I enjoyed that rather more than I expected. It's not a thriller nor a police procedural in the normal sense, but it did keep me engaged. Plenty of red herrings and misdirections and when the culprit is revealed I wan't totally surprised although I had missed the earlier clues. A couple of the other plot lines I felt could have been expanded upon but on balance I think the author did a fine job. The characterisations and the sense of the slightly claustrophobic village life were very well handled, and I think I will need to go and look at her first novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Headline for the ARC of Innocent by Erin Kinsley

A thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery that due to its rural setting brings to mind Midsomer or Vera, and would make a very good feature length TV show. Lots of potential suspects for the murder of local celebrity Tristan. Lots of secrets uncovered through the investigation and very well written.

TV celebrity Tristan, his wife Izzy and young daughter Flora attend a wedding in the small town of Sterndale. Later that evening Tristan is found with a serious head injury. Erin Kinsley does a good job of describing people and life in a small town and what follows is a good story where you chop and change your mind about everyone as more and more hints and clues are slowly revealed. If murder mysteries like 'Midsummer Murders' are your cup of tea then this book will suit you well.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advance reading copy.

There was much to keep the reader engaged in this murder mystery, but a few niggles too, especially the writing style at the start, which suggested ‘chick lit’ rather than serious writing and plot. Once over that hurdle, the story gained momentum and style, with the characters becoming more believable, and twists, turns and red herrings aplenty! It centres around the assault of Tristan Hart at a wedding - he is a well known TV celebrity and well loved too, but does he have a darker side, kept hidden, even from his family and friends?

A little more economy in the writing would have been welcome and there was some slightly crass and obvious characterisation, but I stayed the course until the end and was glad that I did - it wasn’t a total surprise, but was satisfying and complete. A mixed review for ‘Innocent’ but this book is a good, absorbing read overall.

At a summer wedding, a TV celebrity is found after a vicious attack. But who would do such a thing? As his wife and young daughter wait to see if he will regain consciousness, the police begin to investigate the wedding guests. What is the motive? Could it be a jealous fan? Is he a philanderer? Perhaps a business deal gone wrong? Blackmail?

The story follows the twists and turns of the police investigation... but everyone has secrets. The plot proceeded at a steady pace with several twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely read other books by the same author.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Murder of a celebrity at a lavish summer wedding. Who committed the terrible crime? A growing mistrust among villagers where gossip is the everyday 'norm'.
A lot of misdirection in the writing - who would have guessed the murderer.

Thoroughly enjoyable book to read with lots keeping you gripped. There is drama, emotion and lots of twists making you wonder if anyone is what they say they are...

Sterndale is a small but quaint and well-to-do town where everyone knows everybody and gossip is rife.
Tristan Hart, a tv celebrity and local to Sterndale is attending a perfect wedding with his perfect wife and daughter where he is assaulted and left critically ill.
He later dies and a murder enquiry is launched.

I think the opening chapter really set the tone for the whole book. It read like a fluffy chick-lit, which is really not my cup of tea. So to be honest, I wasn’t expecting too much.

However, the pace picked up (albeit at a slowish trot) and my attention was held as the police tried to work out who was behind the assault.

Unfortunately, I guessed ‘whodunnit’ pretty early on. Which is great for that brief sense of smug satisfaction, but ultimately, I prefer a book where I don’t see ‘it’ coming. I was hoping that it was a red herring and that there might be a nice, juicy twist - but no, ‘fraid not!

There were a lot of characters introduced, none of which were fleshed out enough for me to get a real feel for any of them or even care about them.
This just wasn’t gritty enough for my taste, a bit too crime-lite for me.

Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for the ARC.

My full review will be available on the blog on review day

Innocent is an engaging and enjoyable read but it lacked a little something. I had an idea in my head about who would have hit Tristan over the head and keeping secrets and was proved right in the end. It wasn't as fast paced as I expected and with a whole stream of characters the two that had the most depth and were central to the story were Laura and Izzy.
Overall it was an enjoyable read, engaging and some of those descriptions were just beautiful, Fairery tales bookshop Just sounded lush.
3 stars for me

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

oh my word where to start without giving anything away....

a wedding
an incident

at a local wedding tris and his lovely wife and daughter are invited to attend,he is a bit of a celebrity and everyone wants a piece of him....

but at the end of the night tris is in hospital and in a bad way

wow there are so many red herrings and innuendos that you think you know who did it and then another suspect comes around...
brilliantly written and well thought out...kept me glued right to the end and i have to admit to having a bit of a leaky eye at the end....

will be keeping an eye out for more of this authors works

This is a terrific read and one that demands the reader keeps going to the end! It is much more than just a murder story. Tristan Hart, really Tristan Savage, is a television personality living in a small town. The tale starts at a local wedding where his small daughter, child of his second marriage, is a bridesmaid. All seems perfect but the day ends in disaster with his murder. The characters from the village, the police and his previous life are all well portrayed. The story of family secrets, mistaken interpretations of evidence and neighbourly contacts are used to dramatic effect. The writing is perceptive and full of empathy. There are many murder stories around but this one is special. I recommend it without reservation.

