A great read, which was unpredictable with twists and turns throughout. I liked the settings, as they were familiar, so easy to follow. The story was a little confusing to begin with, but once it got going, the plot fastened and became more thrilling. I really enjoyed the authors writing style and how the chapters were set out. It was very well written in relation to the change of character scenes throughout also. There was some strong character development. Very different to thrillers I have read before, and would definitely read another book by this author.

This is the sixth book in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series. Once again we have Detective Chief Inspector jim Oldroyd on the case. Oldroyd's daughter Louise is in Whitby for a goth weekend when one of her friends gets murdered by her boyfriend. Louise doesn't believe the boyfriend would kill his girlfriend except Louise was looking at him when it happened. She calls in her Dad to look into the case.
I love this series and the characters are just fun. Highly recommend these books.

The Whitby Murders is sixth in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series, but can be read as a standalone, most of the background information about DCI Jim Oldroyd and his group of detectives can be gleaned from the current story.

I liked the setting of Whitby (one of the locations written about in Bram Stoker's Dracula), it added to the creepy atmosphere for the murders that take place. I also liked DCI Oldroyd and his fellow detectives, particularly Stephanie and Granger, but thought some of the other characters (Oldroyd's daughter's friends who were witnesses to the initial murder) were unlikeable and maybe a little shallow. This murder mystery had some good twists and turns, pointing the police to alternative suspects, and a satisfying wrapup at the end, I would like to read more books in this series.

A Dracula Festival Weekend Turns Deadly

Whitby in the far north of Yorkshire hosts a Dracula Festival because this is where Dracula enters England in the shape of a large black dog. People flock to the festival for fun and to be slightly frightened. Louise, daughter of DCI Jim Oldroyd, and her friends are no exception. They’re dressed as Goths and are headed to an “escape room” where they solve clues and try to escape.

The group is congenial but Andrea and Dominic, who have been partners for awhile, are taunting each other and fighting. They group doesn’t attach importance to this behavior, they often do this, but tonight the bickering has tragic consequences. In the escape room, Dominic stabs Andrea to death and vanishes. The friends are horrified, but as Louise replays the scene in her mind something seems off. Her instinct is to tell her father.

I enjoy the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries. This is the sixth book, but can be read as a standalone. The Yorkshire scenery is beautifully describes and Jim’s cases are always complex and interesting. This one is no exception.

The pace is not fast, but it fits the area and the nature of the crime. I enjoyed the inclusion of Louise in a major role in this novel. She’s an intelligent character with some of her father’s instinct for crime.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

RATING: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 🌟/5
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SYNOPSIS: Detective Oldroyd is at it again...this time in Whitby! A game at a Dracula 🧛‍♂️ escape room 🔑 goes wrong. Leaving 1 friend dead, 1 friend a suspect, and his daughter possibly involved. Y’all this was so GOOD!
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PROS: The plot twist at the end is what I’m living for right now! I love the authors writing style and how the stories of all of the detectives 🕵️‍♂️ , suspects 💀 and friends intertwine! 😬 Such a great read!
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CONS: NOTHING 😬

To be honest, this was a "did not finish" book for me. I found the writing stilted--there was a lot of *telling* rather than *showing* about the characters, which made it difficult to get into. Sorry!

