As if having a serial killer on the loose isn't bad enough, Tom Calladine & Ruth Bayliss have a new boss...Stephen Greco. Brilliant....not.

On top of that, a ransomware extortionist is targeting local businesses, and Ruth's personal life has fallen apart.

Can things actually get any worse?

Dead Wicked - Helen H Durrant

Dead Wicked is book 10 in the Calladine & Bayliss series. The main characters are reintroduced within the first few pages so you can read this as a stand-alone book and still understand what’s happening but I would recommend starting from book 1 as this is an amazing series and one of my favourites!

My favourite part about this series is that each book focuses on a different major crime so each is different but still has the backstory of Tom & his family running throughout.

The plot....
Tom Calladine has recently been promoted to acting DCI, a desk job he knows he will hate. He soon turns this down so he can get back out in the field doing what he does best.... solving crimes alongside his team.

A brutal murder has taken place on the local estate which has left a man beaten to death and his tongue removed. Meanwhile, a child has been poisoned in the local shop from a contaminated drink, the shop assistant Gina fleeing the scene and her boyfriend being arrested for drug dealing. Ginas aunt Moira & later Toms mother have been threatened online for money and are now both missing.
Tom & his team try to investigate what has happened they soon begin to discover that these crimes are linked.

As an old enemy is released from prison, Tom begins to worry for the safety of his family and without giving too much away, he was right to worry.

Although there is a lot going on throughout the book, I find this series very easy to follow and it is very engaging, I personally had opinions about certain characters behaviours throughout such as Ruths actions when her partner Jake split with her as he had found someone else, yet days before she was eyeing up new pathologist Rob and then going on a date with him a day after Jake left her. You will find yourself very invested in the characters especially if you’ve followed this series from book 1.

Overall I don’t have a bad word to say about Dead Wicked, it’s so well written and will have you hooked. Hopefully there will be more from Calladine & Bayliss

Thank you @joffebooks & @netgalley for an early copy of this to leave my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the eARC.
This is no. 10 in the Calladine & Bayliss series.
A young man, very drunk, is on his way home when he's brutally murdered, with his severed tongue stuck down his throat. A business woman receives malware that shuts down her computer system, with a message that only if she pays in bitcoin to get her system back. She refuses and disappears. The same thing happens to Calladine's mother, who also disappears.
There is a vicious murderer on the loose...is it the man just released from prison who threatened Calladine's life? Bayliss, newly single and upset, and Calladine are racing to solve this difficult case.
Another good read in the series, recommended.

201 pages

5 stars

Acting DCI Tom Calladine hates his new job and can't wait to join his former partner DS Ruth Bayliss at a crime scene.

The man has been badly beaten, but the most outstanding feature of his death is that his tongue was cut out and stuffed down his throat.

At the same time, Calladine's team is dealing with a rash of persons being extorted by ransomware. These are particularly heinous crimes.

This book is littered with murders and the tension is increased when the new DCI assigned to the station turns out to be Stephen Greco. Calladine and Greco have never seen eye to eye. Calladine thinks Greco is too prissy.

This is a great book. Ms. Durrant has written a sharp police procedural which illustrates the triumphs as well as the frustrations of a day to day police investigation. Her characters are interesting and true to life. The reader is in the the station or on the streets with the investigators as they try to sort out the cases. Are they related? Calladine doesn't think so.

This book comes complete with surprises and turns. The identity of the murderer was a big surprise. I loved it!

I want to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this absolutely great book for me to read, enjoy and review.

What a fantastic read! I absolutely love this author and this series of books. It didn’t disappoint it was tense and had me hanging on to every word. I read this book in record time, I just devoured it. Highly recommend this book it was an excellent read and deserving of 5 stars.

Totally addictive.
Book ten calladine and bayliss.
On the Hobfield estate Halifax, Kieron Ramsey heading to home at heron house towers, drunk but he has to be kept quiet after been set upon his tongue is cut out.
The estate is a magnet of villains, Tom Calladine and Ruth Bayliss investigate and found him badly beaten looks like he's upset the killer. Gina Haigh out of care staying with her Aunt moira works in the same supermarket as Kieron after an incidence she flees so are the two connected?
Just what can I say, wow its a cracker, I loved it, fast pace, with a cracking end. Lots going on through out this book, its action packed and I couldn't put it down.

Another brilliant book by this author. Lots of twists and turns if you like detective books you will really enjoy Helens books. Definitely another good read