A headless body is found on a jogging trail . A perfectly dark and riveting thriller that will keep you hooked from the first thrilling page ! I highly recommend ! Thanks to #Netgalley and #SevernHousePublishers for the opportunity to read and review this book ! #DarkTruths

Veteran detective DI Bernard Watts was running the cold case unit until budget cuts forced the closure of that department. His new boss assigns him to be the lead investigator on a murder case involving the death of young woman who had been out running. The investigation becomes more complex when a skull from a prior death is found very close to the crime scene. The pressure is on for Watts and his designated team to solve these crimes as soon as possible, but as the investigation proceeds, the case continues to get more complicated.

Even though this book is described as the first in the "Will Traynor" series, DI Watts is actually the main character of the story. I really like his intelligence and insights he brings to the case based on his years of experience. He is forced to partner with rookie PC Chloe Judd. I found Chloe to be as annoying as Watts did in the beginning, but she becomes more likable toward the end of the book. Dr. William Traynor is a criminologist who is called in to consult on the case. Will is very intelligent and is an excellent profiler. However, he is not at his best for most of the investigation because he is obsessed with solving his wife's murder from a decade ago.

If this team is the focus of future books, I would gladly read them because once they got used to each other, the skills of Watts, Chloe, and Will complement each other perfectly. I would classify the book as a police procedural but the story is very interesting and I was engaged from the very beginning. There are enough possible suspects in the crime to keep the reader guessing. I was eager to see how things would turn out, but hated saying good-bye to these characters. I would rate the book 4.5 stars and look forward to future installments.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Severn House. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

“Dark Truths” by A.J. Cross is book one in the new “Will Traynor Forensic Mysteries” series. The story opens with a precise detailed investigation that sets the tone for the no-nonsense investigation that follows. However, it turns out that nothing is business as usual in this police department or in this case. Police department politics, community interest, interpersonal relationships, family dynamics, and the pressure of the case all influence the investigation
Cross introduces “supporting” characters so readers get to know them before introducing the title character with some fanfare and controversy. William Traynor, an expert criminologist, has been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress following his wife’s murder. He is the antitheist of what readers usually find in police procedure book, so he adds controversy and tension to the traditional mix of characters.
The narrative expertly balances the pursuit of a criminal with the every day activities of participants. This adds realism to the story and helps readers understand that the characters are ordinary, regular people; and one must not forget the cat whose snoring makes sleep impossible. Conversations are casual, friendly, and professional. Events proceed in an orderly fashion, and the pace is steady and documented by dates on chapter headings. Details are revealed little by little as clues gradually emerge. More victims are found to complicate the investigation. Just when readers think things are just going along on schedule, something unexpected is thrown into the mix.
Cross developed a focused, precise, planned investigation, and yet within it, skillfully placed a surprise. I received a review copy of “Dark Truths” from A.J. Cross and Severn House Publishers. The characters are complex, and the narrative is compelling. This is the start of what should be a great series.

Dark Truths is billed as the first in a forensic criminology series, and that’s what we get, an introduction, because Will Traynor is not the central figure in this police procedural/serial killer mystery.

DI Bernard Watts has been languishing in the Unsolved Crimes Unit of the West Midlands Police, but when it is disbanded, Acting Chief Inspector Brophy brings him in to head up the hunt for the brutal killer of Zoe Roberts, a young woman jogger who has been murdered and decapitated.

Brophy instructs Watts to take on a rookie, PC Chloe Judd who is characterised both by her keenness and by her high opinion of her own abilities, something that quickly gets up Watts’ nose. Though she is a P.C., Chloe takes on more of a D.C. role.

The final key player in this team is criminologist Will Traynor. Brophy believes Traynor can bring fresh insights into the team but Traynor is a damaged shadow of his former self. His wife disappeared some ten years ago, presumed dead, but her body was never found. He is still obsessed with finding her and this impacts on his ability to form a clear picture of the investigation. During the course of this investigation he will see links to his wife where none exist, which makes Watts’ life even more difficult.

