This is a Scottish crime series set in Edinburgh
This book was written well and was so compelling. The author writes good characters.
This is a great engaging book

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Cover Your Tracks is the third book in the series and a word of warning, if you've not read either of the first two books then you're missing a chunk of the storyline regarding DI Helen Birch's personal story although there are recaps that you can pick up the gist of what has happened previously. I had read All the Hidden Truths but hadn't read What You Pay For prior to starting to read this book but as soon as I realised that I had missed a major storyline I put this book aside and read the previous book before restarting reading this one as personally I like to know what has happened previously without having to try and work it out from snippets that are drip fed.

When Robertson Bennet turns up at the station wanting to speak to DI Helen Birch, the last thing that she expects is that she'll find herself dealing with a missing persons. A missing persons case with a difference, in so much that it doesn't seem to be a recent case and that no-one seems to know exactly when the elderly couple George and Phamie were last seen.

And the more she hears about the couple, the more it piques her interest as there's definitely a lot more to the story than first meets the eye especially when she discovers that Robertson has been estranged from his parents for years. So why the change of name, why has he only contacted the policy now but the most important question of all is where are they? It's only over time that we get answers to these and discover that DI Birch had every reason to be tenacious in her quest, even if others around her think that it's a dead-end case. The deeper she digs, the more an unsavoury story is uncovered that affects so many more than they first thought.

Although the missing persons investigation is at the heart of the book, we also get to see more of the personal side of Helen through her relationships with her own brother Charlie who she was estranged from for many years as well as her blossoming relationship with her partner Anjan who has been by in her life professionally, and now personally. Another of the characters I have enjoyed getting to know throughout this series is DC Amy Kato who played a central role in this investigation, trying to get to know more about the Macdonald's through reading the journals of Phamie which were discovered during a search of their house.

Overall Cover Your Tracks is a great addition to what is turning out to be a fantastic series and I hope that we'll be seeing more of DI Helen Birch for years to come.

Foreshadowing was more obvious to me than the police, in relation to the note and what it meant. Now caught up on the author's backlist and eagerly awaiting Book 4.

This is my second book by Claire Askew and I think she will be a popular author for anyone who enjoys a good police procedure/thriller genre story.
Unfortunately I felt this one failed a bit on the thriller stakes but I do like the characters who are all such a good fit for a long series.

I love this series and this book again did not disappoint!
I found it to be a very quick read that I finished in 1 day.
It's just another ordinary and boring day for DI Helen Birch, but then her path crosses with Robert Bennet who reports his parents missing. But this is not just a case of missing parents. It goes much deeper and it gets way more twisted with every page. What happened to the parents and what is the link with some cold cases starting from way back when.....In between all this Helen must also deal with some personal issues like her brother being attacked in prison and a dad she hasn't seen for years crawling out of the woodworks!

A very entertaining read! I cant wait to see what will happen next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Thanks so much to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. It's the third in a series of books and i loved it. Askew is a very tall writer and this book is very engrossing

This is the third book featuring DI Helen Birch, and each one is better than the last. A man comes to the police station to report his parents missing- but he left as a young man and hasn’t seen them for 30 years. He has returned now in the hope of getting a financial inheritance, but claims that his father was violent and that his mother could be in danger. This inauspicious encounter leads Birch and her sidekick, DS Amy Kato, unexpectedly to a series of cold case murders that will take all their ingenuity to uncover. Birch and Kato are believable and likeable. characters, despite their flaws, and Birch’s life becomes even more complicated when her brother Charlie faces trouble in prison and their deadbeat father tries to contact them after abandoning the family years before. This can be read as a stand- alone novel, but readers are sure to want to go back, at least to the second in the series that tells Charlie’s story. Crime storytelling at its best, this is an absorbing police procedural with lots of heart.

The best crime fiction novels are more than just a mystery or a detective solving a crime. They create a fictional world that explores and reflects reality, and allow us to consider actions we think unconscionable.

In Cover Your Tracks the main protagonist, DI Helen Birch, deals with a case that starts out as missing person but develops into something more. Her personal life is complicated - her brother, missing for years, is now in prison, and her father, unseen since she was 12, has contacted her. Her boyfriend is a lawyer.

I really like the somewhat maverick Helen, and her sidekick Amy Kato - their relationship is an interesting one. My absolute favourite scene is when Birch goes investigating along the railways lines - tension extraordinaire.

Very engrossing read.

The third in the Edinburgh-set police series featuring DI Helen Birch (although somehow I missed out on the second one!). Every family has secrets, and as Birch and her colleagues delve into the case of the missing parents of the rather unsavoury Robertson Bennet, it takes on ever-more darker aspects.

