You never get a bad book from Nick Louth, absolutely stunning, an amazing read and can't wait for more from him

The Body in Nightingale Park is a riveting police procedural that is fast paced from beginning to end. I started with this book so I can’t say how it feels to with the series but it’s f the other books are anything like this one I’m sure the series is a must read. I will have to catch up on them when I can. If you like complex police procedurals with plenty of twists turns and a shocking ending this is the book for you.

4.5 (RTC)
I’d like to thank NetGalley and Canelo for approving me for an ARC of this book. I have been reading the whole series and was interested to see what the final instalment would hold. Whilst this book is part of a series it will work as a standalone, as each book focuses on a different case.

🕵🏻This series has become one of my staple series. I always know what I’m going to get and can easily settle into the story from the beginning. This book has numerous investigations on the go, spanning a lot of the UK. Watching all the puzzle pieces fit into place was very satisfactory and as always, executed brilliantly.

💥I’ve come to expect explosive endings with these books but Nick Louth more than delivered with this one. The dramatic finale definitely had me on the edge of my seat, I could hardly catch my breath.

👩🏻It was great to see Sam playing a larger role in this story, I really like the insight we get into her marriage with Craig. The eagerly anticipated arrival of their baby also added tension to the story.

⭐Whilst I am sad to see this series end I do feel that Nick Louth gave us the perfect ending. One final action-packed, twisty read filled with some of my favourite characters.

I didn't read all the books in this series but most of them and was a bit sad to say good bye to the characters.
This is a well plotted and solid police procedural, there's plenty of surprising twists and it kept me guessing.
I love the storytelling and the well developed characters
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you Netgalley and Canelo
This is the 12th and I think final book in the superb series. I do not do spoikers, but will say that the book goes out with a bang. I was pretty sure early on who the killer was but the supporting story around it was not clear cut in my mind until the end. Fantastic writing as always. Highly recommend.

An excellent thriller, at times quite terrifying. It has been great to follow the story of Craig Gillard and his team and of course his lovely family.

A great story with so many twists and turns not to mention some mighty big shocks!

Whilst this book answers the story it still leaves you hanging on for the next in the series to find out what next....

Just knowing this was to be the last in the DCI Gillard series was a source of concern. But as I read the back story of Gillard and Sam moving to their new house (finally), having a baby (finally), I could understand that it was time for Louth to go in a different direction. But as the first murder was discovered in his great new neighborhood and subsequent problems developed, Gillard and team may have faced their most difficult case.

The final episode in the DCI Craig Gillard series does not let one down. This time a series of unexplained murders spread over one weekend miles apart stump Gillard’s crew and with his wife due to give birth any moment he’s on leave. But of course he’s called back and the pace never lets up thereafter with drama around his wife’s impending birth and the investigation. An excellent last tale in the series despite a shock ending and I look forward to the new characters in a new series!

DCI Craig Gillard and his heavily pregnant wife have moved into a new house, finally away from the prying eyes of Auntie Trish, but have they moved out of the frying pan and into the fire? Several attacks have taken place near to his home and when Craig becomes a witness, his time away from work suddenly becomes less of a break than he envisaged. Matters become worse when retired police sergeant Ken Stapleford is found stabbed to death in his own home and Craig soon finds himself needed back at the office. With a baby due to arrive imminently, the detective is keen to wrap up the case before any more lives are lost.

The Body in Nightingale Park is the twelfth and final instalment of the DCI Craig Gillard series, and what an explosive ending it is! As always, Nick Louth has written a book with a highly engaging plot that kept me gripped right until the end. There is a lot going on, but I loved how the plots became intertwined and how easy it was to follow.

One of the strengths of this series has, for me, always been the characters. It is good to see a detective without the inner demons often faced by other fictional police officers and pleasing to see the relationship he has with the rest of his team. His homelife has always been an integral part of the plot and has been just as enjoyable to read as the policing.

The ending was very unexpected, but then this is something I have grown to expect with Nick Louth’s plots. It will be sad to say farewell to Craig Gillard but I will be looking forward to reading the author’s new series.