The Whitby Murders is the sixth in J.R. Ellis's Yorkshire Murder Mysteries series featuring D.C.I. Jim Oldroyd. This instalment takes place during the (real life) Whitby Goth Weekend, a goth-themed festival based in the picturesque coastal town of Whitby, and timed to coincide with Hallowe'en. As many readers will know, the town of Whitby is closely associated with the legend of Dracula, both as a major setting and because author Bram Stoker's inspiration for the novel is attributed partly to a holiday he spent in the town during the 1880s.
This case has a deeply personal element for D.C.I. Oldroyd. His daughter Louise calls him to request that he come to Whitby from his base in Harrogate, after a close friend of her is murdered, a horrifying event to which she was a witness. Louise and five of her friends have travelled from their working lives in London to Whitby for the Goth Weekend, sharing an airbnb and looking forward to a weekend of "partying, dressing up and general fun" (loc.58). The six friends attend a Dracula-themed escape room activity, and it is there that the fun weekend turns to tragedy.
Fortunately for Oldroyd, his superior officer, D.C.S. Walker, is happy to authorise him to take time away from his Harrogate workload to hotfoot it to Whitby at a moment's notice, taking D.S. Stephanie Johnson with him. Not only that, but the officer in charge of the murder investigation, D.I. Alice Granger, is a former colleague and acolyte of Oldroyd's, and is more than happy to accept his unofficial assistance with her investigation, in which his daughter is one of the suspects. It's all a little too cosy to be believable, to be honest...
Balancing her work with her maternal obligations, Granger carries out her official investigation, hampered somewhat by the large goth-visitor population in town. Comparing notes with her as they go, Oldroyd and Johnson meanwhile undertake their own deeper dive into several leads, including searching for the missing prime suspect, interviewing the escape room's rather curious employees while trying to track down its mysterious owner and uncovering a counterfeit jewellery racket in which the victim may or may not have been involved. After Johnson returns to active duty in Harrogate, her colleague and partner, D.S. Andy Carter, heads south to London to probe further into the lives of the victim, her partner and the other members of Louise's circle of friends. All the lines of enquiry eventually converge on the thrilling unmasking of the villain.
I've enjoyed reading each of the instalments in J.R. Ellis's series, and The Whitby Murders was no exception. However, I felt that there was just a little too much going on in terms of intertwined plotlines. I found several of the clues rather heavy-handed and the character behaviour at times completely unbelievable. That said, I felt the core plot of the mystery was well-conceived and the conclusion satisfying. For readers who are willing to suspend disbelief a little, and persevere through the myriad of distractions in terms of alternate suspects and motives, The Whitby Murders is a good, solid detective story in the traditional mould. I look forward to further instalments in the series.
My thanks to the author, J.R. Ellis, publisher Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Whitby, on England's east seashore, was cast as the landing place of Dracula in Stoker's classic novel. Since then the town has used this for tourism.. DCI Oldroyd's daughter Louise and a group of friends are participating in a horror themed escape room when inexplicitly one of her friends stabs his girlfriend and flees. Doubting the scenario Louise calls on her dad and his team. The experienced cop also feels things are not as they seem and other odd events and more deaths ensue. This is mid series and is a solid police procedural which stands on its own merit. The historic setting and goth details add flavor to a well plotted investigation.,. The characters are well developed and I was especially drawn to the two female officers and the way their contributions were portrayed. The minor characters were realistic and distinctive. each adding their bit. This is the first I have read from this author but will continue the series and I think it would appeal to other British crime readers.

The only thing I liked about this book was the location. I adore Whitby. I could picture the settings very clearly in my mind. Sadly, I disliked just about everything else.

My mother is prone to watching third-rate TV police dramas in the afternoons. This book reads like one of those. I suspected it was a first novel or something in the 'fan fiction' genre because the writing was so plodding, clunky and 'tell-don't-show'. I'm astonished to discover that this author has been writing for many years.

I love this genre (normally) but I lean towards the more literary end of crime fiction - Val McDermid, Kate Atkinson, et al - and this was just too simplistic, too obvious and irritating. At the end, the killer comes clean in a big "I'd have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those pesky kids" which seemed to have been taken straight out of an episode of Scooby Doo. Why would any murderer explain their actions in such detail? Don't they know that juries still make mistakes and he might have 'gotten away with it' if he didn't tell this bumbling policeman every little trick in the book?

Very poor. Sorry but I just can't recommend it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

The Whitby Murders is another book in a series but JR Ellis. It starts with a Goth weekend that turns tragic. DCI Oldroyd’s daughter is witness to a murder that occurs in an escape room, so of course she calls her father. It started a bit slow but keep going because it's worth it in the end. I enjoyed this book, the relationship between Oldryod and his daughter and the constables he worked with. Some knowledge of Dracula might enhance the story but it's not essential.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book.

Not a bad book, though I am not raving aboutit either. I liked the setting, in Whitby and the premise (a group of friends go for goth week). Though I found the explanations sometimes too long winded and the crimes were a clumsily done. It couldhave been open and shut, but a couple of the characters had the feeling that there was more to it. I guessed the culprit quite early on.
The derective is, according to all brilliant and solves the case with a couple of brainwaves. Though I was glad to read about how the conclusion was reached, as previously mentioned , the descriptions were long winded.

Although part of a series, this is the first one I have read, perhaps I would have hac more patience if I had read more .

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56754272-the-stalker

The author utilizes his extensive knowledge of Yorkshire to transport the reader to Whitby where an apparent murder and suicide has taken place. Our main character, Detective Chief Inspector Oldroyd is not the principal investigating officer and is there because his daughter was a witness and friend of both victims. Neither are satisfied with the apparent straight forward details. The investigating DI is a former DS under him and welcomes his non interfering input. His keen observations soon have them rethinking the event with successful results.

