Another brilliant chapter in the Dales Detective agency series. Easily read as a standalone, but ultimately enhanced, by having read the previous three novels.

Witty, and heart warming relationships, mystery, murder, intrigue, set against the springtime setting of the picturesque Yorkshire dales. This is a charming read for anyone.

There is something about the British countryside which suits it to fiction set in the past - for all the mobile phones and internet references even tv's Midsomer Murders looks like a relic of the 1950s (it may be the attitudes?) - but I feel that Julia Chapman has managed to capture the modern day Dales. Her two main characters are certainly bang up to date - a divorcee with self-esteem issues (not helped by the attitude of her family) who uses her cyber-skills to run a dating agency and the black sheep of the village who is a police officer under investigation for corruption - and one of the plot threads involves a schoolboy mixed up with drugs. The main story, however, follows a mysterious poisoner who is targeting dogs - who, in a rural setting, are part of the workforce as well as part of the family.

This is a very contemporary story in a timeless setting. The plot is pleasingly complex and the characters are likable - lots of unrequited passion bubbling beneath the surface too. The pressures of modern rural life are not ignored either - and, as this book is part of a series, we will be able to explore both the developing romance and the life of the village of Bruncliffe as it progresses.

The fourth in this brilliant series and it didn't disappoint. A mystery with plenty of twist and turns, and enjoyable interactions between characters. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book four in the Dales Detective series and Spring has sprung in Bruncliffe but joy is not in the air for the detective agency when awkward questions regarding murder arise. Can Samson and Delilah put aside their differences? Entertaining and engaging mystery with characters that are credible and some gentle humour thrown in. Whilst this can be read as a standalone, reading from the start of the series will give the reader a better understanding of characters and timeline. An enjoyable, easy going read.

Augh! Now I have longer to wait for the next one! Another excellent installment in The Dales Detective Agency Series. This one finds Samson arrested for murder, the dark past of his undercover life in London threatening to end everything he has come to love in Bruncliffe. His godson Nathan goes missing, and someone is attempting to kill pets around the town. Rick Proctor is up to his eyes in it all (I'm certain!) and I'm champing at the bit to know how Samson is going to bring him down. Because you know he will.

Delilah is still trying to find the unmarriageable Clive Knowles a wife and is struggling with her conflicting feelings for Samson.

If this is the first book you've read in the series, I strongly encourage you to start at the beginning. All the threads start there and are simply being continued and twisted together at this stage as all the players and fingers in pies come to the fore.

I know people say it all the time when they find a series that they love, and I'm sure the author is writing as quickly as she can, but - Ms Chapman, please write faster!

Delilah and Sam are back! There's a poisoner on the loose and it seems that dogs are the main target. But that's just the tip of the perfidious iceberg. Sam's past is catching up with him and explodes in Delilah's face. And, as if his life needed any further stirring, one of the locals is making it his aim to ruin his future too.

I've been enjoying reading about Samson and Delilah and that continued with Date With Poison. However, I am rather tired of waiting for shoes to fall and I really think Julia Chapman needs to resolve the past in the next book.

A nice cosy mystery, well written and engrossing.
Even if it can be read as a standalone it'd be great to have read the previous installment to have a more detailed idea of the setting and the characters.
The plot is full of twists and turns, the characters are fleshed out and likable, the setting is lovely and well described.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This is the fourth in the Dales Detective series by Julia Chapman set in the picturesque small town of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales. It is spring time in Bruncliffe, a busy and nerve wracking time for farmers with lambing and the local vet is run off his feet. Cleaner Ida Capstick wants Samson O'Brien, an ex-police officer with the London Metropolitan Police, now a private investigator, to help her get rid of her cousin, Carol Kirby, who has come to live with her, and to do it quickly before she kills her. Delilah Metcalfe is struggling to keep her dating agency a viable concern, she and Samson are going to merge her IT skills with his business to offer a complete security package for local businesses and individuals. However, spring is set to usher in a toxic and fraught environment in Bruncliffe,

Samson's life is about to be completely wrecked and turned upside down as he is arrested for murder, and he is up for a career destroying misconduct hearing in London, whilst unsubstantiated rumours and gossip make him a reviled figure in the community, as he stands accused of being a drug dealer. A shell shocked Delilah can't believe that once again she has proved to be such a poor judge of character, she had come to trust Samson, and Tolpuddle, her dog adores him. These events are the tip of the iceberg as the Metcalfe family faces a litany of woes. Delilah's nephew and Samson's godson, Nathan finds himself in trouble at school when the villainous property developer, Rick Procter goads Nathan, and matters are to escalate considerably leading to Nathan disappearance just as the weather in the Dales turns deadly. Into this febrile atmosphere, the vet becomes increasingly convinced that someone is indiscriminately poisoning dogs and cats in the district, and with the police busy on other matters, he needs Samson to investigate.

This is my first read of this series, I found it worked reasonably well as a standalone, although I think it would have helped to understand the established characters more if I had started at the beginning. This is a hugely enjoyable read, although poor Samson really does go through the mill, with a local community just far too happy to judge him and implacably determined to get him to leave town. Thankfully for him there is a small core of individuals who believe in and trust him, and know that he is incapable of doing what he is accused of, including his ex-alcoholic father. This is a lovely and entertaining crime read, with a diverse range of characters, with their conflicts and fears, and I love the Yorkshire Dales backdrop to the murky mysteries that Delilah and Samson set out to solve, despite their tense and fractured relationship. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

The 4th book in this series. If you are coming across this for the first time lucky you but read them all, they are a great cozy mystery, it also helps with the backstory of the different characters. It reminds me of Agatha Raisin in the good old days when MC Beaton actually wrote them herself! This book has mystery, suspicious characters, romantic tensions, murder and the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. What more could you want!

Fourth in this series set in the Yorkshire Dales full of wonderful characters the mystery kept me intrigued highly recommend.#netgalley #panmacmillan,

An enjoyable read, though I do want to read the previous books in the series as it is obviously a continuous story. A good plot with likable characters and the Yorkshire dales as a backdrop. I am anxious to see how the future unfolds for Samson and Delilah.
Thanks to netgalley and Pan books for an electronic arc. I recommend this series.