Solid, with an enjoyable cast of characters, but still after reading 2 of these I can't quite warm to our central character. Nonetheless, a good addition for fans of this developing series.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

This is a great Scottish crime series set in Edinburgh. I love the character of DI Helen Birch and her family dynamics. This book centres around domestic violence and it's repercussions on families, as well as a host of missing girls. it's well written, with plenty twists and a surprising ending. Crime fans will really love this book which I highly recommend. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

DI Helen Birch #3

Set in Edinburgh. Robertson Bennet goes to the police station to report his parents missing. He has just returned to Edinburgh after a twenty five year absence to search for his missing parents. DI Helen Birch has enough to contend with trying to help her brother,. Charlie, after an assault in prison. But instinct tells her not to ket this case go.

George and Phamie Bennett have been married a long time. But as the truth begins to unravel, terrible crimes start to rise to the surface.

I did not know that this was the third book in this series when I requested. I never thought reporting your parents missing would uncover: domestic abuse, murder and coercive control. At first Helen thought that this was going to be an easy case but it turns out to be one of her biggest cases. She also has problems with her brother, Charlie. Robertson is not a likable character, he's already stolen from his parents. This book can be read as a standalone, but read the series in order, if you can. I quite enjoyed this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Claire Askew for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book is the 3rd in the DI Helen Birch series, and centres around a man, Robertson Bennet, who walks into Helen’s police station to report his mother and father missing. It seems like a case that doesn’t warrant too much work on it, but it turns into one of Helen’s biggest cases, and on more than one occasion she has to get her hands dirty. Robertson is an unlikable character, who misses his parents for only one reason - money. The story also includes the ongoing issues in Helen’s private life with her brother, Charlie,
I love this series of books, Helen Birch is a great character, and has many flaws. But she is very relatable. She makes a great police officer, and not everything she does is by the book.
The story was easy to follow, was fast paced, every page had something new on it, and was the best in the series so far. Looking forward to seeing what Helen gets up to next.
Would highly recommend.

Edinburgh based DI Helen Birch takes on an unusual missing persons case. when a man walks in to the station demanding hat the police find his long estranged and now elderly parents. As Birch and her DC Amy Kato make some preliminary enquiries they both begin to think there is more to uncover.
Birch is distracted by her family life - younger brother Charlie is serving out a sentence and may be suffering for his connection with her, her own estranged father seems to want to make contact, and she’s neglecting dishy boyfriend Anjan, who happens to be Charlie’s lawyer.
Askew’s writing is beautiful with a strong sense of place - this is not the Edinburgh the tourists see, but the ignored places where people are living out their lives. I found the sympathetic portrayal of the families the pair encounter moving. The plotting was deftly done and I found myself ,keen to get back to the novel whenever I had to put it down.
This is the third novel featuring DI Birch, all of them dealing in some way with the consequences of crime and the wide ranging effects on people affected. You could easily treat them as stand alone novels but you’ll be tempted to read them all.

I have a rather embarrassing confession to make.  Yes yet another one.  Although I have the two previous books in this series on my ever growing 'to be read' mountain, I haven't read them yet.  What a mistake to make.  Having enjoyed reading 'Cover Your Tracks' as much as I did, I can guarantee that the other books in the series will not be on that 'tbr' mountain for very much longer.  I absolutely loved every single minute of 'Cover Your Tracks' but more about that in a bit.

I loved the character of Detective Inspector Helen Birch and I warmed to her from the start.  She is a dedicated police officer with a fair bit of experience.  She is in charge of a small team  and they all work well together.  Birch has a gut instinct where crime is concerned.  If something doesn't sit right with her then that means there is something amiss.  Birch is like a dog with a bone in that she will not rest until she has fully investigated a case and exhausted all leads.  What makes Birch a bit different from other lead female police characters is that her brother is currently in prison.  She doesn't hide the fact and she regularly visits him.  Birch is kind, caring, compassionate, sensitive, determined, tenacious, occasionally stubborn and feisty.

Oh boy, as soon as I started to read, I just knew that I was going to be in for one hell of a fantastic read.  To say that reading this book became addictive is a huge understatement.  I managed to binge read the book over the course of a day because I simply couldn't put the book down.  The book wasn't exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me.  I think I feared missing out on something if I parted from the book even for just a nanosecond.  I was so focussed on the story that I lost track of time and just how quickly the pages were turning.  I was quite surprised at just how quickly I managed to get through the story.  For me, 'Cover Your Tracks' was an unputdownable, page turner of a read.