The Body In Nightingale Park is the twelfth and final instalment in the DCI Craig Gillard Crime Thrillers series set in and around Surrey, UK. Craig and his heavily pregnant wife, Sam, are not only awaiting the birth of their child any day now but are also in the process of moving into a larger house on Parkmead Crescent in a leafy suburb of Guildford. Excited for the next stage of their lives together, Craig has booked some well-deserved and much-needed paternity time off from detective work to bond with the new baby and settle into their new abode. However, due to miscarriages in the past, the couple's anxiety is through the roof and to compound matters further they still haven't managed to sell their old home, and they could really do with freeing up that cash. Their new gaff is just a stone's throw from Nightingale Park where two serious sexual assaults have taken place over the past few years which helped secure them a discount off the property. However, three days before moving in, Craig had been made aware of another attack in the park.

A 17-year-old young woman had been dragged into the bushes and violated using the same MO as the earlier attacks. Meanwhile, DI Claire Mulholland, his closest friend on the force, calls him to tell him that recently retired police sergeant Ken Stableford has been murdered, found with a knife wound to the chest. He had been watching the football with a mate at his Brighton home when it apparently occurred and neighbouring Sussex police have assigned Claire to ensure an impartial investigation given the police colleague Ken had been enjoying the match with at the time. A few days later, Craig decides to go for a morning walk in the cold, damp weather; after all, they only live 3 minutes from the park. No one is around when he arrives but beginning his stroll, he hears a piercing scream. He runs towards the general area and sees a scooter rider careening towards him. He orders him to stop but the guy attempts to kick him in the head and then in the ribs. Gillard hits his head on the stony ground and the perpetrator gets away.

He later finds that he had stumbled into the crime scene of a jogger murder and the beating he had gotten was from the killer. No one is more surprised than the police when a forensic connection is drawn between the untimely Stableford murder and a number of attacks carried out in broad daylight, including the one in the park. What ties them together and can the killer be stopped? This is an enthralling and immaculately plotted police procedural that explores topical, ripped-from-the-headlines issues with aplomb, and I simply didn't put it down. By now, the characters have become more like old friends, especially Craig, with the plot being driven as much by the reader's investment in his personal life as his professional one. I also appreciate that Louth has stated that he has intentionally left things where they currently are by the end of this book in order to be able to possibly bring Gillard back in the future. There is plenty of tension and heart-pounding moments as well as twists and reveals throughout that come as a surprise. A riveting, realistic and perfectly pitched series conclusion. I hope we don't have to wait too long for The Two Deaths of Ruth Lyle.

An intense and twisty police procedural with a driven detective and an authentic investigative team dynamic. Entrenched in domesticity, DCI Gillard is always the detective; he is drawn initially as an advice giver in one case and the senior investigating officer in a second. Both are brutal murders, seemingly unrelated except for a forensic connection that leads to a complex and twisty story full of menace. DCi Gillard is an excellent character, a dedicated and determined detective whose personal life is often emotionally challenging.
All the detectives are complex and flawed characters who add depth and human interest to the murder mystery element. I like the story's characters, the thorough investigation and the clever twists.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Another episode in this police series with Craig Gilliard. In this book he is about to become a father . Rainy, the detective from Glasgow is not really involved in the investigation because her abusive ex husband has been involved in an accident and has died. She is in Scotland to clear up loose ends after his death . As the book starts, a retired police officer is found murdered and shortly after there is another death is the area.
Quite action packed the plot is interesting though fairly predictable. There are a couple of twists, but I was not particularly suprised by them . I do like the investigative side of this series where insignificant details increase in importance and aere also well researched .
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review , I am looking forward to Nick Louth's new ventures

I’d like to thank Canelo and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Body In Nightingale Park’, the twelfth in the DCI Gillard series written by Nick Louth, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

DCI Craig Gillard and his heavily pregnant wife Sam move into their new home in Parkmead Crescent close to Nightingale Park where in the recent past three attacks have taken place. While Craig is walking around the park he witnesses a jogger being attacked and around the same time retired police sergeant Ken Stapleford is found stabbed to death in his home. Strangely the evidence points to both deaths being connected but Craig and his colleagues can’t understand how.

