I generally read books in a series in strict order so it pains me to report that prior to this (book 10) I had only read book 7 of the Maeve Kerrigan series. I can confirm that the books stand up well in their own right but I realise I have missed a major storyline in books 8 and 9. Despite having an ongoing murder enquiry in her own area Maeve goes on an undercover assignment with Derwent which requires them to act as a couple!! Jellicoe Close appears to be a perfect suburban street but it has more than its share of dark secrets. Fans of the series who are invested in the will they/won’t they relationship between Maeve and Derwent should enjoy this. I quite liked the idea of the undercover enquiry but I did find it a bit of a challenge remembering who was who among the residents in the close. This has left me feeling like I want to read the next one but also aware that I should go back and fill in the gaps in Maeve’s story too.

An absolutely fantastic read! I was gripped from start to finish! I enjoyed the character development throughout the book. I couldn't put it down, constantly needing to get to the next page to find out what happened!

Will definitely be reading more by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced ebook!

Maeve is struggling at work, not that she sees it but the others around her do. A case comes up that will give her a chance to live a different life for a bit along with colleague Josh Derwent. she's also investigating the murder in a hospital car park. Can she solve the case and what will happen in this little close she's staying at?

Oh I love these books and Maeve's development through them. The series is so good. Full of drama, intrigue and mystery. There's background stories and relationships but the murders do take focus which I really like. The cases in this were really good. I solved one of them but not the other. The ending was really good and dramatic. It left me wanting more from the characters. These are always a steady burn but with plenty going on along the way. A great addition to the series and i look forward to more.

It makes a good standalone book. It’s so easy to follow.
It has an engaging plot and well written characters. I loved the relationship between Maeve and Josh.
A thoroughly enjoyable read and I’ll definitely read more by this author.
A brilliant police procedural. Definitely recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think this is novel number ten in the Maeve Kerrigan series. You can read this on its own, but you would do far better starting with the first one to fully appreciate the characters and their development through the series.
Kerrigan is a Detective Sergeant on a murder team. She is intuitive and experienced but also suffering from things that have happened in previous books. As a result she is not quite firing on all cylinders, and not giving her current case (the murder of a doctor) her full focus.
An opportunity arises for her to go undercover for a few weeks with her boss Josh Derwent, posing as a couple so they can investigate why men are going missing from a half way house.
Jane Casey is an excellent writer. She captures a working environment and people really well, you believe in the characters, the banter, the office politics that underpin the murders they investigate. In this she and Derwent are required to act as a loving couple and the author pushes the direction of their relationship more than she has in previous books. It stops short of hitting the dreaded “romance” description thank goodness.
Needless to say, while in The Close there may be more going on than they suspect and they will need to be on the top of their game to realise where the danger is.
Another hit in an excellent series.

Thank u to netgallery for the early review Copy.

A gripping page turner of a book from the very Start.

Expect nothing less.

Ah, yet another satisfying police procedural featuring Maeve Kerrigan!

My impressions of Maeve from my first read from this series stand. She is soo good, strong and smart and I loved to see her vulnerable and struggling to be a girly girl. Plus the chemistry between Maeve and Josh was off the charts. Can they end up together, pretty please?!

Quite a bit seemed to have happened in between #7 and #10 of the series, but I cannot say I felt as if I couldn't read this one, without the info from the previous ones. Enough detail has been provided to help the reader make sens of the current events. Maeve and Giorgia's relationship has developed nicely, and Georgia is really coming into herself, becoming a good police officer. As for John and Maeve, what can I say? More please? LOL.
The procedural development of police cases has been well handled and really satisfying. Once again I feel we've been given a nice insight into what it means so investigate a case, how one really need to think about everything and also outside the box.

I am truly looking forward to reading another Maeve Kerrigan at some point in the future!

*Book from NetGalley with many thanks to the publisher!

Not the first I've read in this series, and it certainly won't be the last!

Maeve Kerrigan's latest case has landed on her desk; a body has been found - in his own car, outside his place of work. As yet, however, they have no crime scene. Before she gets very far with it, she is handed another, more important task. A man died in another catchment area and a lot of noise is being made that it hasn't been properly handled, so two officers are to be sent into the street where there are suspected goings-on which have a bearing on the death. Who will be sent? No other than Maeve and her boss / landlord, posing as a couple. While infiltrating the local community, they will have to be loved up and, quite possibly, at risk . . .

