Ruth Prendergast returns home one evening only to find a man dead in her bed. Who is he and how did he get there? DI Isabel Blood is tasked with solving the mystery along with all her other problems, her family, her estranged father and newly discovered stepbrother. An interesting read. Isabel’s family dynamics are not straight forward and the murder mystery takes the reader down one alley after another.

I was torn on what to give this book but settled on 3.5 stars. I liked the detective part of the novel and was keen to see what happened next. There was no need to read the previous book in order to find out what was going on. However there was a lot of background story about DI Blood which I found irrelevant. I almost expected the personal story to link in in some way, just because there was so much of it!

An enjoyable police procedural/murder mystery

The relationship between Isabel and her team was a good one, and also it is a refreshing change to read about a detective who has a settled/happy private life.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

Life hadn't been easy for Ruth Prendergast: she'd just come through a divorce and right now it was raining hard. All she wanted was to get back to her new home and settle down for a quiet evening. It wasn't going to be though: when she went into her bedroom she found a dead man on her bed with a knife in his chest. She'd no idea who he was.

D I Isabel Blood was due to start two weeks of leave. She'd recently reconnected with her father who'd left her and her mother when she was fourteen years old. It was decades since she'd seen him but Detective Superintendent Val Tibbet had cancelled all leave because of the murder and Isabel was soon on her way to 4 Hollybrook Close in Bainbridge. She barely had time to meet Donald Corrington from the plane - and was surprised to discover that he'd brought his son and Isabel's half brother, Fabien, with him from France.

She had hoped that her father would already have told his family that he had bigamously married Isabel's mother, but he's obviously reluctant to make the admission. He'd rather that the family thought that Isabel's mother had knowingly involved herself with a married man. But how long can the secret be kept? Nathan Blood isn't keen to maintain the lie and teenager Ellie is quite likely to blurt something out. Isabel's confused too about why her father would have chosen to stay in a hotel rather than with his family, who had been expecting him.

The body was identified as 47-year-old Kevin Spriggs, a car mechanic. There seemed to be no connection with Ruth Prendergast, or even with Gerald Langton the previous owner of the property. It's then down to the minutiae of establishing who might have had access to a key to 4 HollyBrook Close and who might have had reason to want to see Kevin Spriggs dead. He had a criminal record for violence to a woman and didn't seem to be well-liked by anyone but why would his body be left at Ruth's house?

Jane Bettany handles what seems like a cast of thousands with consummate ease, bringing each one to life in remarkably few words. The plot was good too: I worked out part of the solution but not all of it and it certainly didn't spoil the read. It's an intriguing story: there doesn't seem to be a ready answer to the conundrums the case presents. Essentially the book is a story of dysfunctional family relationships and how incorrect assumptions can be made.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

This was my first Jane Bethany book and I really enjoyed it! I didn’t realise it was a second book of labour DI Blood but did not feel like I was missing any story by starting off with this book.

Ruth comes home to find the body of a man she doesn’t know in her bed - whilst I guessed a couple of the plot twists it didn’t stop me enjoying the book as a whole. I’d definitely be happy to read another of Janes books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this ARC!

Without a Trace is the second instalment in Jane Bettany's DI Isabel Blood of Bainbridge CID series set in Derbyshire. In this novel which works as a standalone, 57-year-old Isabel is investigating when a man is found in the bed of HR manager Ruth Prendergast. As well as handling the case which is problematic, Isabel also has issues in her personal life to deal with including a visit from her dad and younger half brother Fabien. An intriguing, well-plotted and enjoyable read which has tempted me to pick up a copy of the series début.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from HQ Digital via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Ruth comes dashing home from work, tired and weather beaten to find a man, a stranger, dead in her bed. Ruth has no connection to this man. No DNA evidence has been left. Who is this man? Why has he been killed? Why is he in Ruth's house...'It is easy to have fond memories of things that happened a long time ago, but time can play tricks with us. We do not always see things clearly, in their true light'...
An excellent tale for an Autumnal evening. This is the story of a murder mystery to the back drop of familial relationships, and secrets and lie...just enough of a page turning thriller to put a little chill down your spine in a cold, dark evening

This book was OK. A man is found murdered in bed by a homeowner. she has never seen him before . Isabel is the main detective in this series , the mother of two, she has family issues in this book regarding her father who has not been part of her life for the best part of 40 years.
The detectives were ok, the crimes just about believable. Lots of running around by the team following tenuous leads and circumstantial evidence. At times the direction of the investigation was difficult to follow & I am not totally convinced by the motive .
Not a bad book, but have read better .
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is an easy to read police procedural. Although I haven't read the first book in the DI Blood series but I didn't feel I'd missed much coming in to the story late.
There was a good mix of DI Blood's professional and private life and although most of the characters were not very interesting, there was enough going on with twists and turns to keep me engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Very enjoyable who done it crime thriller read. Good police procedural book with great characters and storyline

