Detective Rachel King goes to a crime scene in a nursing home and finds the victim appearing peacefully asleep yet he is missing his ring finger and is also covered in confetti. The victim was near death's door anyway so why would he be murdered when he would have died within a very short time. Strange as that seemed for the detectives investigation, little did they know they would be in for a complete shock when the man's daughter comes to identify his body and claims the corpse was not her father and she had never seen that person in her life. This will lead to a quandary of how and downs for Rachel and her team and hopefully get will be able to solve this case quicky or not.

I normally enjoy Helen Durrant's books but this one was not my cup of tea. The story started out fast and hard and then the flat for me, I just couldn't connect with the characters in the way I like to. The book is based on a series where there were so many names mentioned from previous stories that it left many questions for myself, although it was said to be a stand-alone story, it just didn't work for me.

I want to thank the publisher "Joffe" and Netgalley for this ARC and given my honest review!

This will probably be a very good book for those who have read a couple of the previous stories in the Rachel King series! I have given a rating of 2 1/2 Unfortunate 🌟🌟🌠!!

⭐⭐1/2
This was one of those books that left me feeling let down. It started off with a bang but then the story unravelled. It is a story with a lot of potential but it lacked substance for me. There were also a few things that didn't make sense and a few contradictions as well.

The story in short.....a man is found dead in a care home. He was terminally ill so why would someone feel the need to kill him? He was suffocated; his ring finger cut off and confetti was spread over the body.
DCI Rachel King and her team is in charge of the investigation. Then a second body is found in similar circumstances.
Who is behind this and what is the motive?

Thank you to #netgalley and #JOFFEBOOKS for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the third book in the series book featuring DCI Rachel King and is fast becoming one of my favourite series. It was effortless to slip back in to reading about characters that I had come to know very well. Rachel King is a working mother of two argumentative teenage girls, student Megan and schoolgirl Mia, with the strange living arrangement of having her ex-husband Alan living next door. Handy for childcare and home-cooked meals but sometimes she feels trapped by the past. Also looming large in her past is local crime baron Jed McAteer whom she dated as a student, then unexpectedly had an affair with the man years ago resulting in Mia, a fact that has only come to light recently. Jed has been making a big deal about becoming legit in recent years but Rachel still struggles to believe him and after the end of book two he is now, rightly or wrongly, a wanted man who has fled the country. Rachel is still stationed at East Manchester CID running a small team of DS Elwyn Pryce and DCs Jonny Farrell and Amy Metcalfe, and still waiting for the extra staff she has been promised. Elwyn is also a good friend to her and the only one who knows her secret about Jed. A man is found dead in his nursing home bed, suffocated, covered in confetti and with his ring finger missing. When his estranged daughter is taken to identify him she claims the man in the morgue is a stranger. The dead man would have died fairly soon anyway and had only been visited by the local vicar. The detectives soon establish the identity of the man but are none the wiser as to whether he was even the intended victim. Then a woman is murdered and left in similar circumstances. Is she linked to the first victim and did her part in a property scam give someone a motive for her killing? As new evidence is unearthed and the detective team start to make connections, Rachel finds that big parts of the investigation are being kept from her by a new boss. Whilst they are racing against time to prevent possible further deaths at the hands of an unknown killer, Rachel is forced to put her trust in the most unlikely places when she doesn't even know who her enemies are this time. There are lots of delicious twists in this story as the author keeps up the pace and delivers a great plot. This story works fine as a stand alone but I would recommend reading the series in order as some past events come back into play. As with the previous books there are plenty of threads ready to be carried onto another story, and I am hoping I won't have too long to wait for book 4. 5*

DCI Rachel King, divorced from Alan with two teen-aged daughters, works for East Manchester CID along with several other team members. This crime mystery begins with a call out to Hawthorne Lodge Nursing Home where an elderly resident, Francis Baslow, has been found murdered -- he was suffocated and his ring finger has been removed. In addition, confetti has been spread all over the tiny room. When the officers go to make the notification and bring in Baslow's daughter to ID him, she stuns by saying that the dead man is not her father. It's on! And a complicated case this turns out to be with links to a previous investigation involving human traffickers and the criminals responsible for that illegal activity. There's a lot going on in this police procedural with Rachel unsure of whom to trust and Jed McAteer has skipped town. Can the team unravel this murderous mess and solve their case? NO SPOILERS.

