An interesting story with lots of twists and turns building up to a scary climax. Well worth reading if you prefer lighter detective novels.

A Joanna Piercy mystery. The D.I. , smarting at being handed seemingly simple cases possibly because of her pregnancy, suddenly finds herself deep in something much more sinister. Enjoyable mystery with credible characterisation and a well written plot. A solid and engaging read.

A Joanna Piercy mystery

Detective Joanna Piercey has become Mrs Matthew Levin, is seven months pregnant and hating every second of it. Her husband wants to wrap her in cotton wool and have her stop working, but Joanna is having none of that and is still cycling to work. To top everything off, she is highly insulted when she is given a seemingly simple case to handle involving an old man gone missing from a residential home in the early hours of the morning in pyjamas, slippers and an overcoat. Zachary Foster, age ninety-six, suffering from dementia, dubbed 'Christopher Robin' by the nursing staff at the home because he drags a battered old teddy bear around; one he has had since he was a child. He suffered a stroke two years ago and is speech impaired so is hardly a flight risk, and Joanna is confident he will be found by the end of the day. The Victorian residential home is one of the last houses before the town gives way to the Staffordshire Moorlands. If he turned right at the gate, he would go to the rural town of Leek, turning left he would venture into the dangerous void that is the moorlands. Just how far can an old man go?

Usually at some point during an investigation, as facts are unearthed, some sense and order start to appear, but in this case, nothing makes sense – how can a senile old man vanish into thin air? The simple case that Joanna had been insulted to be handed is beginning to look a little less obvious and a little more devious.

An enjoyable read showing that police work is asking questions over and over again, examining what evidence there is over and over and making sure that you do not overlook the small things, the things that seem so insignificant that you are tempted to ignore them. A detective needs to be like a bulldog – get your teeth into a case and not let go until the case is solved.

Saphira


Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Dementia patients are known to wander, especially at night, but Zachery Foster is 96 years old and in a locked care home. Until he wasn't. Joanna, who is a crack detective is given this a case- find him asap- because she's pregnant. This is not a fast moving procedural but Joanna's interviews in her effort are interesting. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd not read any of the previous installments I this long running series and was fine with starting here. It's a short read and one that will no doubt satisfy fans of Masters.

My 5* review of Blood on the Rocks by Priscilla Masters
Take a 96 year old missing dementia patient and a teddy bear. This author conjures a fantastic mystery tale in a brilliant thought out plot, whilst being heavily pregnant at the time. Not the author being Pregnant the main character. This book keeps you on your toes and at the edge of your seat at the same time, if that's possible. Looking forward to more from this writer.

Blood on the Rocks by Priscilla Masters
Joanna is very pregnant but she's still a cop. She's insulted when they put her in charge of finding an old missing man with dementia. She thinks it's just busy work but it's more complicated than that...

Severn House and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published August 1st.

It seems the man has disappeared. She questions the help trying to figure out how he got out the locked doors. After all, the doors were all locked on the inside in the morning. As an aside she finds he was upset because his teddy bear was missing. Did he go out to look for it and get lost? Everyone is looking for him but no one is finding him. Then she wonders if he was abducted. While she's worrying about the dementia patient, there is someone planning her demise...

A recent prisoner who was released is planning how to get even. She's going to use the man as bait.

The man's bear was valuable and it was stolen for the money they could get out of it. The lost man has been hid but they are afraid of the woman prisoner and agree to give him to her.

Will Joanna fall for the trap that's being set? I'm afraid so.

With not long to go before giving birth DI Joanna Piercy is given the supposedly easy case of the missing 96 year old dementia sufferer Zachary Foster. Who went missing overnight from a residential care on the outskirts of Leek, a care home locked up for the night.
Although the 14th in the series I felt that it could easily be read as a standalone story. Unfortunately I didn't really like any of the characters not even the main detective and her husband. I did find it surprising that it took so long for the police to determine the motive, I though it was fairly obvious.
A NetGalley Book

DNF
A good Police procedures. I read about I/2 of the book and it the violence begin to increase to a point where I could no read the story.

