The story:
When eighteen year old Chloe Emery returns to her house to find it covered in blood and her mother missing, and DS Maeve Kerrigan and the murder investigation squad are called to investigate. While investigating the various shady neighbours living on the street, all of whom seem to be hiding something, they uncover a complicated web of lies, deceit and deeply buried secrets.

My thoughts:
If you’ve read the previous books in the series, you’ll already be familiar with the main players. As always, the investigation, processes and team dynamics were totally believable. Maeve’s own relationship with Derwent and the rest of the team has also evolved from the earlier books in the series. She’s now a Detective Sergeant and an integral member of the team with a junior to manage.

Most of the people who pop up in the course of the investigation into Kate Emery’s murder are distinctly unlikable and resolutely uncooperative. They also all seem to be hiding something – from the police and from each other. Plus as Maeve digs further into Kate’s past, it becomes clear that she was far from just an innocent victim. The result is that there are enough potential murderers to make a fantastic thriller with plenty of twists that I didn’t see coming. Although I had my suspicions about how it might all fit together, I was still guessing right up until the end.

Jane Casey is one of my favourite current crime readers and one of the few that I auto-buy as soon as I get the chance. She effortlessly creates realistic, well-rounded characters and gripping storylines that stay with you even when you’re not reading. I’m looking forward to finding out what’s next in store for the team.

Jane Casey has produced another great read in the Maeve Kerrigan series. The book starts at a cracking pace and just keeps giving. Good team dynamics and sharp, witty comments from Derwent and Kerrigan. A very clever plot, well written and a surprise ending. What is not to like? It can be read as a stand alone too. Many thanks to Net Galley for my copy. An excellent detective thriller. I reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon.

Brilliant characters and now I know it's part of a series I will be going back and reading The rest of the series

Absolutely brilliant book by Jane Casey, I loved it and highly recommend it.

Let the Dead Speak is the latest in the exciting Maeve Kerrigan series, written by Jane Casey! A one-sitting read from Casey, though best approached in relation to the earlier books in the series.

The story starts with a bang, and with one of the best introductions to a crime scene ever. Someone arrives home to a horrific blood bath. The house shows evidence of a deadly fight and blood literally dripping everywhere. There is no body. This turns a nice neighbourhood, inside out. Curtains twitch. Neighbours puzzle. People get nervous. Where is the victim? Who knew her? What are her secrets? Derwent and Maeve are on the hunt for a killer, as well as a body in suburbia.

So good is the writing in Let the Dead Speak that I became so involved in the plot that I didn’t want to put the book down for a single second, so I carried the book from room to room, snatching minutes here and seconds there, always trying to stay one step ahead of the action. But, as always, this clever author kept me guessing right until the very last sentence and the dénouement when it comes is every bit as tense and exciting as I hoped it would be.

The book kept me guessing right up to the last chapter, this is part of an established series but my first book of this authors. I don't think I was at a loss not having read the previous books but I will be buying them all now.

The first book in Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series was The Burning, published in 2010, but I didn’t get round to reading it until February 2015. I was hooked immediately and read the next five books in quick succession by the end of August 2015. These are all police procedurals, fast-paced novels, with intriguing and complex plots and developing the relationships between the main characters. So, I think that although the books read well as stand-alones, it helps enormously to read them in order.

Let the Dead Speak is the seventh Maeve Kerrigan book and it is no less intriguing and complex than the earlier books. I loved it. It continues to develop the detectives’ personal lives as well as detailing the investigations into Kate Emery’s disappearance. Maeve has been promoted and is now a detective sergeant (a long over-due promotion I think) and the murder investigation team has a new member, DC Georgia Shaw, a graduate on a fast-track scheme. Maeve finds her rather irritating. DI Josh Derwent is still her boss and neither he nor Maeve stick to the rules, but act independently as they see fit. The chemistry between the two of them is still there and is still full of undercurrents. DCI Una Burt is acting up as their Superintendent and the working relationship between her and Maeve is now improving.

There are several strands to the investigation – first of all if Kate was killed where is her body and who had the motive and opportunity to kill her? If she was not killed why is there so much blood in the house, whose blood is it, and where is Kate?

