Under Violent Skies by Judi Daykin is the first book in the new DS Sara Hirst Series and I really enjoyed it especially as it was a good quick read

"Detective Sara Hirst has moved to Norfolk Police's Serious Crimes Unit, leaving behind her mother in London. Her mother won't tell Sara the truth about her father. Sara has come to Norfolk to find out why he abandoned her.

Her first call-out is a decomposing body discovered in a ditch on a local farm. How does the murder relate to a recent spate of farm thefts and who wanted the man dead?"

THEN THE CASE GROWS VERY PERSONAL . . .This was a great book with lots of twists and turns that made it an enjoyable read. Before i know it I had finished it. I loves all the characters especially DS Sara Hirst !

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Joffe for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

I have tried to read this book 3 times now, but have given up every time.
So I cannot give a property review hence the 1 star - did not finish - gave up

Fabulous story that I could not put down. Would highly recommend to fans of this genre. Great writing, and I will look for more from this author.

I have attempted this book a couple of times, but it is unfortunately a DNF.

I will purchase a hard copy and try reading this as sometimes I find I get into a book in a hardcopy, I will then review on bookstagram

“Under Violent Skies” encompassed all of the attributes I admire in a police procedural. It had a good balance between an interesting crime plot and a personable and relatable protagonist. The setting was one of my favourites and complimented the story.

Neither fast or slow, yet perfectly paced for reading enjoyment. As well as Sara, whom I really became fond of, I also liked a few of the peripheral characters including the elderly farm woman Agnes, and the illegal Serbian woman, Lenka.

In addition to being a murder mystery, the novel spoke to themes of prejudice, illegal aliens, organized crime, people smuggling, and rural policing.

“Under Violent Skies” is the first novel in the DS Sara Hirst crime fiction series. I enjoyed it so much that I now have the next two in the series loaded on my Kindle.

4.5 stars rounded up

This is a taught crime thriller interweaved with a highly personal storyline and it is exceptionally well done. The MC struggles to overcome her own haunted past and still solve a terrible murder. I loved the vivid world and was easily captivated by the storyline.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Under violet skies by Judi Daykin.
Ds Sara Hist series #1.
Detective Sara Hirst has moved to Norfolk Police's Serious Crimes Unit, leaving behind her mother in London. Her mother won't tell Sara the truth about her father. Sara has come to Norfolk to find out why he abandoned her.
I really enjoyed this book. Sara was my favourite character. I loved how determined she was. I'm looking forward to the next book. 5*.

The premise of this book is that DS Sara Hirst has moved from London to Norfolk; partly to further her career, but her choice of location was influenced by the fact that the father she never knew had lived there, and she hoped to track him down.

Her first case is difficult - fraught with prejudice against her gender, her colour and the fact she is an 'incomer', it surrounds the murder of a man and the ongoing theft of farm equipment, which the locals blame on the immigrant workers bought in to pick the crops.

The author portrays the area and the plight of the workers from Eastern Europe very well, in particular the lot of the women brought in to service the men. Lenka is a strong and very likeable character. Indeed, they are all well portrayed, although I did not at all like Sara's mother, who's reasons for not staying with Sara's father are just beyond belief.

Will Sara find her father, and will he want to acknowledge her if she does? And will her stubborn mother ever forgive her for leaving London?

A good read, and I'd certainly look for more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Judy Daykin’s debut novel is well written . I liked the plot and most of the main characters.
Detective Sarah Hirst has moved from London Met to the Norfolk Police Serious Crimes Unit.
As well as her new job she is trying to find out why her father abandoned her as her mother refuses to.
Sarah is a black woman working now in a mostly white police force -very different from London. She is met with suspicion and racism by some of her new colleagues . Elle, who expected to get the sergeant’s job causes trouble for her from the start.
A decomposing body is found in a ditch on a local farm and several farm thefts follow.
Will Sarah cope with the investigation and the racism? Will she find her father?
These are the main questions but there are many strands running through this complex story which makes it an enjoyable read.
Would read more by Judi Daykin.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in return for a fair review.

This cleverly balances a highly personal storyline with a great crime thriller. We see the protagonist struggling with her own demons even as she endeavours to solve a dreadful murder. With a touch of Joy Ellis in its ability to paint a startlingly clear picture, this novel represents the first of what I hope will be many by this author.

Unfortunately I was unable to gel with this book and haven’t been able to finish.
I will not be writing a negative review as that is unfair to the author and I will revisit this as I’m aware I’m a mood reader. Updated review to follow.

Detective Sara Hirst left London and her mother to join the small Norfolk Police Station’s Serious Crimes Unit, hoping she would settle in well, and also have some success in finding the father who had deserted her when she was only two years old. Sara didn’t have a lot of information about her father, except an old box with letters inside.

Sara’s first day with her new unit was fraught with bitterness as the boss hadn’t bothered to mention her starting. The shock of the others, one of whom thought she would have Sara's job, made Sara uncomfortable – not a good start. When the team was called out to a body in a ditch, the subsequent investigation uncovered many secrets. It also unexpectedly connected to another case the police were investigating. What would be the outcome for Sara? Would this first week in her new job also be her last?