When more heads are discovered near the site of the jogger’s body in the stifling summer heat, it is clear that the team have a serial killer on their hands. Watts believes there must be a link between these deaths but he and Judd have difficulty in making the connections they need, not helped by Judd’s excessive enthusiasm; she is a character who is determined to prove herself, even if that gets in the way of police procedure, and the case suffers as a result.

Judd’s backstory is an interesting one and makes her a character that it is possible to have some empathy with, while Watts is more of a closed book. Pathologist Dr. Connie Chong is a nice addition to the case, with a rather more cheerful demeanour than her colleagues.

Dark Truths is a solid police procedural mystery which relies on detailed examination of the evidence and A.J. Cross’s familiarity with forensic evidence adds authenticity to the story.

She provides a range of suspects to keep the reader guessing and delivers a well thought through puzzle for the reader to enjoy, albeit that the pace is sometimes quite slow.

Verdict: An interesting start to a new team of investigators. I hope we will see these characters further fleshed out and more character development in future series.

This may be billed as a Will Traynor mystery but it's really more about DI Bernard Watts and PC Chloe Judd as they investigate what first appears to be a random and awful murder wherein a young woman jogger is murdered and decapitated and then turns into a hunt for a potential serial killer. Will, a man damaged by his wife's disappearance, is brought in as criminologist to deal with all the evidence. Judd is a newly minted officer and she's a pain (Watts is more patient than many would be). Will's certain his wife is still alive and he's been a pain for Watts for years (and he's more patient with Will than many would be). This has good characters, an unusual mystery, and a good sense of place. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm looking forward to more of Will in the future. For fans of procedurals.

A good start to a series. This is an interesting story with characters that I want to find out more about. I hope there are more books to come.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

What exactly is a forensic psychologist? And how do the police work with one clearly damaged by the death of his own wife? That's what the team DI Watts gathers is wondering, as they try to solve the mystery of who the headless corpse is, and why there are three more bodies buried nearby, in a hillside overlooking a motorway and near to a jogging path. As the case uncovers more evidence and coincidences, the links begin resolve but putting the entire puzzle together waits until the end. Mysteries that aren't easy to guess before the detectives solve things are always welcome, and in this case the motive is also somewhat hidden. Points for that!

I liked the Watts/Judd pairing, but unless Taylor changes in the next book, it would appear that the author has chosen the wrong focus for the series.

eARC provided by publisher.

Will Traynor #1

In the car park next to the jogging trail, headless body has been discovered. The case has DI Watts and his team baffled. They find more heads than they have bodies for. Will Traynor is the criminal psychologist that's brought in to help the police.



Will Traynor's wife was murdered ten years ago. The case has not been solved. Will spends most of his time trying to rectify this. Acting Chief Inspector Brophy puts DI Watts as the man to lead the investigation into the murders of the headless victim. Quickly, the count rises to four. Brophy also assigns police constable Chloe Judd, a young inexperienced officer to assist DI Watts. There is a few characters to try and remember and the pace is quite slow. The plotline is complex. There is one gory scene throughout the book. Overall, a great start to a new series.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Severn House and the author A.J. Cross for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A J Cross’s latest novel, Dark Truths, is a good mixture of police procedural and forensic investigation.
It opens with the discovery of the headless body of a young woman jogger. She had been stabbed to death and her head removed post-mortem. It is a horrific crime, however, the senior investigative officer, Detective Inspector Watts of the West Midlands Police Force, quickly finds that other shocks are just around the corner when his officers examine the adjacent site. Soon there are whispers of a serial killer and Watts and his team are under pressure to quickly solve it.
This is a nicely plotted police novel that smoothly moves through its paces under the guidance of experienced author A J Cross. Watts is an engaging, old styled copper who has been out of the spotlight of current police operations for five years while running a Cold Case Unit and is now under pressure to re-establish his reputation as an investigative officer. Much to his disgust, he is given a young Police Constable, Chloe Judd, to help him run the investigation. Inexperienced and temperamental she makes a good foil to Watt’s steady-as-it-goes approach.
They are also joined on the case by Will Traynor, a criminal psychologist who is still obsessed with the unsolved murder of his wife 10 years ago, and the cheerfully capable pathologist Connie Chong. It is a good mixture of characters and Cross steadily drags out aspects of their personalities and their various driving forces. Although billed as a “Will Traynor” novel, the viewpoint is largely from Watts’ and Judd’s perspectives and Traynor is very much a secondary player.
This is a very ably plotted mystery novel that unfolds at a good pace and keeps the reader happily engaged until the surprising outcome. The suspects are nicely sketched and interesting, and Cross does a good job of keeping the reader guessing as to who the killer is. It is also refreshing to read a serial killer thriller for a change that solely focuses on the actions of the police and does not slow the plot with the killer’s deranged thoughts. I also liked how on the final page the story loops back to something which happened in the opening section and which I had forgotten about.
There are some unlikely elements, but all in all, it is a good British police story with solid characters and an interesting plot. There is also some fascinating forensic detail, courtesy of A J Cross who is herself a forensic psychologist and frequent court-appointed expert witness.