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion

Enjoyed this police proceedural with a complicated murder case. Who murdered the stranger in the house of a new tenant? It got confusing at times with so many characters but eventually was able to sort them all out. A more detached style than usual but it still worked. The main detective was also dealing with a long standing issue with her father that had been left her life over 40 year ago as well

CW: murder, suicide, depression, rape

I so enjoyed this twisty thriller! I did predict one of the twists, but the story still kept me on my toes! I also enjoyed the family aspect that was tied into this book. It was a nice touch. And the ending was very clever. If you're looking for a twisty thriller with a compelling family dynamic that you won't want to put down, look no further! Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Stories for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this - it was very readable. The Derbyshire setting was great, the characters very believable, and the mystery kept me intrigued to the end. I really liked the central character, Isabel Blood, and how she juggled her family and work commitments as she worked the case.

The hardest crimes to solve are those where the perpetrator hasn’t left clear incriminating evidence behind. Such is the dilemma for DI Isabel Blood and her perplexed team. And the killer had the temerity to inconsiderately commit their crime during what should have been DI Blood’s planned holiday break.

Not just any break, mind you, but a golden opportunity for a much hoped for family reunion, offering a chance to not only catch up with her estranged, wayward father but also to meet her half-brother who accompanies him for this special visit.

Despite these drawbacks, the somewhat harassed DI Blood commits her energy, superior investigatory skills and time to solving this crime even if the list of potential people involved grows longer by the day yet becomes a long series of denials and dead ends.

She is a strong, relatable and likeable main character, supported by a cast of interesting individuals who work with her and assist with the investigation itself and those who come under her forensic, investigative microscope until the crime is solved.

The fascinating back stories (including her own) add an intriguing element and contribute greatly to the enjoyment of this meticulous police procedural novel. Although the plot and subplots feel a bit contrived in places, the great writing and characterisation make the story hang together well. Grateful thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for the ARC.

I received this book from HQ Digital via Netgalley for a review. Brilliant who done it, could not put it down. Great characters and story.

Without a Trace is a thoroughly enjoyable read. It begins with the discovery of a murder victim in an empty house and what follows are the efforts of the detective team in solving the crime. I particularly liked the strong main character DI Blood. Indeed a real strength of the book is the very impressive characterisations. I like the balance between the detectives’ personal lives and the investigation they’re working on. The meticulous police procedures described in the book add to the enjoyment as it’s so interesting to find out how a murder squad goes about its business.

My only slight criticism is that the plot is not very strong; the events leading up to the murder are unrealistic. However, this didn’t spoil it for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ Publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

I'm not an avid reader of crime novels but I like a good TV crime drama. This book strikes me as something that could be made for TV. It has a scenic location, a varied cast of characters and a family drama. Oh, and a murder case of course.
They didn't seem to make much progress for a while and this seemed to convey the frustration of a real case. I guessed the murderer but not until close to the end.
I'd definitely read another in the DI Blood series.

The epilogue of this tale ends with the printed footnote - don't miss Cold Blood another unputdownable novel from Jane Bettany - I do not agree. I managed all too easily to put down "Without a Trace" and have no intention to repeat the experience with Cold Blood. The story was fine, peopled with, to my mind at least, rather ill developed characters. There are much better and more three dimensional detectives out there.

I shall be trite and suggest - move along, move along, nothing to see here.

A stranger murder in bed in a new house leaves the owner confused.
What a brilliant start to a great book. A strong female lead with an equally interesting family story going on.
Good plot and great characters.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ for the electronic copy.

This is Book #2 with DI Isobel Blood and, although I haven't read #1, it reads well as a standalone and you soon catch-up. This has a good and unusual story which has a rather chilling opening: Ruth Prendergast is starting a new life since her divorce and moving to No.4 Hollybrook Close in Bainbridge, Derbyshire. This is a secluded close, backing onto farmland, and where other residents are absent during the day and the house next door, No.3 has been up for sale for some time. Going about her normal business on returning home from work she enters her bedroom only to find the body of a man in the bed; realising he wasn't just sleeping......................!

DI Blood was looking forward to a week off to reunite with her estranged father. All leave is cancelled as Isobel and her team are called in to investigate under the name of Operation Jackdaw. The body is discovered to have been stabbed, most of his clothes and all ID had been removed but the database identifies him as a Kevin Spriggs. The investigation focuses on getting to know everything they can about Kevin and who could have had access to Ruth's house - and indeed, WHY?

After the initial mysterious opening the pace of the investigation became very pedestrian and drawn-out. Thankfully, to counter-balance this, we are given a good side story in Isobel's meeting her father and half-brother and her attempts to juggle spending time with them and keeping the investigation going.

The list of suspects gradually mount and this becomes a classic Whodunnit police procedural, with twists and surprises right up to the end. I really liked the way Isobel and her team worked together and related to one another, they are good characters.

Well worth reading.