What a puzzle! On Christmas Eve, at Oaktree Farm, the owner, his wife and daughter are found murdered. Twenty four years earlier, at Oaktree Farm, the owner and his wife were found murdered. Their infant daughter was never found.

Wondering how these cases could be related, DI James Walker and his team begin to investigate. Robert Bateman, killed on Christmas Eve, had a gambling problem and was about to lose the farm. Threats are found on his phone. His daughter Charlotte is dating a possible drug dealer. And, behind the boarded over cellar door, there’s a peephole where someone has been watching the Batemans. Someone who left bloody shoe prints from the outer cellar door. Prints that don’t match any found near the bodies. As Walker tries to unravel the mystery behind the killings, he faces another threat. Andrew Sullivan, a gang leader, is out of jail and looking for revenge. Walker and his wife are on his list.

Alex Pine seamlessly weaves together two murder cases, decades apart, with a memorable group of suspects and a distracting outside threat in this well written, suspenseful police procedural. The conclusion is a total surprise. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and Alex Pine for tis ARC.

A family murder on Oaktree Farm seems to be a simple case of murder suicide but DI James Walker of the Cumbria Constabulary isn't too sure especially when he learns about the sad history of the farm. Will the team be able to find out the truth about the farm and it's secrets? Things can't get any worse for DI Walker as there is a gang boss out there that wants revenge for sending him to prison.
The team is working hard to piece all the clues together and the pool of suspects grows the more they learn about Robert Bateman as he was in a lot of debt and he let some of his friends down but could one of them killed the whole family?
The family has secrets and when the team learn the truth about the family murder all those years ago they are shocked but it answers all the questions about the original murder and the missing baby.
Will Di Walker and his wife be able to enjoy the upcoming birth of their baby without fear?
A good read full of shocking revelations that kept me on the edge of my seat.
I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.

I received a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books.

This is the 2nd book in the DI James Walker series.

I didn’t realise this was part of a series, it wasn’t clear on NetGalley.

However, I was able to follow it without feeling like i’d missed major details from the first book.

It’s a Christmas crime book - which you could argue it is a bit early for since it’s 3 months away!

I did enjoy this book. It a cosy mystery with plenty of twists to keep you gripped.

Now knowing it’s part of a series, I’m interested enough to want to go back and read the first book.

This is the follow up to The Christmas Killer, with DI James Walker, and his wife Annie, who have moved from London back to her home village in Cumbria, after a crime boss made threats against them. This is a really good follow up to that book; it’s a year on and just as gruesome a crime with - as the author put it - more ups and downs than a Big Dipper. The pace is brisk, as the first hours and days of a murder incident room would be. From no suspects to several, and back again. The victims too aren’t quite as they seem on face value. Added to that a very similar crime took place at the same location over 20 years before. Very well written, especially with the use of flashbacks, and I really like James, Annie and the other characters we met before, they’re developing really nicely. I did guess what the main twist would be but not who actually did it. Although this is definitely a stand alone read, I’m glad I read the The Christmas Killer. I look forward to more in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My thanks to Alex and Netgalley for allowing me to read The Killer in the Snow in advance of the publication date.
Last Christmas, DI James Walker and his team had to investigate a serial killer in the quiet Cumbrian village of Kirkby Abbey. This year, James is enjoying a quiet Christmas with his wife, Annie, as they make plans for the birth of their first child.
On his first day back at work, there is a report that 3 bodies have been found at Oaktree Farm outside Kirkby Abbey. They are identified as the owner, Robert Bateman, his wife, Mary and daughter Charlotte.
As the investigation gets underway, DI Walker discovers that there was friction within the family and there are a number of people who were unhappy with Robert Bateman.
24 years earlier, the then owners of Oaktree Farm, Simon and Amanda Roth were found dead and their 6 week old daughter, Megan, was missing. This raises the question of whether there is a link between the 2 events and is Walker investigating 2 crimes.
Walker also receives a report from his former colleagues in the Met that his nemesis, gang land boss Andrew Sullivan, is wanted for murder and has Walker in his sights.
Pine manages to weave a gruesome tale of murder with the beautiful settings of Cumbria, exposing the secrets of the residents.

