off as I found them all easy to connect to. Interaction and banter between them was also spot on for me and made them feel more real. So much so that, when things transpired towards the end, I was literally reading with my heart in my mouth as the book reached its rather shocking conclusion.
All in all, a cracking series opener which I thoroughly enjoyed and which left me hankering for the next one. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.