Under Violent Skies is author Judi Daykin’s debut novel, and it’s a fast paced, tension filled crime procedural which I enjoyed very much. It’s hard to believe it’s a debut novel, and I hope it’s the beginning of a series, as I’d be keen to read more about Sara and the team. There were a lot of characters, but it was easy to keep track of them all. I think my favourite is Agnes – tough, determined, and very switched on. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Sara Hirst leaves her job in London and moves to Norfolk to join a Serious Crimes Unit. She is looking to advance her career but also to trace her father, who left the family many years earlier - she was unsure of the true reason why. She was hoping to meet up with him and find out..

On her first day at work a body is found, a local man violently murdered, a crime that shocks the normally staid and quiet rural community and police force.

There are undercurrents of other stories going on as well in the background: racial discrimination and human trafficking being just two of them, to add to the murder, and the mystery of her father.

An interesting and enjoyable read.

There are a lot of strings to this story make no mistake although they are al brought together neatly at the end. The main character is new to a Norfolk police squad - resented by others who expected one of their own to get the Sergeant's post, more than resented by some obnoxious locals who were clear racists, xenophobes and into thieving, kidnapping eastern European young girls, exploiting migrant workers not to mention the odd murder. or two. She also had her own agenda - to find her absent father which added to the story in one way but felt at odds with police procedural processes in another. She stuck with it though and, at the end, I felt that she was being included as part of the team as well as her own chip subsiding - I'd like to read the next in the series. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks so mich for early access this was a tremendous read. An author that beings so much of modern living into the most compelling of stories. Highly recommend this book and will be watching for more thanks

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Detective Sergeant Sara Hirst left her job in London to join the Serious Crimes Unit of the Norfolk Police. In addition to looking for advancement, she wanted to try to track down her father, who had left the family years earlier.

On her first day in her new position, she is faced with issues of discrimination because she is an outsider, female, and multi-racial. On the same day, a murder victim is discovered in this ordinarily quiet community that has few Serious Crimes.

In addition to the mystery, the book deals with the very timely issues of illegal immigration and human trafficking.

I enjoyed this novel and hope it is the beginning of a series that follows Sara.

This was a well plotted crime mystery. There was plenty to hold my interest and the story was well paced with interesting characters.

DS Sara Hirst has voluntarily left the Met and moved to Norfolk to join the Serious Crimes Unit - both to get away from her parents in London but also to hunt up her father, who vanished but whom her mother will not talk about.

Her very first day starts off with a bang, as the team is called out to a murder. The dead man has been dead for a bit, and as Hirst is looking over the body, one of the team who is not quite thrilled that she's there gives her a push into the ditch where the dead man lies. Hirst then becomes part of the crime scene, and she has to submit to a DNA swab for exclusionary purposed. Plus, he nice new shoes are ruined.

As the team investigates, Hirst gets up front and personal with the racism and xenophobia that small town life can bring out in spades. She's the only person of color on the team, and some of the people of Norfolk aren't particularly pleased to be talking to her, and also direct their complaints about immigration at her, even though she's Britain-born.

A series of thefts from surrounding farms gets folded into the murder investigation, as it turns out the dead man was an investigator for an insurance company, and was apparently working on something on his own when he was killed.

From time to time, we get the narrative from the POV of a woman brought in to feed the crop pickers from various Slavic countries. She's worried about herself, of course, and worried about another young woman who is used by the men as their plaything.

Some surprising forensics results sends Hirst into what will be a difficult choice. As the team closes in on nabbing the killer, they also have to deal with the foreign crop picks, who are about to pack up and move on.

It all comes to a fiery head - literally.

To say more would ruin the story, which I highly recommend. The books covers a number of themes in its telling: what constitutes families, racism, xenophobia, migrant labor, and the plight of women trafficked from Eastern European countries.

A solid four out of five stars.

Thanks to Joffe Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

Under Violent Skies is a police procedural. It's set in 'Escape to the Country' territory, but there's nothing twee or cosy about life in the country here! Instead, it portrays a harsher reality of inequality and abuse, including racism, sexism, migrant workers and human trafficking - along with the other dirty crimes that take place.

To its credit, these themes are well threaded into the story, in a very realistic way, rather than tacked on to make a political point. There's no proselytising or grandstanding, no heroes or supreme villains. There are just some people who are shown to be cynically using other people for their own benefit, or turning a blind eye to it, and others showing common decency.

In many ways it's a fairly standard crime novel but the handling of these themes lifts it - I've found that it's still on my mind a couple of weeks after reading it, unlike similar books that tend to go in one eye and out the other. It's also well written and constructed.

I give this three stars rather than four because I didn't love it. While the themes are strong, the characters are less so, and the pace is rather sedate, mostly. I recommend this for anyone looking for a novel with gritty realism and a strong sense of place.

When immigrant workers come to Norfolk to help farmers in the fields and thefts of farm machinery and vehicles occur people will blame the workers. But as the thefts turn more violent are the local residents and farmers totally innocent as they claim.
The new DS Sara Hirst has moved from the Metropolitan Police to Norfolk Serious Crime team to give herself better promotion prospects and to find her father who had abandoned both her and her mother when she was a baby. As she is introduced to he team it is obvious that not only are they surprised by her appointment but not at all welcoming.
This book has many human interests from trafficking to relationships involving families and workers.