This is the second book by this author I have read and I have not been disappointed by either. I recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a British police procedural mystery. I have rated it 4 stars.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

I finished this book a month ago and have dragged my feet in writing the review. My hesitation is in that I got an advanced copy from NetGalley but know that if I’m honest, I was not impressed with this book overall. My rating would be closer to 2 1/2 stars.

I’ll start with the positive. The outline of the actual murder is quite good and clever. With better, more fleshed out characters this could have been really impressive. Unfortunately, there was way too much telling and not enough showing.

Now for the not so positive. The characters were not terribly believable. They ranged from wooden and one dimensional to irritatingly woke-tastic. The inspector was grating in his desire to be more progressive, with his besetting sin being a tendency to eat too much. It reminded me of job interviews where when asked their worst quality the candidate either replies that they care too much or tend to be a workaholic. *cue the massive eye roll*

Now for the murderer… the dissembling at the end could have been amazing but instead was a little too reminiscent of Paul Reubens’ character in the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” original movie. The only thing missing was the extended and exaggerated death scene with the murderer comically kicking the wall and moaning.

I so wanted to really like this book but there were too many issues. While I didn’t absolutely hate it, I would not be inclined to read anymore of the series.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review.

I liked it! It is Goth weekend and the small town of Whitby is full of fun seekers. A group of friends have gathered to escape to have fun. I liked the town and all the fun activities. The escape room sounds like a ton of fun. But then friends die. Louise calls her dad because he is a big time detective. He and his assistant help the local police unravel the mystery. I liked the twists and turns. I didn't see the end coming at all. Good story, good twists, good ending.

This is my first book by this author and I picked it purely due to the cover, a view from to top of the 199 steps in whitby.
I found this book very hard to read, the dialogue was very repetitive, the information the detectives gathered were repeated about 3 times through out the book.
This book reminded me of programmes like mid summers murders and poirot.
Since whitby is like my second home I liked reading and recognising places.
Although I probably won't be picking up another in the series.
Thank you netgallery for this advanced copy of this book.

I like this series and look out for the latest book however, I found this book rather disappointing. It started off well but half way through I guessed how and who had committed the murder and lost interest. I will continue to read the series and hope this was a one off.
Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

This is my first J.R. Ellis novel and honestly I was pleasantly surprised. I completely enjoyed the mystery surrounding the murder while also learning a little about the story of Dracula. It was an interesting read in that the characters were well developed and easily relatable. My only critique of this novel was the ending. I felt like it could have been summed up a little faster, but I understood why the author chose to do it the way it was done. Still all things considered I still highly recommend this novel.

Another great installment of this series and definitely recommend it.
Coming back to this series is always so comforting, between the characters, plots, locations, and writing, the author never disappoints.

The Whitby Murders is about a murder that happened in front of 3 witnesses in an escape room. Louise and her friends see another friend stab his girlfriend in front of them and they find it hard to believe what they saw. The couple had a great relationship even though they sometimes argued. The friends are in the small town of Whitby for a Goth Festival. Louise refuses to believe what they saw is really what happened. She feels that something isn't right so she calls her Father who is a Police Detective in a nearby town. One of the local police used to work with Louise's father so he gets permission to work this case. The suspected murderer fled the scene as soon as he stabbed the victim, .however, the friends receive texts from him.
The case gets more complicated as they investigate the murder. They learn that this is no straightforward crime of passion.

With a violent murderer on the loss, they fear for their safety however the police tell the group of friends that they must stay in town a few days as the investigation continues.. This is an interesting book with hidden secrets that cone to light. I recommend this book.

DCI Oldroyd's daughter (Louise) goes up to Whitby with a group of friends to be part of the Goths who go there to celebrate Halloween. Whitby is the site of where Bram Stoker set his novel 'Dracula' and it has become a magnet for Goths and the like at that time of year. They go to a "Locked Room" Escape where you have to answer questions to find keys to get out of the room.

While in the locked room, one couple of Louise's continue an argument they were having before they got to the venue. All of a sudden, the male of the couple pulls out a knife and stabs the woman in the heart. She is dead almost instantly, though people in the group try to revive her. The murderer has gone out the emergency exit and when the chase after him, they find the alley outside to be empty. Louise of course immediately calls her father.

There begins a massive manhunt to find the murderer, with Oldroyd being given leave from his post to assist the local constabulary any way that he can. Once he hears the evidence, Oldroyd begins to think that even though three people were there when he stabbed the girl. that there is something odd about the whole thing. The first question is why was he carrying a knife?

From herein Oldroyd assisted by one of his DCs with him in Whitby and the other looking for information in London, begin to track down information that only shows more and more inconsistencies. When can you not be sure of something that happened right in from of you.