This is typical fare that has all the standard elements of this genre, including a female detective who is really starting to annoy me. She doesn't listen to anyone, has her own opinions, steamrolls over people and makes mistakes while trusting her "instincts." I'd like to get to know the other team members a bit better, especially DCI Mark Kenton and DC Elwyn Price. To be honest, the whole case wasn't really that interesting and it seemed drawn out and convoluted with some of them working at cross purposes, withholding information, etc. and though I've read and enjoyed the previous 2 books in the series, I was hoping that Rachel would have gotten her act together both personally and professionally by now. I'll give the series another shot with book #4, however, as things might be changing for Rachel given the last sentence in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.

Wrong Victim by author Helen H. Durrant is another good mystery in the DCI Rachel King series. This is the third book but can be easily read as a stand-alone book with no problems understanding the characters or plot. Although questions from the preceding books about Jed will be answered, DCI Rachel King must first try to solve the murder of a very ill man in a care home. Why would someone want to murder a man who was already dying? The case gets a bit strange when the identity of the victim is discovered. Rachel wants to find out if there are any connections to people in a previous case of human trafficking. More bodies are found and this leads to more confusion about the motive for the murders. Rachel must discover how the switched identities affect the real estate fraud she feels is the motive behind the murders.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

DCI Rachel King #3

A man has been found murdered in his care home. One of his fingers has been cut off and he's covered in confetti. Then Alison Longhurst is found murdered in the same way. What is the connection to the two murders? They also discover that the first victim was not who they believed him to be. There are links to a trafficking ring. Also, someone is trying to operate a property scam, selling houses that will never be built.

DCI Rachel King and Sargent Elwyn are back. This story will have you second guessing yourself. The pace is fast in this addictive story. I was pulled in quickly to the story. I like the authors style in writing these books. This is a really good police procedural series.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Joffe Books and the author Helen H. Durrant for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wrong Victim by Helen H. Durrant is the third in the Detective Rachel King series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Joffe Books, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


Series Background:  (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books)
DCI Rachel King is with the serious crime squad for east Manchester. Her team consists of: DS Elwyn Pryce, her long-time colleague and friend; DC Jonny Farrell, whose father is disappointed in his career choice; and DC Amy Metcalfe, who is a bit unreliable.  Rachel and her ex-husband live beside each other, so their two teenage daughters have lots of support.  Although Rachel knows she should not have a relationship with her first love Jed McAteer due to his criminal background, he is hard to forget.  Only her partner knows of their relationship, and the fact that her youngest daughter is actually McAteer's.




My Synopsis:   

An old man is suffocated in a nursing home.  His finger is cut off, and his body sprinkled with confetti.  He is not who they thought he was.

A woman is murdered in her basement.  Her finger is cut off, and her body sprinkled with confetti.

The trick for the team will be to determine how they are related, and if the man was even the intended victim.

Rachel has still not really left the last case behind.  DCI Kenton is determined to find the missing Jed McAteer and charge him with human trafficking.  Rachel is just as determined that Jed is innocent of that charge.

Meanwhile,  Rachel's daughter Mia is starting to question the relationship between her mother and Jed.


My Opinions:

This series is a really easy read.  The books are fast-paced, and straight-forward.  Yes, there are twists, one of which I missed in this book, but there is nothing too deep.  I consider them a great fill-in when I need something that doesn't make me think too hard.  The writing is clear, and the plot good.

I am getting to like Rachel a little better, and although I still question her parenting skills, she at least tries to protect them.