The Killer in the Snow by Alex Pine

DI James Walker and his pregnant wife are enjoying their second Christmas in Cumbria. They have had a quiet Christmas in comparison to the year before where James was newly in the job and dealing with a highly unusual for the area , a series of murders in a quiet village.
No sooner than being back in the office , and a call comes in from a solicitor who was called to a farm by a farmer who is selling up at the point of bankruptcy. She finds him , his wife and daughter dead.
DI James soon on the scene , finds out the farm was also the spot the previous farmer killed his wife 20 years previously.
What follows is the mystery , suspense and brilliant twists to make this a great read.
Whilst it is the second of a series of Di James Walker and not one I had read previously , it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story and I look forward to the 3rd one.

A page turning delight! I couldnt put this down and when I thought I had it figured out I was wrong. A very enjoyable read

Lots of twists and turns, lots of suspects but not sure they were all needed.
DI Walker is called to 3 suspicious deaths in a nearby farm in Cumbria. Mother and father are found shot and their daughter is found stabbed to death.
DI Walker has moved here with his wife from London the previous year, partially to get away from a London criminal who has threatened to harm him.
Walker is a likeable man who cares deeply for his wife but in this book his boss/team seem to jump from one suspect to the next every time they uncover new evidence.
These murders take place on a farm where a couple were murdered twenty years previously and their baby daughter disappeared.
I liked the main protagonist and his team however I had worked out pretty early on what had happened so lost interest in the story.
3 Stars ⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review.

This is the first book I have read by this author & I enjoyed it. Lots of twists & turns to keep me guessing & racing to the end to see how it all finished up.

I had loved the 1st book from this author, so had to read this one. I was certainly not disappointed.

The book was very fast paced and exciting. Twists and turns throughout. Fantastic plot to keep you on the edge of your chair, desperate for more.

Was great to head back to Kirkby Abbey and catch up with those we had heard about in the last book. If you haven’t read either of these books you must. You don’t know what your missing.

The book once again was very well written. Flowed well. Nice cover on the book also.

Can’t wait to find out if there is another book to come

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this tantalizing mystery in return for an honest review. The complicated, but easy-to-follow plot flows well. It will keep readers engaged while they try to untangle the mystery. This is a police procedural that describes how painstaking and detailed their work must be in order to solve the case. There are no graphic sex scenes or vulgar language. Violence was described through flashbacks to the past, or by discovering already murdered victims.

I enjoyed the fact that the lead detective, DI James Walker, seems so well adjusted with a pleasant, comfortable home life, unlike many lead detectives in fiction who have emotional issues in their personal lives that they soothe with alcohol. He also has a cooperative team working together without dissension, and delegates tasks wisely. He is calm, persistent, and patient in his skilled interrogation of suspects. I learned that this is the second book in the DI Walker series, both cases occurring in a quiet village during the Christmas season. This works as a standalone but refers to previous events which raised my interest in reading the first book.

A family of three, an adult daughter and her parents, are found in a bloody scene at an isolated farmhouse. Forensic evidence suggests they were murdered on Christmas eve. DI Walker was hoping to spend the holiday season relaxing at home, but like a year ago this is not to be. To add to the mystery, the team finds a walled-in hidden room containing a peephole, giving an eerie suggestion that the family was being watched. There is shocking proof that an unknown person was secretly observing the murdered family. The farm was deeply in unpaid debt, partly due to the father's gambling addiction. The high-strung mother hated the home, believing it to be haunted. The daughter had anger issues and was rebellious, engaging in drugs with unsavoury friends. The detectives uncover multiple suspects, secrets and intrigue.