Innocent is a quintessential English murder mystery set in the small town of Sterndale where everyone knows everyone. Local celebrity Tristan Heart is found unconscious in the grounds of Sterndale Hall where he is a guest at a wedding, along with his beautiful wife Izzy and daughter Flora. As the story unfolds, we’ll loved Tristan isn’t the man we first thought he was as the police uncover information about his past.
I found this book quite difficult to get into due to the number of characters and slow pace of the story. It almost felt like I’d started 50 pages in and had missed some vital introductions. The plot is well thought out but the ending wasn’t a huge surprise.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
This is the second book by Erin Kinsey and Innocent is an extremely clever well written book. It is the story of Tris, the golden boy, the celebrity with the good looking wife and child. When he is found unconscious at a wedding, the storyline moves along and makes you wonder whether he is as good as he is as his publicity agent says he is and as his wife Izzy thought he was, or is he like all the other celebrity people with his secrets and lies?
The story is good, the characters are well written and believable and the conclusion is sad. An excellent second novel.
Highly recommended.

Popular TV presenter Tristan Savage, or Tristan Hart as per his stage name, is attending a wedding at a hotel with his beautiful wife Izzy and their three year old daughter Flora. During the celebrations, he is discovered unresponsive next to the pool after being hit over the head. He remains in a coma with the police trying to find out who would do such a thing and why.

Being in the public eye, everyone has their suspicions about what has happened and there are a lot of whispers around the town. Tristan has been married before and after digging into his past, the police have a few leads. At the same time though, his current wife Izzy and ex-police officer friend Aidan are both keeping a couple different secrets from the investigation.

Although there are a lot of red herrings and lots of possible suspects, I had guessed pretty early on who the attacker was but obviously wanted to read on to find out why. The story has a lot of depth and characters are well developed but it just missed the mark for me.

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. I thoroughly enjoyed it mainly because it was so well written. So much happens and there are so many red herrings. Tris is a TV personality living with his wife Izzie in a rural village. He attends a wedding there but is found unconscious in the grounds of the hotel where the wedding takes place. It could have been one of so many pople and as we get further into the book, we find out so many different things about Tris and his life before marrying Izzie. But don't be fooled, it's not all as it seems. We follow the police investigation as well as the lives of the people involved. I don't want to say too much in case I give anything away! Anyway, I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one from Erin Kinsley. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Tristan Hart, his wife Izzy and young daughter Flora look to have the perfect life. At the start of this book we meet them getting ready for a wedding. Unfortunately by the end of the night Tristan is in a coma following an assault. Who would have done it and why? What secrets is he hiding? Is he as perfect as he seems? The quiet village of Sterndale is thrown into turmoil following the assault. We learn about different residents of the villiage and the secrets they may be hiding too.

We get to know more about Izzy, Tristan’s past and their friends Laura and Aidan along the way.

Whilst I did enjoy reading this I felt at times it was slow paced, some of the characters were lacking depth and entirely unnecessary in my opinion. I also had the suspect pegged from the start and wasn’t wrong in my assumption

A good read for a lazy weekend

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review

Innocent by Erin Kinsley was a great read. There were enough characters to make the storyline flow, pique my interest and hold my attention without distracting from the storyline with any unnecessarily complicated cast of who’s who! I did struggle a little to believe that Izzy would have moved so quickly into anger and hate from her romantic love for Tris but that played out convincingly in the end. This was a really good storyline with a fairly unexpected ending. Although the clues were there and my suspicions aroused, there were sufficient red herrings that I thought things had happened differently so the denouement proved to be a satisfying reveal. The book manages to raise a number of important issues in relation to business practices and domestic violence without either dominating the storyline or trivialising their import. Very well executed within a fairly easy, but gripping, read. Four stars from me

Loved this book. Good old fashioned who done it. Loved the small town community with the prejudices and gossip.
Tris a local celebrity is found mortally injured from an attack at a wedding. Police investigating the attack, which leaves Tris in hospital, unconscious ,turn up dark sides to many of the guests at the wedding . So many suspects yet who would do such a thing to a well known respected celebrity?

Twists and turns leave the reader clinging on every word for clues as to who and why. Great. Wish there were more books like this.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Tris is attacked at a wedding and the book focuses on trying to find his attacker, looking at the relationships he has with many people around him. Despite lots of clues I didn't work out who was to blame until near the end as there were so many potential suspects.

At first I find most of the characters were spoilt/selfish etc but throughout the story you grow fond of them as you begin to understand the reasons behind their actions.

I would recommend this book.

A crime thriller really? A crime committed but thrilling not! A pick it up/put it down kind of novel, that ambled on from beginning to end with a slight surprise. Not my idea of a gripping thriller.