The author again provided an appendix of British slang.  It might be nice if they provided a foot-note with the definition, because in an e-book it's not easy to go to the back of the book all the time.

Again, it was an okay book, and I'll stick with the series.

This is the third book in the Rachel King series and is a follow-on. I wouldn’t recommend reading this on its own without having indulged in the first two.
It was only July when I read the last book, but I really had to draw on my memory to remember what had happened. Lots of past events are referenced, but Durrant doesn’t waste words or time on recapping. The book is only 203 pages long, so she doesn’t have space and has a lot to pack in.
Once I’d cranked up my memory and knew where we were, I could really settle down and enjoy this section of the story.
The book grips you right from the beginning. An elderly man has been found dead in a care home, but not everything is at it seems not even the victim is who everyone thinks he is. The story is very interwoven and intricate, and again for such a short book, the author does a great job keeping track of all the threads and bringing them together.
The only little niggle I had were there were a few times some of the detectives knew things when there had been no time for them to find out that particular detail. Also, a few times, details were common knowledge when they were supposed to be kept quiet. I’m sure these things will have been ironed out in the final proof, or at least I hope so.
Overall, it was great to be back in DCI King’s world and fun to see the further development of the peripheral stories of all the detectives. We find out about their lives, but they are brief interludes and fit in well with the main story. Jed McAteer is growing on me!
I do hope this wasn’t the end of the series and that there will be more to come!

I like that series, it's the second book I read and won't be the last. Every book is different and well developed.

Well written, interesting storyline and good characters. Captivating from start to finish.

Maybe this one felt a little bit rushed.

ARC received through NetGalley, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The man in the hospital bed who was found suffocated, covered in confetti with his ring finger missing is dead ... very dead. The only problem is that he wasn't who he said he was. He had exchanged places with another man.

So how does Detective Rachel King determine who the real target was?

Another body is found in the same condition, only it's a woman this time.

King and her team are desperately looking for the missing man ... and a link between the three men and one women.

The one clue they have leads to a property scam, selling houses that have never been built nor will they.

On a personal level, King's love of her life has disappeared after being accused of people trafficking. Rachel knows he is not guilty.... but someone on her team is determined to bring him down.

With no one she can trust, Rachel will have to go it alone.

This is a well written crime fiction, 3rd in the series. It is easily read as a stand alone, but as usual, I highly recommend starting at the very beginning. The characters are deftly drawn and it's been interesting to see how they have grown over time. Many twists and turns kept me riveted to the excellent story. A teaser of an ending has me not so patiently tapping my toes to get to the next book.

Many thanks to the author/ Joffe Books / Books n All Book Promotions / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I really enjoyed this third book in the Detective Rachel King series. Rachel is investigating the murder of a man in a care home and dealing with a mole in her department. The character development is very good, the story is interesting, a quirky plot and it all adds up to another gripping read with a bombshell of an ending. I can highly recommend this series of books by a very good author. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC

Wrong Victim is the third instalment of the DCI Rachel King series, set in Manchester, North-West England. Although preferable it is certainly not necessary to have read either of the previous instalments in the series in order to enjoy this one. Rachel and her intrepid, hard-working team are called in to investigate when elderly and extremely sick man, Francis Baslow, is found suffocated in the care facility in which he resided; what is really bamboozling them is who and why someone would make the bizarre choice of murdering a man who was effectively dying anyway? But then they discover that the callous crime is the least of their worries as Mr Baslow's daughter informs them that the deceased is not her father and cannot explain what has happened. And so ensues one of the most long-term and thoroughly complex investigations ever attempted by Rachel and her team. Nevertheless, each team member puts every fibre of their being into getting to the bottom of this strange case.