More than two decades earlier, the previous owners of the farm were murdered in the basement and their baby daughter vanished. This murder was never solved. The investigators feel there must be a connection between this cold case and the present family murder. With so many possible perpetrators, they must find a motive linking both killings within the same house during the elapsed time period. Can they succeed? In an unrelated thread, there is a gangster that Walker helped imprison while working in London who is bound on revenge.
Recommended for readers those who enjoy a suspenseful, complex, easy-to-follow mystery with engaging and dedicated investigators. I would read Alex Pine's next book in the series.

The first DI Walker book in the series was an amazing debut novel from Alex Pine and I was thrilled to be able to read the second one. However, The Killer in the Snow can easily be read as a standalone.

DI Walker worked for the Met and lived in London with his wife, Annie, but when she inherits the family home in the village of Kirkby Abbey and there’s a dangerous criminal looking for her husband, they move up to the Cumbrian village. They’re only up there for a short time when a killer strikes.

A year later, on Christmas Eve, a family of three are found dead, and the dangerous criminal is still looking for DI Walker.

A brilliant, well-written story with lots of twists and turns that the reader won’t be expecting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

A brilliant book loved it, full of action this book has some nice twists that will keep you guessing. It has a great storyline and the characters really blend together.5*

Another amazing and intense book in this series, you really don't have had to read the other book in the series, but it would help. I got so engrossed in the work, private life as well as the threats to the main characters. What a beautiful setting it was so well described that I thought I was there. I just cant wait for instalment three - cant say anything more as don't want to spoil it.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

Thank you to Avon books and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book early,
A thriller that takes place on a farm in the UK on Christmas?! Sign me up!! Not only do you get one murder case but two. Both murder cases take place 24 years apart and are eerily the same. Both cases are of husband and wife said to be either staged to look like husband killed wife and then killed himself, but there's one difference one of the cases has a missing child and one has a dead child. You follow Detective James who was hoping for a calm and quiet Christmas since last Christmas there was killings that happens but only to find out a family has been murdered on their farm on Christmas Eve and the only evidence left behind is a bloody shoe print in the snow. The book leads you on a bunch of theories of who killed the family, it was so fun trying to piece together who the real killer was or if was a murder/suicide. I will say it was kinda predictable what happened but I still had a great time reading this book, it was a little slow at times, I wish the pacing was a little bit faster, I tend to like my thrillers to be fast paced and not so draggy. Overall I think this is a great mystery/thriller and I would reccommend it!

This is probably one of my favourite books tk review in recent weeks. It has twists, it has turns, it keeps you guessing, it doesn't drag and doesn't go into the realm of being ridiculously unbelievable! It'll definitely keep you reading through the night and no doubt, heading off to download the rest of the authors books as soon as you finish this one

Spooky scary crime book. Absolutely fantastic. Really made me keep the light on and read into the night. Sad I finished reading it as it was so good. Am going to look at the authors other books which hopefully there are lots of!

This is the second book in the DI James Walker series and it is just as enjoyable as the first.

A family is found dead at their farmhouse just after Christmas. Was it murder-suicide or something more sinister? It’s up to DI Walker and his team to discover exactly what happened.

A good story with plenty of twists which was an easy and enjoyable read. I look forward to the next book in this series.

I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this last night.

When three dead bodies turn up in DI James Walker’s village he needs to find out if it’s murder or a murder/suicide. It soon comes to light that the deaths resemble those of 24 years ago in the exact same farmhouse. Are they linked? To make matters worse DI Walker’s old adversary from London is released from prison and looking for revenge.

It’s one I’d definitely recommend if you fancy a Christmas book but prefer crime to rom-com. It’s the second book featuring DI James Walker, the first being “The Christmas Killer” released last year. You don’t need to have read the first book to read this one and if you thought the first one was a bit predictable and you guessed the ending id still recommend checking this one out. I thought I knew what was going on but then there’s clever little twists that make you doubt yourself.

A good thriller that was fast paced with a good amount of twists and turns and unpredictability. I also loved the setting and how it made me feel warm abd cozy as snow and cabins etc al;ways do yet at the same time unsettled and uneasy.