'Cover Your Tracks' is superbly written.  The author certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and draw you into the story.  From fairly early on, I felt as though I was part of the story myself which is largely down to Claire's very vivid and realistic storytelling.  The fairly gentle pace of the book suits the storyline of the unknown whereabouts of two elderly people.  Claire certainly kept me guessing too.  I thought that I had worked out who had done what and why, only to realise that I had the wrong end of the stick.  Claire certainly knows how to weave the twists and turns into the story too.  I loved the plot, the characters and the author's writing style.  In fact there's not one thing about the book that I didn't like.

In short, 'Cover Your Tracks' is a fabulous read, which I would definitely recommend to other readers.  I will be reading more of Claire's work in the future.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

This was a good read but I struggled a bit with it . I think this was due to the fact I hadn’t read the others in the series.

This is the third of Claire Askew's novels set in Edinburgh and featuring DI Helen Birch and DS Amy Kato, and it is excellent. When Robert turns up at the police station to report that his parents are missing, a fascinating train of events is set in motion which involves murder, domestic abuse and coercive control. The central story itself is involving from the start but equally gripping is Helen's own life, which involves a brother in prison and a father to whom she hasn't spoken for many years. A tremendous read!

Having really enjoyed the first one, I started this under the mistaken impression that it was the second in the Helen Birch series; turns out it’s actually the third, and I’ve missed one. Seems like I missed some pretty important stuff, too. So, that needs sorting asap.

Anyway aside from some stuff in Helen’s personal life, it didn’t affect my ability to follow the plot. When a man walks into her Edinburgh police station to report his elderly parents missing and demand the police investigate, DI Birch doesn’t initially take it too seriously - after all, Robertson Bennet admits he’s been estranged from them for many years. But it soon becomes clear that there’s far more to the story than meets the eye, and a potential link to a number of unsolved cases, as well as serious concerns about the well-being of one individual...

I loved the plot, the Edinburgh setting, and the characters of Helen and her DC Amy Kato, who both go above and beyond in their quest to uncover the truth. The story is quite hard hitting and emotional at times, and the last few pages had me in tears.

(I knew as soon as I heard one person’s name who they were - but as it was near the end and revealed a page later, it wasn’t exactly a spoiler!)

Great read, and I’m now off to catch up with the one I missed.

Well... this took me all round the houses and back again. Actually, it took the detectives on a similar path throughout too! We start with Robertson Bennet, a rather obnoxious visitor to the Police Station, demanding to speak to someone in authority. It transpires that he is worried about his aged parents who appear to have disappeared. It further transpires that he has not had contact with them since he stole their savings and left for America some 30 years ago. Not surprising that they haven't stayed in touch. But then he claims that when he left, all that time ago, his father was abusive to his mother. Enter DI Helen Birch and DC Amy Kato to investigate. Although, there's not much to go on. Especially when it becomes obvious that Robertson might be worried for his mother but he also has one eye on his inheritance!
And so begins a rather strange investigation which Helen has to keep off the book initially. This allows her to maverick out a bit as she searches for clues. But, you remember that old adage about being careful what you wish for... well, I bet Helen and Amy never thought in a month of Sundays that the investigation would go that way... oh my indeed!
And that's all I'm saying here... but what a wonderful can of worms it all turns out to be...
It was nice to reconnect with Helen, who I first met in All the Hidden Truths. She has a, well let's just say, an interesting personal life. Absent father, previously absent, now in jail brother, but at least she has a decent relationship with her lawyer boyfriend. I do admit to missing out book two of this series, but I don't think I really missed out too much, apart from accepting Charlie's fate...
Pacing was good and always complemented the current narrative which ebbed and flowed along all the way through. There was little in the way of padding and waffle which meant that it all got on with itself very well.
All in all a good solid read which held my attention nicely. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I've already got a paperback copy of this book on order, so was over the moon to be able to read it early with this advance review copy from Netgalley.

I've followed Askew on twitter for years, and been a fan of Helen Birch since the first novel hit my doormat, and Cover Your Tracks is a great edition to the series. It still bears the hangover from book 2, with Birch spending a lot of her energy on her brother, Charlie, but that story line ebbs and flows throughout. It gives Birch depth and colours her decisions, her doggedness with the case she faces, and her single-mindedness that leads her to break protocol and, well, that would be spoiling it!

Did I 'solve it? I'm pretty sure I was shouting FLAGSTONES at the kindle for the last 40% of this, and I think I had most of it plotted out, but still gasped at one of the last big reveals.

Edinburgh is vibrant here, in the early September sun, and the colour it adds to the story is just a small reason as to why I love the Helen Birch series.