This is a highly original, mysterious and immensely enjoyable read which from the first couple of chapters had my full attention and there was never a dull moment or a part where I wasn't completely absorbed in the adeptly plotted story. The twists and turns throughout were really something else with some coming off as mighty clever and unique. Ms Durrant's writing captures your imagination immediately and is easy to follow with none of the devices often used in mysteries just a good old fashioned straightforwardly penned police procedural. With ample amounts of mystery and the single point of view allows us to just immerse ourselves in Rachel's thoughts and world. A very entertaining and well-crafted mystery with a good cast of characters and a solid and satisfying conclusion. This will no doubt delight fellow fans of Durrant and gain her some new admirers too. Many thanks to Joffe Books for an ARC.

The third in the Rachel King series by Helen Durrant. I didn't feel that I had missed anything by not reading the previous two books and am glad that I didn't need to read them.
I didn't feel any empathy for any of the characters, none of them had any depth to them. As a team they didn't really seem to be working together just doing there own thing.
The holiday to Malaga just felt off. First Rachel says she hasn't any luggage only hand luggage and then she talks about a case? Would a woman get into an unknown car just because someone new her name and she was a police officer, don't buy that.
There was too much talking to members of the public and too much information being given out when it shouldn't have been.
Nothing was credible and it was all very rushed and convoluted.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC in return for an honest review.

I’d like to thank Joffe Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Wrong Victim’ by Helen H Durrant in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

A sick man staying in a nursing home is found suffocated in his bed, covered in confetti and with his ring finger cut off. Shortly after a woman is found dead in similar circumstances. DCI Rachel King is given the case to investigate and discovers that the only connection between these two people is a property scam selling non-existent dream homes that will never be built. There’s a third person involved in the scam but can Rachel find him before the killer does?

‘Wrong Victim’, the third in the Detective Rachel King series, is a well-written and action-packed police thriller with an interesting plot although the number of characters in the story confused me at times and detracted slightly from my enjoyment. There was a plethora of twists and turns leading us this way and that, drama, excitement and suspense, and we learnt more of Rachel’s private life and her background with Jed McAteer, her ex-lover and one of Manchester’s most notorious villains turned legitimate businessman. The final pages leave us with a cliffhanger, will Rachel return for a fourth book in the series?

If you take two men - both of whom are in fear of their lives - and swap them over, you have to hope that the person who is trying to kill them knows what they look like, or like here, the killer(s) will quite happily kill the wrong person. Then the police have to figure out which person was actually the target!

I enjoy reading Helen H Durrant victim books. They are alawys well written and quirky. This one is interesting from start to finish.

I read an advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Another decent offering from Durrant as Rachel and team are faced with another complex case.
The constant references to Jed are somewhat tedious and I prefer the other series from this author.

The 3rd in the Rachel King series and fantastic as always, great characters, fantastic storyline and a surprise ending, definitely recommend anything written by this author.

Wrong Victim is the latest book in the DCI Rachel King series by Helen H Durrant and like the previous books it is a fast moving crime thriller.

The only slight negative is the main character who has many flaws some of which I struggle to accept especially her interaction/ reaction to certain things however overall the book is very enjoyable and recommended

A dead man in a nursing home , mistaken identities and more dead bodies makes for a grippong read that keeps you awake till you have finished.

Just when you think you know who the murderer is you learn something that makes you doubt your suspicions

Highly recommended

4 stars

An elderly and very sick man is found murdered in his bed in a care home. When his daughter arrives to identify him, it is not her father. Who is the unknown man? And where is Francis Baslow? DCI Rachel King and her team have a mystery on their hands.

They finally learn that the dead man was Joseph Wignall, not the Baslow they thought he was. When another murder is committed, the police learn that the woman and Wignall were business partners in a shady enterprise. A third partner, Sam Graham, in their shady little partnership is missing and the police can't seem to locate him.

As the police continue to investigate, they make progress. A little scrap of paper gives them the vital clue they need to capture the perpetrator.

This is a well written and plotted novel as are all of Helen Durrant's books. It is easy to read and easy to follow. It has engaging characters that are well described. It was my first DCI King book. I liked the novel and will continue to read Ms. Durrant for as long as she chooses to write.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read, enjoy and review.