I can't claim to have read all of this series, but certainly enough for Maeve to be a character easy to recall. Obviously, things have moved on a bit since I last enjoyed one of this series and it was a situation full of suspense for the main characters. Gripping and thrilling throughout, with never a dull moment, I was riveted all the way through. With the original case still ongoing and the pressures of behaving like a close couple, it just sizzles throughout. Did I suspect 'whodunnit'? Nope, got it wrong again but it was a terrific read. Beautifully written and very exciting, right to the very end. I will make sure I read the next one! My definite recommendation and all five shiny stars!

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

I am a sucker for the kind of police procedural that has central characters in a will they/won’t they situation. Whether it is Ruth and Nelson or Maeve and Josh, I just can’t wait to see how the next case bleeds into the central relationships.

Jane Casey’s writing feels effortless as she draws you into the latest case. Maeve Kerrigan, however, isn’t finding life quite so effortless. In fact she is really struggling. The events of The Cutting Place have left her battered and bruised, mentally more than physically, though that, too.

She’s overseeing the murder of consultant Dr Hassan Dawoud in a hospital car park. Darwoud’s husband would be the obvious suspect, but he has a cast iron alibi. DC Georgia Shaw is finally showing signs of being able to step up to the plate, but Maeve just does not feel up to supervising her to the best of her ability.

Josh can see that Maeve is struggling and so, when he finds himself faced with an angry politician demanding action over the death of a vulnerable adult, he resolves to make the most of it and to take Maeve with him on an undercover job.

Davy Bidwell was found dead in a derelict house in Acton. Judy Thwaites had been looking after him for a few days and Davy’s family believe that Judy is part of a team exploiting vulnerable adults. They’ve managed to rile up the Mayor and action is now being demanded.

So Josh and Maeve head to West Idleford where Judy Thwaites lives in Jellicoe Close, a quiet street where the neighbours all know each other and socialise together. Posing as a young couple in love, Josh and Maeve purport to be house-sitters for an academic who is conveniently on a lecture tour out of the country. They’ll not only be house sitting, but also looking after Pippin the dog.

It’s the ideal situation for Josh to look after Maeve and the closeness that they have to feign leads to undoubted strong chemistry and a tension between them that shimmers and simmers unbearably under the hot summer sun and in the dark, stifling nights. The atmosphere only serves to highlight how claustrophobic the whole set up is for Maeve, who was already struggling to relax.

The Close is a book that you just soak up. The neighbours in Jellicoe Close form a tight knit community with everyone knowing, or wanting to know, everyone else’s business. It’s not long before Maeve feels threatened by the local letch despite the fact that she and Josh are clearly hanging on each other’s every word.

But, as you might expect, not everyone in Jellicoe Close is what they seem. Behind the net curtains lies more than one unpleasant occurrence and Maeve and Josh find themselves investigating many of their neighbours; at least one has murder on their mind. Meanwhile, you can’t help but be drawn into the complex relationship that is developing between Josh and Maeve.

Verdict: This is a terrific read with favourite characters developing their long running relationships at the same time as investigating really tricky crimes. Beautifully written, fast-paced and incredibly tense in all kinds of ways, this is a proper page turner from Jane Casey.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. There are quite a few crime fiction series that I’ve not been able to keep up with and to my deep regret this is one of them. From the moment I started to read I was absolutely hooked. Not just with the two crimes that had to be solved but also the relationship between the two main characters, Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent. I couldn’t get enough of them.
Maeve and Josh have to go undercover, Maeve is a lot less unenthusiastic about it then Josh is but realises that she doesn’t really have an option. She can still supervise Georgia and guide her in the investigation through the case that they have to solve. However the undercover operation is really the most important one throughout this novel. There are though, other things occurring in this small community that are deeply unsettling, some of which neither of them are aware of at first. It was one of those situations where the reader suspects before the characters what could be happening.
I have to say that they made a very convincing couple, they certainly seemed a lot closer than any of the genuine couples on the close. Most of them weren’t particularly likeable, some of them were detestable and I had absolutely no idea who the unnamed male narrator who featured often throughout the novel could be. I must have changed my mind at every appearance.
It didn’t matter that I hadn’t read every book, it was obvious that Maeve was struggling at times, the reasons why were made obvious. But I have no idea how prominent these events were in the earlier books and I didn’t feel put off by reading them later on, despite knowing what happened to her. It also didn’t matter that I wasn’t familiar with any of their colleagues, Georgia was really the only one who I would like to know more about and I’m sure I would appreciate seeing what she was like as a rookie officer.
I was absolutely gutted when I finished this novel, I can’t wait to see what happens next in this wonderful series.

