Death's Silent Judgement

Death's Silent Judgement had me glued to its pages - I was unable to put it down until I had finished it!!A very well constructured novel that had the brain cells ticking and whirring this sequel is brilliant but is also able to be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel
I look forward to reading a lot more from this Authors pen

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Deaths Silent Judgement Anne Coates

What a fantastic read.

Set in the 1990’s, an era which is rapidly becoming my favourite for crime fiction, the story in this book is realistic, and frighteningly believable

Journalist Hannah Weybridge is back, and the story starts a short time after the end of Anne Coate’s previous book Dancers in The Wind.

When Hannah finds her best friend murdered in a church life begins to take an interesting and dangerous turn.

Her friend Liz was a dentist. She had a successful practice in the City, but since returning from carrying out charitable work in Somalia, she has also worked in the church roviding dental care to vagrants.

This opens a whole list of characters who Hannah meets.

Liz’s Mom, Lady Celia Rayman, is not happy with the Police investigation into her daughter’s murder and asks Hannah to have a look at the case.

As Hannah starts to dig she meets the vagrants who live in the Bull Ring, a cardboard city at one of London’s Train Stations. Finding out that Liz had Biblical knick-names for these patients she ponders if the names have any significance.

She digs into the charity that Liz worked for in Africa, uncovering the uncomfortable truth surrounding Female Genital Mutilation, kidnapping, and trafficking, but has this got anything to do with Liz’s murder.

Then there’s the clergy. Liz was killed at a church working for one of the local Priests projects.

When the priest goes missing and turns up a few days later, in intensive care, Hannah becomes concerned that the church is trying to cover things up.

Hannah Weybridge is one of those characters that it is easy to fall in love with. Still traumatised by the events which took place in Dancers in the Wind. Living at home with her 14-month old daughter she is paranoid about most things. Her daughter is looked after by her Nanny, allowing Hannah to carry on her work as a journalist, but that career has been hampered by the earlier events. The story she submitted was spiked and Hannah has been shackled by a contract that allows her very little scope to write.

With her personal life falling apart, or at least becoming very complicated Hannah starts to piece together the jigsaw that was Liz’s life.

Did it involve her work with the Vagrants?
Was it something to do with the charity work that Liz had been working on?
Has it got something to do with the church?
Is Liz’s family history anything to do with her death?

All of these strands are possible right up till the last couple of chapters when things start to become resolved.

Right at the very end there’s a nice little twist. A cliff hanger which will have you waiting for the next Hannah Waybridge story just as much as I am.


Pages: 244
Publisher: Urbane Publications
Publishing Date: 11th May 2017.
Pre-order available on Amazon

“Death's Silent Judgement” by Anne Coates is book two in the Hannah Weybridge series. It is best to read the first in the series “Dancers in the Wind” before starting “Death's Silent Judgement” because they share some of the same characters, and there are multiple references to events in the first book throughout this book.

The book is set in 1994 with flashbacks and begins as Hannah Weybridge, an investigative journalist, stumbles upon the body of her murdered friend. Her journey to find out who killed her friend uncovers other suspicious deaths. The plot is multifaceted and well developed. Hannah finds that seemingly unrelated people including, friends, family, acquaintances, her boyfriend, and even her young child’s father are somehow intertwined in this tragedy.

Hannah knows that life is full of coincidences but there are just too many of them. Secrets abound and blackmail rears its ugly head. Hannah struggles with the complex situation and wonders “When is not telling the truth an outright lie.”

For first-time readers, this book is three stars because it takes several chapters to categorize all the people, places, and events from the first book. For returning readers, it would be five stars.

Death's Silent Judgement is the second in a series featuring Hannah Weybridge. Although the plot does have a beginning and an end, many of the characters have connections to Dancers in the Wind, Coates' first book in the series which I have not read.

Hannah Weybridge discovers the body of her best friend Liz, a dentist who has volunteered her services to the homeless. There is a strong possibility that one of Liz's unstable patients killed her, but Hannah wants to know why. She asks to cover the story for The News, the tabloid where she works as freelance on a retainer.

What initially appeared to be a motiveless crime by one of Liz's homeless patients begins to seem more sinister as more people connected to the clinic--or to the church that sponsored it--die. Hannah wonders about the secrets Liz kept from her and feeling alone, begins to question her relationship with DI Tom Jordan currently in New York on an assignment.

Things get really messy with secrets that threaten both Hannah and her daughter.

NetGalley/Urbane Publications

Mystery. May 11. Print version: 246 pages.

A clever, intriguing plot with likeable, well written characters and plenty of suspense.

I really enjoyed this and must add the previous book in the series to my 'to be read' pile.

A clever well written thriller with a couple of sub plots to wet the palate, this is a must read in my view.