Followers of this series have probably read the second book THE LEWIS PASS, which when I reviewed it way back, I did mention:
The only downside is one of those endings that sort of reeks of "and in the next book", which may drive some readers bats, and might mean others are standing by in anticipation. All in all though, a series well worth keeping an eye on (from the very start if you can).
THE NIGHT BELONGS TO HER is that next book, and a lot of stuff is finally resolved, although this really is a series that needs to be read in order because there is a lot of "stuff" to be going on with.
Centred around disgraced, now exonerated DS Dylan Harper, who has now been reinstated at Sergeant level, he's working out of the station in small-town Westport (New Zealand). A location where he wasn't expecting a murder investigation quite so soon - but after a mysterious, barely audible phone call to him, two men are shot with a high-powered rifle through the window of a local bar, killing one and critically wounding the other. Detectives arrive, a strange sequence of letters are discovered etched into a bullet, and messages written in blood indicate that this is just the start of a killing spree - or at least so Harper believes. The detectives themselves don't seem quite so convinced, so it's left to the locals to take up the case. A case which gets very personal when somebody breaks into Harper's home as he sleeps. Is he a potential victim or is this something else entirely?
With an aim of getting his old job back in Christchurch, Harper is determined to solve this mystery, helped in motivation by the antagonism of the Detectives assigned to the case. It's a classic case of "the bosses" not appreciating the underling, complicated by Harper's own past, and just a heap of standard "you're just a country copper" bias. Whilst that's well worked over ground these days, in this series it is well written and the fast pace and complex plot provide plenty of meat for the reading detective to be going on with, the "angst" aspect never overblown.
It looks like this is the final novel in the series for now. Not sure if there are more planned.
The Night Belongs to Her
A cold-blooded murder in a small town has Dylan Harper scrambling for answers in a chilling case where the killer keeps leaving coded messages for detectives.
Dylan Harper has been demoted and banished to the small town of Westport. Now the sergeant in charge of the local police station, he doesn't expect to face another murder investigation any time soon. That is until one night, the phone rings. The voice on the other end is barely audible, but what it says makes Harper's blood run cold. Minutes later, two men are shot with a high-powered rifle through the window of a bar, leaving one critically wounded, and one dead.
Detectives arrive and a fast-paced investigation ensues when it becomes apparent this might just be the first in a series of murders. A strange sequence of letters is etched into the bullet and a message written in blood is found at another address, all indicating a second murder will take place in less than 24 hours. Trouble is, only Harper believes more killings are to come.
Harper and his small team of police are thrust into a race against time to track down the killer before they strike again. But the mystery only deepens when someone breaks into Harper's home to watch him as he sleeps. Are they the killer? Will Dylan Harper be the next victim? Only time will tell.
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