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

suspected slavery abuse
a quiet cul de sac in a well to do neighbourhood

jellicoe close a place where you look and envy all the houses there and the people but behind close doors something sinister lurks

mauve and josh have a job to do, whilst a house is empty they are tasked with keeping an eye out for their perps who are keeping people against their will and abusing them

but there is also something sinister going on in this close an underlying tension about to explode

an interesting read that kept me hooked till the end a great page turner

Thank you to #NetGalley & #HarperCollins for an eARC in return for an honest review.
Maeve Kerrigan & Josh Derwent are back together on a case in The Close, the 10th novel in Jane Casey's police procedural series. The Close is a departure from the usual office based crime solving we are used to in the series.
Kerrigan & Derwent are sent to Jellicoe Close, a small estate of houses in an.idyllic setting. But the idyllic setting hides a dark secret & the duo are given the task of unravelling the secrets so closely kept.
Posing as a couple in love, they move in to dog sit & watch & monitor the various characters who live in Jellicoe Close. The dog is a great character & adds a wonderful touch of humour to what is an appalling case.
Set during a heatwave, this is a layered story of hidden evil & greed. The death Maeve & Josh are investigating turns out to be the tip of an extremely unpleasant iceberg.
Relationships are examined and secrets revealed that were not part of the original remit. And simmering underneath the death and toxic relationships is the central characters own relationship. The tension drips from the page as the summer heatwave hits higher & higher temperatures. The strain of living together but not acknowledging their attraction begins to tell on Maeve & Josh and it has to said the reader too.Ever found yourself shouting at a character in a novel, well that was me when reading The Close.
Jane Casey's skill set at drawing you in & ratcheting up the tension is superb, truly masterful.
I literally could not put The Close down & envy readers who have not read the book yet. Please Jane Casey do not keep us waiting too long for Book 11.

Phew! This book has me hot under the collar as it looked as though the sexual tension between Maeve and Derwent was finally going to come to the boil.

This is a book with plenty of layers; following the death of a vulnerable adult the pair are tasked with an undercover operation that involves them posing as a couple and infiltrating a close knit community to understand if there was a crime committed or if this was a very unfortunate incident. There are some particularly ruthless and unsavoury characters hidden amongst the recognisable people we probably all live amongst. This meant there are some really creepy moments, and genuinely shocking revelations as the investigation progresses. Be warned, you may never look at your neighbours the same again!

Maeve is also tasked with remotely managing Georgia and the team to try and discover who has murdered a local surgeon. Georgia showed a different side to her character as she starts to grow into the role and respect Maeve. I would go so fas as to say that she is growing on me!


Both Josh and Maeve have their own personal issues that are touched on, and develop further as characters. She is still struggling to mentally reconcile what happened to her during the last case and the close proximity to Josh Derwent is making her question just what she wants in life. Posing as a couple there are some great moments between Maeve and Derwent, each pushing the other before retreating. It's agonisingly delicious as a reader who is desperate for the pair to get together. Sparks fly, tensions mount and I had to force myself to slow down and really savour the book. It's a great read, and I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

I hadn't read any of the author's books before and although this is part of a series, I was able to enjoy it as a stand alone novel.

The story centres around DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss, DI Josh Derwent, who move into a well to do close posing as a couple, to investigate a murder.

There were a lot of elements to the story, several crimes, multiple suspects and, while I did like it, it felt like the story was mainly about the ‘will they won't they’ between the two main characters, rather than the murders. Perhaps I would have appreciated this more, had I read the previous books, which no doubt shows their developing relationship. However, the characters were believable and well rounded with depth. There were a lot of suspects, which did confuse me a bit.

All in all, a decent read, but not one of my favourites.

Thanks to publishers HarperCollins UK and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A taut,fast-paced police procedural thriller.
What goes on behind closed doors on a seemingly quiet residential road
Does anyone really know their neighbours?
A riveting read with plenty of plot twists.