This is an interesting start to this new series. the mystery itsef was solid, the characters 50/50. Traynor is interesting, but Judd is annoying for most of the book-a typical too young to be an officer withut knowing much of life, issue- and Watts goes back and forth from very likeable to blah. If you're looking for potential, this series might be it, based on Cross' other books.

It starts with a headless body.. not something that DI Bernard Watts and his team see everyday. The victim was doing her daily run along a well used jogging trail when she was stabbed to death and the killer took her head with him.

That's troubling enough, but while doing a ground search, they don't find the victim's head...but they do come across other heads ... linking the present crime to a past crime.

Determining that the crimes were all committed by the same man over a period of years, it becomes imperative that the skulls are all identified .... and finding what links them all together.

Watts already has his hands full with a new rookie detective ... one who is young, brash, outspoken, but determined. She's right where she wants to be ... for the moment. Watts and PC Chloe Judd butt heads, and although Watts is dubious that Judd will be much help, he's determined to do his best by her.

Added to the turmoil, the big boss has informed Watts that criminologist Will Traynor will be joining their team. But Traynor may not be the expert that he once was. His wife was brutally murdered years ago and her body never found. Mentally, he's never let go of the idea that she might still be alive. Unfortunately for Watts, his investigation comes second to Traynor's personal problems.

There are many suspects, both past and present, and watching how this team goes about investigating is full of twists and turns ... a few surprises along the way. Forensics, as the title implies, plays a huge part of the story. However, Will Traynor is more a secondary character, while Watts and Judd takes center stage.

I enjoyed how the characters related to each other, and I really look forward to seeing more of Watts and Judd. Traynor was okay as a character, but I'm hoping his story is more developed in the upcoming series.

As a bonus, this author has a history of over 20 years experience as a forensic psychologist. She brings a lot of credibility to her storytelling.

Many thanks to the author / Severn House Publishers / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

DarkTruths #NetGalley I struggled to get into this book, mainly because I couldn't really warm to the characters, which in a crime thriller I really like to do. DI Bernard Watts, who is mysteriously referred to as sarge throughout the book did not seem very dynamic at all. PC Chloe Judd was irritating and annoying although we did get a glimpse of her more vulnerable side later on. The book is billed as a Will Traynor thriller but he didn't really have a big part and what we did see, I didn't like. Would I give the second in the series a chance? Probably yes, to see how the characters develop.

When the body of a jogger is discovered minus her head, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in to aid the investigation. DI Bernard Watts has enough on his plate having just been returned to an active crime case after working cold cases and still has to deal with new recruit Chloe Judd and with Will Traynor, who is obsessed with finding out what happened to his wife a decade previously.

Although Dark Truths is billed as the first in a series about criminologist Will Traynor; the plot actually has more to do with Watts and Chloe Judd with a sideline of Traynor's distractions on his own investigation into his wife's murder.

I would read the next in the series to see if the focus is on Will Traynor and his abilities as a criminologist. At this point, I'm not invested, but often the second entry in a series is the one that truly engages my interest.

Read in Sept.; blog review scheduled for Nov. 22.