I enjoyed the fast-paced action, the interaction between the characters, both the police and the other characters. Chloe, who is very shy and lacking in confidence as well as in social skills is of little help in discovering what has happened to her mother. I liked the portrayal of the Norris family, Bethany and her parents and uncle, who are all members of an evangelical church, the Church of the Modern Apostles. Bethany refuses to answer Maeve’s questions and is openly hostile. Then there is the local ‘bad boy’ William Turner – what is his involvement? Similarly are Chloe’s father and stepmother and her step-brothers responsible in any way?

I kept changing my mind about what had happened and who was the guilty party, but it had me foxed. And then when I had it worked it out the last chapter surprised me yet again with the twist at the end. Maeve Kerrigan really is an excellent detective.

Thanks to the publishers via NetGalley for my copy.

Eighteen year old Chloe Emery left her father’s house and made her way home to her mother and in these earliest scenes I was left in no doubt at all that something awful is about to happen as her neighbour, Oliver Norris, offers her a lift and drops her home. She dashes inside the house out of the rain and then slowly, very slowly, she realises that all is not as it should be. The house smells funny and there is mud everywhere, only it is not mud, it's blood.
Maeve Kerrigan has been promoted and she is now a DS, eager to prove herself in the new role and determined that Josh Derwent is going to realise she doesn’t need him treating her like a junior anymore. The pair are called to the Emery house where despite the lack of a body, a murder investigation is launched; Chloe’s mother Kate is nowhere to be found and all her belongings are still at home. This could prove to be a PR disaster for the police if Kate is not dead, but an equal one if they don’t treat it seriously enough.
Right from the off I had masses of questions, was Chloe really as slow as she seemed, and if so why was her bright younger neighbour, Bethany Norris so keen to spend so much time with her? With Chloe reluctant to tell the officers exactly where she’s been since she left her father’s house, or even why she left without saying goodbye, the police are sure they are missing some vital information. But, at least Chloe is safe staying with the Norris’s while the house is a crime scene.
We have a new younger woman on the team too, Georgina who it’s safe to say isn’t a hit with Maeve and so her efforts to impress fall somewhat flat but it takes her a while to cotton on. This is just one example of how Jane Casey gets the tone exactly right. Maeve may well not take to Georgina, but she tries. She doesn’t go for the all-out put downs but tries to temper them with some helpful advice, that way when Georgina screws up, we all know who to blame.
This is, like all the other books in the series, action packed with life-threatening moments coming not just where you expect them, at the end of the book. The pacing is immaculate, once I started this one, I really was terribly reluctant to put it down. There is intrigue as well as all the deadly sins, none as deadly as those inflicted on those who should be closest to us, our family. The casual lies, betrayals and greed are sewn deep into the very fabric of this book, and few of the minor characters come away with anything like an intact reputation which gives plenty of suspects to be suspected!
Now if you want taut plotting and a cast of characters to delight, then you don’t need to look any further, Jane Casey delivers on both. Even better there is an undercurrent of humour which serves to deflect from any of the horrific pictures your imagination may serve up, and believe me, there are plenty of such opportunities.
I was extremely lucky to be given a proof copy of Let The Dead Speak by the publishers ahead of publication date of 9 March 2017!
The Maeve Kerrigan Series in Order
The Burning
The Reckoning
The Last Girl
The Stranger You Know
The Kill
After The Fire

I am used to reading books with dead bodies, there is probably at least one in most books I read, but I have to say I’m not so used to reading books where there isn’t one, just an assumption of murder. The idea of this is one of the things that makes Let The Dead Speak stand out. As far as openings and plots go, it’s different – in a good way.

What it does is throw up lots of questions that DS Maeve Kerrigan has to find the answer too, not least of which is where the missing body is – and whether it’s murder at all. Because, without a body, how can you be sure? With that much blood, though, that’s the theory the police follow and, with no clear suspects, they start by looking close to home…because you never know what is going on behind closed doors and twitching curtains

Casey has created a brilliant cast of potential suspects including: Kate’s daughter Chloe, who may be brighter than she first appears; her boyfriend and neighbourhood thug, who seems to be honest but you never know; her best friend Bethany, who doesn’t want Maeve to get close to Chloe; Bethany’s father, who found the house full of blood and doesn’t like being asked questions; and her uncle, who is – quite simply – a nasty piece of work.