A doctor is found murdered In his car. An unidentified derelict is found dead of malnutrition and hypothermia in an abandoned building. These cases are not connected. DS Maeve Kerrigan and her newly minted DC Georgia Shaw are assigned to the murder of Dr Hassan Dawood, found dead in his car as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. On the face of it, this is a straightforward police procedural, so ideal for the pair, as Maeve is still traumatised as she recovers from the assault by her coercive ex-boyfriend and Georgia needs the training experience.
The derelict had originally been classed as a misadventure case — not uncommon. However, he has since been identified as Davy Bidwell, the brother-in-law of a senior advisor to the Mayor of London. The latter ‘forces’ the Met to investigate, on the suspicion that foul play was involved. DI Josh Derwent is assigned to go undercover and spy on a suspect at Davy’s last known address, Jellicoe Close, in a small village outside London. To give strength to his cover, Maeve agrees to act as his slightly ditzy girlfriend, and the two of them are set up as house and dog sitters for a neighbour in the Close. Maeve and Josh have significant history so there is a tension between them which they must work against to allow them to appear as a loving and sociable couple while infiltrating the contented middle class dynamic of the Close — which turns out to be rather less contented than it seems. Maeve continues to run the murder investigation from a distance, using frequent online interactions with Georgia, since the surveillance work is not actively intensive – until suddenly it becomes very hectic indeed.
This is the latest book featuring Maeve, but works perfectly well as a standalone. The action mostly concerns the goings on in the Close, and the complicated personal interactions between Maeve and Josh, which have been simmering underneath through the earlier books. The resolution of the various crimes is satisfactory, and the whole story is well constructed, easy to read, with well drawn and believable characters. The dialogue is particularly good at reflecting their outward personas. It isn’t perfect but there are no real flaws so it would be unfair to give it less than 4.5 (rounded to 5).
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Firstly, thank you to Netgallery, Harper Collins and Jane Casey for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Jane Casey has done it again she is the queen of thrillers! I’ve read all her books so I was ecstatic about getting my hands on her latest one! This book totally gripped me from the first page to the last, suspicious of everyone and everything, it was good I read it in 2 days! A tense, faced paced thriller that will keep you up at night.. Jane Casey definitely should be on everyones shelf!

As the 10th book in a series and not having read this author before, the relationship between Maeve and Josh is missing background of course, but nevertheless their complicated interaction is quite well portrayed. Maeve is obviously struggling after an abusive relationship and Josh is an alpha male full of himself and yet he has strong feelings for Maeve.
Add to this they are put in close living conditions in order to ferret out those responsible for the death of a vulnerable young man. They ingratiate themselves with the local community where not only what they are investigating is happening but also bullying within a family and something else that is unsettling the small community. It seemed unnatural that Josh was protecting Maeve to such a degree she should not venture out on her own - after all she is a police officer! Also that so much should be going on in such a small community did not seem realistic.
Meanwhile Maeve was also trying to solve the death of a surgeon by directing operations long distance.
Having said all that, it was readable, a page turner and the characters were interesting.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Jane Casey/HarperCollins UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

In another of this author's gripping, fast paced Maeve Kerrigan novels this latest outing lived up to the anticipation. This one is definitely one to read following the previous novels and is definitely one for fans, as we see the impact of the events of the previous novel and further development in the characters of both Maeve and DI Josh Derwent. In this book, Maeve and Josh are undercover, investigating a murder, posing as a couple, whilst Maeve also investigates a second murder of a local Doctor. As with previous books in the series, this book is tightly plotted and compelling, although with more personal character development and a lot more characters to keep track of, in the suburban close, Maeve and Josh are staying in. Overall, however this was a brilliant read, and kept me guessing throughout with some unexpected twists and turns. Thanks to netgalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read.

This is book #10 of Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent detective series of books although this is the first of the series that I have read so can be read as a standalone.
The book starts with the murder of a hospital doctor found dead in his car but that case needs to taken care of by Maeve's junior as she and Josh are going undercover as a couple to dog sit in a close where there is more than one suspicious crime. and There is a real danger that Maeve and Josh face getting to know their neighbours whilst gathering evidence and not crossing the line of intimacy just for the sake of their neighbours and their true feelings.
This time, there is only a suspicion that one of the tidy pleasant fronted houses is taking in vulnerable adults without families to then 'disappear'.
The book is a thrilling page turner, sometimes dark and menacing in places with plenty of suspense and definitely some sexual tension there which no doubt has been building over previous books.
Ideal for readers, of mystery and thrillers.
Will definitely come go back to read others in the series and look forward to the reading the next one.
With thanks to #NetGalley #HarperCollins UK, #HarperFiction for this preview read.