I loved this mystery with DI Joanna Piercey. This was a good mystery book. I’ll read more from this author
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

This is the 14th in the DI Joanna Piercy series. Not essential that you read any of the previous books, but I would recommend it in order to learn about Jo, Mike, her colleagues and her relationship with Matthew.

This book sees a heavily pregnant Joanna struggle with solving the mystery disappearance of an elderly man and his teddy bear.

I have read most of this series and really like Jo. My only criticism is that the story seemed to take a while to get into its stride.

I would give this story 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for giving me an arc of this story in exchange for my review.

#BloodOnTheRocks #NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for this ARC/eDoc of my first Priscilla Masters Mystery, Blood on the Rocks. DI Joanna Piercy, pregnant, was directed to find ninety-six year old Zachary Foster, suffering from dementia who had wandered out of a residential care home. Zachary was said to be looking for his teddy bear he had had for over 90 years- this was not the case.

Since this is my first DI Joanna experience, I was unaware of the particulars leading up to what seems like a lot of animosity between the DI and some of her peers. Perhaps things are less "rocky "normally in the Staffordshire Moorland and Joanna's life ( no pun intended).

Because of her zealousness as a law officer, she has some seriously wild and dangerous enemies on the street and also with a knowledge of moorland caves. I will tell you that all was well at the end of the story, for Joanna and Zachary- less so for others. I plan to try another in the series.

3 and 1 / 2 stars

Mr. Zachary Foster aged ninety-six and suffering from dementia has wandered away from his care home. DI Joanna Piercy, heavily pregnant, is given the task of locating him, much to her irritation.

Joanna begins her investigation by visiting the care home and interviewing the staff and Zachary's roommate. The staff claims that all the doors were locked; they have a protocol. Meanwhile, it is bitterly cold outside and Zachary is presumably outside in his p.j.s.

I didn't find this book to be as good as Ms. Masters' previous novels. I had a hard time getting through it in sometimes. There was far too much time spent on interviewing and talking and not enough action. It was well written and Ms. Masters made her usual astute observations about her interviewees body language.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House/Severn House Publishers for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read, enjoy and review.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
DI Joanna Piercey is pregnant and not wholly happy about it. Her husband is trying to wrap her up in cotton and her caseload is tepid, to say the least. She's tasked with finding a 96-year old man who has mysteriously disappeared from his care home. Suffering from Alzheimer's, not too steady on his feet, with only pyjamas, slippers and a coat, he's in danger of freezing to death. But the police can't find him, there is no CCTV footage of him and nobody has seen him. Days pass and things look dire, there's no way he could survive, poor man. The only clue Joanna has is that the man's constant companion, his ancient teddy bear, went missing and heartbroken, he might have gone looking for it outside. But how could he have left the building, it was locked up tight...
This mystery was quite tense and seemingly impossible to solve. Joanna is anxious to solve it as she struggles to heft her growing belly around, irritated that she was handed the case in the first place. She's not a happy, glowing mum-to-be, afraid of birth and motherhood and to top it all, after a fall off her bicycle, she can't even cycle to work anymore...forbidden by the husband who's ecstatic about the the baby.
This was a very enjoyable read, my heart was speeding up more and more towards the end and I can't wait to see what the future will hold for Joanna, new mum still working!

DI Joanna Piercy is pregnant, not an invalid, but that’s they way her colleagues are treating her. Her latest assignment just goes to show they aren’t giving her any fast paced, dangerous work. She’s looking into the disappearance of a 96-year-old man from a dementia care home. The poor old guy has up and disappeared with his beloved teddy bear. Joanna begins thinking this is the simple case of a man who has wandered into the neighbor’s garden, but the more she learns, the more she realizes that something very strange and very troubling is going on. Masters does an excellent job portraying both a pregnant police woman trying to work an already difficult, male dominated job, and the plight of people struggling with dementia