I was convinced each of them was guilty at one point – a good thing because it means nothing was obvious here and, as a reader, I had to work at figuring things out. These are my favourite type of books, ones that leave me guessing till the last minute, staying up late and turning the pages because I have to know!

Maeve helped with the page turning because I really liked her, and her colleague Derwent, who she has a love / hate relationship with (more on the love side it seems, though not in a romantic way). They are both dogged and determined and not afraid to push things to get to the truth – though, unfortunately, that doesn’t always work out well for them. They played off well against each other and, though their conversations, I was able to get an insight into both their home lives and understand them more. It’s important to me to like the central characters in the books I read and I definitely did here.

I thought I would as I have read other Jane Casey books and met Maeve before but it’s been a while (I think it was the fourth in the series and this is book seven so I’ve missed a few…this definitely can be a standalone though for people like me who haven’t read any/all of the series). I am really glad I found her again because this was a great read – well written, well plotted, well paced and with interesting and complex characters – and I loved it.

Let the dead speak by Jane casey.
This was an absolutely fantastic read with brilliant characters. Especially detective Maeve Kerrigan. Maeve and her murder squad team have a new case that involves 18 year old Chloe Emery. She returned home to find her mother Kate missing and the house which is in West London covered in blood. Where is she? Full of twists. This one really had me thinking. 5* for sure. Thanks harper Collins UK and netgalley.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The premiss and its development were very well done. The relationship between the recently promoted female detective and her subordinates was also good with many a wry smile along the way. The story has enough dramatic scenes to turn it into a film!

I read a few glowing reviews of this novel before starting to read it. Perhaps I shouldn't have, because I was really expecting to adore it. In actual fact it took me ages to get halfway through it, and I found myself making excuses for not reading it: I felt the undiluted police procedural subject matter was all very stuffy and I couldn't get into the story nor care much about the characters.

Then, about two-thirds into the novel, everything seemed to change pace and come together. DS Kerrigan stopped moping about and got her act together. The religious self-righteousness of one nasty character and the conceited teenage spoiled brat who thinks he has a right to all he can get, including impunity… These people just flew off the pages: we've all met them in real life! The last part of the story was intriguing, very cleverly plotted and I was well satisfied with the way it ended.

This is the first novel I have read by Jane Casey, and the 7th in the Maeve Kerrigan series. Although it can be read as a standalone, I would probably have better appreciated the main protagonists if I had started from the beginning.

I received this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

18 year old Chloe returns to the London house she shares with her mother, Kate, to find the house covered in blood and Kate gone. With no body but everything pointing to murder, DS Maeve Kerrigan and her team are called in to investigate, but matters are complicated by her prickly new DC, Georgia, and her fractious relationship with DI Derwent. The mystery itself is satisfactorily twisty, with a great final reveal just when you think it's all solved. However, this is the 7th book in the series but the first I've read, and I think I'd have benefited from starting at the beginning - although it does work as a standalone novel, I found it hard to connect with Kerrigan & Derwent. Their friendship and banter is clearly a central part of the books, but I couldn't get to grips with the nature of their relationship or feel properly invested in them and, by default, the investigation.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this review copy.

It wasn’t until I started to read this book that I realised it was book 7 of a series. I had never read any of the other books, and to be honest I’d never heard of this author. Nonetheless, this didn’t stop me tearing through this book and enjoying it to the point that I’ve reserved at the library all the other books in the series. Whilst it isn’t necessary to have read the previous books first, it does obviously help, and I did find that there were bits in this book which would have been better explained if I had read the books in order.

We begin by meeting 18 year old Chloe. She has returned home early from a visit to her dad’s and comes home to find her mum missing and her house covered in what could only be assumed to be her mum’s blood. In steps Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan. The house and surrounding areas are searched, but there is no sign of Chloe’s mum, Kate. Treating the case as murder Maeve, DI Josh Derwent and DC Georgia Shaw get to work to try and find out what had happened. Chloe stays with her neighbours, the highly religious Norris family. They don’t really want her there, but are doing their Christian duty…..or is there more to it? Everyone seems to be hiding a secret and Maeve is determined to find out what is going on.