What a pity that ‘The Body In Nightingale Park’ is the final instalment in what has been an excellent series. The plot is complex with several strands running concurrently, and with the drama, suspense and twists and turns the investigation becomes very confusing especially as they have several possible suspects. I’ve been gripped from the start immersing myself in the procedures of the police so when I reached the final chapters and the conclusion it was completely unexpected. This thriller has been well-written, involving and easy to read and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

This 12th and final book in the series (I’ll come back to that later) starts with Craig and Sam moving, finally, into their new home in Guildford. However, it would have been a very short story (and a dull one) if Craig wasn’t Craig and his boss Alison not so persistent. Instead of staying at home for a few weeks to properly help Sam getting ready for the birth of their daughter, he has to leave this to Sam’s mother because he needs to go out and solve a complicated case. And another one, although he doesn’t know this beforehand.
I just love this series and I’m happy to see this was a very enjoyable one. I’ve read the first seven in quick succession and book 8 very recently, because another reviewer mentioned that certain people from book 8 would play a role in book 12. And I’m happy I did! I must say, you can, if you wish, read the whole series out of order, but one thing I enjoyed was reading about how the relationship between Craig and Sam evolves, and of course, how a group of colleagues gets better at doing their job because they get to know each other better. Every colleague of Craig has his or her own distinctive voice. I was also happy to see that a couple of questions I had after reading book 6, 7 and 8, were answered in book 12. So, a very neat ending to this series.
As usual there was a lot going on that on first sight had no relation to other things going on. But the pace picks up and soon it’s clear that not only the two cases are intertwined, the whole story seems to have tentacles that reach far into the lives of Craig and Sam. Too far, you could say.
Despite the fact that there is a lot of tension and unexpected twists and turns, Craig’s ‘adventures’ are always more centred on the procedural site of police work. The story once again clearly shows how much patience each member of the team must have because there are so many small things to be checked and rechecked. The only one who’s always bothering Craig to hurry up is his boss Alison, and the way he handles the pressure of her wanting to solve his cases within a ridiculously short time is brilliant.
A wholly deserved four stars!

Excellent book loved the story and the characters really bring the book alive,I will highly recommend this book and look forward to more from Nick Louth 5*

Great series, and great writing! Really enjoyable book by Nick Louth who is now a must read author!

Have enjoyed all the previous books in the Gillard series and this one hit the mark. Plenty of suspense throughout and likeable characters. Look forward to the next one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I have read all of this series and I’m sad that this appears to be the last. As always, this is an intelligent and well written police procedural with a lead detective who, unusually, has a happy home life and a supportive superior officer. I enjoyed the way the story unfolded and enjoyed the touches of Gillard’s brilliance such as checking the delivery van cameras. I didn’t read the chapters of the new series at the back of the book, as this author is so good that I would be tamping at the bit to read more. A fitting end to a great series and I’m looking forward to reading the new book from this talented author.

Craig has moved into a new house with wife Sam about to give birth any day now. There is therefore the excitement and worry about that, Sam having had miscarriages in the past, there is excitement and worry about the new home not having yet sold their old one and then a senior police officer from a different force is murdered. Craig's second in command, Claire, takes this one on and has hard choices to make when the evidence points to a fellow officer as the murderer. Another murder occurs and things get even more complicated. Dealing with abused women and their refuges, old issues, revenge, forensic-aware perpetrators all leads to the expected complex but well thought through story. The ending is suitable. The series has been good throughout and, at one level, it is a shame that this may well/almost certainly be the last. However it is a neat ending with a little throwback to a previous story and a good place and time for Craig to move on - not least to give Sam and, now, Gracie, the time they deserve. A bonus comprises the three chapters of a new detective series and seems to be heading up to be a good one. Maybe some of Craig's team can appear at times in this new one. We'll see. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.