My Rating: 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ great start to a new series from an awesome author!!!

The signs are unmistakable. The dog halts, his nose up - nostrils quivering. Every inch of him poised. Moss has a scent. When a hand is found in Gallows Wood, PC Lucy Halliday and her specialist search dog Moss must find the rest of the body.

Like every case since her husbands disappearance Lucy wonders if this will bring her closer to the truth. With a new DI, Jack Ellis on the job, Lucy struggles to stay out of the case and out of the way. But she is hiding things too… she has more to the story than she is letting on.

Everyone in this story has a secret and no one wants to be found out!!

First of all thank you to my good friend Lit with Leigh for the fun Buddy Read, Leigh I did think that you were going to blast past me (you did for a bit there) and I was going to be left in the dust - but in the end we finished almost at the same time. Buddy reads on StoryGraph are super fun and I loved this one!!

I recently (thanks to Leigh again), read all of Louisa Scarr’s Butler and West series and I wish it was still going - I adored those books and will live in hope that LS is going to bring them back to us. But in the meantime as soon as I saw this book was up on NetGalley I hit request immediately!!

I wont lie it took me a bit to get into this one, I was worried the cute dog was going to bother me - now before you all throw rotten apples at me, I don’t have anything against dogs but I wanted a thriller not a cute mystery with a cute dog - I needn’t have worried this got pretty dark in places. AND the dog was adorable which I loved btw!!

But it still took me a bit to get into it because it wasn’t Butler and West - perhaps if I hadn’t binge read all 5 of those in May it wouldn’t have been an issue 🤣 however the writing was on point and I got stuck right into it. Once I got to about 25% I started blasting through this hoping for some sexual tension between Ellis and Halliday. Sitting on the edge of my seat when things started to pop off.

For me I am not usually a big fan of Organised Crime or drug related crime books but this has a bit of that and it was done really well. Louisa Scarr does her research which I really appreciate because even though this is a fiction thriller I felt like I learnt a thing or two.

I wont lie - the scenes (and believe me you will know when you get to them) between Nico and Lucy… oh my god… watch your TWs I was feeling it. LS was able to tell those tales and get a visceral response she can tell a story!

I am really keen to learn more about Ellis in the next book I hope we get more of his backstory and I really hope he keeps teaming up with Lucy - I mean its kind of guaranteed since its her series but still I liked them together and I do wonder if there will be some will they wont they… who knows!! If the Butler and West series is anything to go by they will drive by each other at least 708 times before they figure it out though.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and once I got into it I finished most of it in one day - which had a lot to do with the cold weather and a lazy Sunday 🤣

Thank you to Canelo Crime, NetGalley and Louisa Scarr for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Lucy has so much baggage I felt sure I'd missed five previous books, but luckily not. She just has a lot of history.
I was really drawn into this story, slowly at first, then my reading picked up pace as the story did.
Lots of nice twists in the story, or unexpected elements.
Also things ensuring I come back for the next book.
I'm.not particularly a big fan of animals, but I was totally won over by the relationship.between Lucy and her dog.
Being a dog handler I think is quite the USP for crime book too.
Look forward to more.

Lucy used to be a DI but was demoted due to suspicion that she had revealed details of ongoing investigations to her journalist husband Nico. (She now works for the police with a dog named Moss.) Nico has been missing for several years, and Lucy will not accept the possibility that he left her. The department is now investigating several murders which they believe are tied to organized crime and drugs. There's also suspicion that a dirty cop is involved, and is thwarting the investigation. Could Nico's disappearance be related to the current murders, since each victim was related to a cop? This exciting British police procedural provides an excellent mystery and intriguing, well-developed characters. The dogs are an added bonus. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Lucy Halliday, former MCIT inspector, currently a dog handler. Her journalist husband Nico has been missing for two years.

When a hand is found in Gallows Wood, Lucy and her dog Moss need to find the rest of the body.

But it's not the only one in the woods...

Excellent