I loved this book, and I loved the characters. Maeve is newly promoted, but is certainly keen on taking the lead, firmly putting DC Shaw in her place. As this is the first book I’ve read, I didn’t quite understand the relationship with Derwent, but loved the chemistry between the two characters. It definitely felt to me that it was a ‘will they, won’t they’ relationship – perhaps I’ll be proved wrong by reading the other books. I also loved Derwent and his very droll sense of humour! I found myself chuckling at some of his quotes or actions, which is very unusual in a book like this! I would like to see this pair with their own TV series!

Setting that aside, this was an excellent police procedural gritty thriller. It had lots of twists and turns, was deliciously creepy and very clever. It is definitely one to be read right to the very last word as the ending was great!

Five Stars!

Let the Dead Speak was my first introduction to the author, Jane Casey - I shall certainly be looking out for more of her titles. Extremely well written, with excellent descriptive passages about her characters, and full of suspense - a book that I found very hard to put down. An extremely well thought out plot, with several twists and turns! Don't miss it.

This is my first read by Jane Casey, but it definitely won't be the last. And luckily for me, as this is the 7th in her Maeve Kerrigan series, there are plenty more for me to sink my teeth into. 'Let the Dead Speak' is a complex thriller, with plenty of twists and turns along the way that lead to a very satisfying conclusion.

Even though this is the 7th book in the series, I found the story very easy to follow and felt it worked very well as a standalone novel. There are references to past cases and storylines, but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. I am, however, looking forward to learning more about the fabulous Maeve Kerrigan and to reading her story from the very beginning.

A wonderful 4 stars.

Chloe Emery returns to her West London home to discover her mother is missing and the house is covered in blood. Detective Sargent Maeve Kerrigan and her murder squad must find out the truth. There is no body but all evidence points to a murder. With door to door inquiries taking place, are the neighbours hiding something?

An easy book to pick up but it's a lot harder to put down. A decent murder mystery with plenty twists and turns that will keep you guessing.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and the author Jane Casey for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a fantastic read. Fast paced and full of twists and turns. Even when you think you know what's going on it changes again. Be prepared to lose sleep so that you can finish it. Highly recommended.

An excellent extremely readable book full of twists. Jane Casey sets the scene so well and Maeve is a very likable protagonist. I've enjoyed all of the seven books in this series and I guess the wait for number eight starts here. Thoroughly recommended.

Eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns home to her mother after a week away with her father, but is met by a terrifying sight. Her home is covered in bloodstains and her mother, Kate, has vanished. The police, including newly promoted Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan, soon find that the blood belongs to Kate and a murder investigation begins – but with no body, any investigation is going to be difficult.
Luckily (?) there is plenty of suspicious behaviour in the locale – the Norrises, parents of Chloe’s best friend, are extremely religious, bordering on the fanatical. William Turner, another neighbour, was accused of stabbing a school mate. And when a second disappearance occurs, Maeve and her team find themselves in a race against time to stop a killer from striking again. And again…
Every now and then, publishers send me emails promoting a new release. Often I ignore them, but this time, the blurb struck me as interesting and I thought I’d give it a go. And I’m glad that I did.
The tale is suitably complex and, after a slowish start, picks up pace in the second half of the book. Despite the modern police procedural format, there is a traditional mystery at the heart of the tale, and the characters are an interesting group. They are all suitably unpleasant individuals, so it is hard at times to find someone to attach your sympathies too, but the author does a good job of keeping the circle of suspects small and ensuring that all of them are involved in some way, shape or form, in the grand scheme of things.
One issue – this is book seven of the Maeve Kerrigan series and I felt that I had to do some guesswork to work out the relationships between the recurring characters, especially between Kerrigan and her DI, Derwent. There is a rumour amongst their colleagues that they have slept together but apparently the truth is quite different – although readers joining the series at this point will find themselves as much in the dark as those colleagues as the two characters’ pasts is kept vague. It’s not crucial to the tale, but I felt that I made it harder to get a feel for the pair.
Still, an engrossing modern police procedural and definitely worth your time. I may well be back to this series soon. Well Worth A Look.
Let The Dead Speak is published by Harper Collins on 9th March 2017. Many thanks for the review copy.

Loved this, a chilling novel which had me in suspense from start to finish. I was in DS Maeve Kerrigan's footsteps all the way through, I felt her pain and emotions, I was there. Well written, will definitely be looking for more from this series.