NetGalley/Severn House
Police Procedural. Jan. 7, 2020. Print length: 240 pages.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

Dark Truths is a British police procedural, with a heavy emphasis on procedure. A gruesome murder occurred during a heat wave and it felt like the entire book was suffering from the unrelenting heat. There was a sluggishness to the story, a repetitiveness in the police work that, while probably very accurate, only slowed the pace of the book. Also, I never really felt a spark from any of the characters, except PC Judd and, occasionally, Traynor. I think this is because there was very little in the way of personal details about the main characters, which made it a bit dry and hard to feel involved in the story.

While the plot was clever, the location never really came into focus and, after so much of the book had such a slow pace, I found the end a bit rushed and tidy. But, this is the first of a new series and I would probably give the second book a try.

This starts with a headless corpse found near a jogging trail. DI Watts is brought in to solve the case. Because of a shortage of manpower he is given a rookie to help him. More heads are discovered near the site of the joggers body which complicates the case.

This was an entertaining read but I didn’t like all the characters. Rookie PC Judd was very annoying, she was immature, overly eager, had no respect for experienced investigators and pouted if things didn’t go her way. This is not a fast paced book, a lot of it involves going over the facts of the case multiple times. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

In the car park near to a jogging trail, a headless body is discovered. It is up to Detective Inspector Bernard Watts and his team to investigate. Complications occur when skulls are discovered nearby. Will Traynor a criminologist is bought in to help, though still trying to deal with his wife's death some ten years ago.
The story in this first book of the series deals more with the crimes and investigation of Watts than Traynor which may change as the series develops. I also found the character of PC Judd to be irritating and sometimes inappropriate for what is a hierarchical environment.
But overall an interesting and enjoyable well-written story, a good start to the series.

I’d like to thank Severn House Publishers and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Dark Truths’ by A J Cross in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The body of Zoe Roberts is found on Blackfoot Trail with her head decapitated after she’s been stabbed to death. DI Bernard Watts is brought in from the Unsolved Crime Unit to head the team and is given the new DC Chloe Judd to mentor. Criminologist Dr Will Traynor is also added to the team although Watts doesn’t believe he’ll be able to add anything useful. New evidence soon comes to light adding a new dimension to the investigation dating back a decade.

‘Dark Truths’ is an exciting police thriller with interesting and likeable characters, DI Bernard Watts who the extremely pompous Chief Inspector Brophy is about to replace if he doesn’t bring the case to a successful conclusion, DC Chloe Judd who’s irritating at times but shows promise, and Dr Will Traynor who to me is the least important member of the team but brings new ideas to the case. I like Watts’ sense of humour and found myself smiling at some of his comments, and it’s helped me to learn more of Chloe’s background and why she’s so determined to do well in the police force. The more the story progressed the more I became embroiled in the plot and needed to keep reading to find out more. This is a very enjoyable novel and I’m looking forward to reading the next one and catching up with more from Watts, Chloe and Traynor.

I have to say ... I really enjoyed this one. I had to start it over once ... had a hard time getting into it and lost track of where I was but then .... it just took off. Really enjoyed the mystery.

Looking forward to the next in the series and watching the relationships between the characters grow.

Thank you #netgalley and #severnhouse for the eARC.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

It is described as 'a Will Traynor' novel, but that seems a bit odd. Will is a criminal psychologist brought in to help the police, who suggests various theories (all of which turn out to be untrue), and spends the rest of the time neglecting the case to pursue the unsolved murder of his wife 10 years ago. I think we are supposed to feel enormous sympathy for him about this, but since his wife never appears as a live character, it is hard not to feel instead that he should just put it behind him and focus on the job he's being paid to do.

The police here are represented by DI Watts (who is mysteriously referred to as "Sarge" in the last chapter) and PC Judd (who seems actually to be a DC). Both are characterized fairly lightly, although I can see potential for their working relationship. The case itself, which escalates quickly to four cases, was very interesting, although the plot is a bit meandering in a way that is probably true to life but not ideal to read about in a novel. The solution was satisfactory, although it did all come together rather rapidly - it was not something that had been clued in advance for the reader to work out.

I would happily read more in this series, especially if they have more of Watts and Judd and less of Will Traynor.

An intriguing story about murders committed over past ten years to modern times. The victims skulls are found without their bodies, a complex investigation leads to an unexpected outcome. An introduction to D C Chloe Judd, hopefully hear much more from her in the future.