In this first book in the Carmarthen Crime series, DI Gareth Gravel investigates the case of a missing girl. This book can be read as a standalone.
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Set in West Wales, a woman asks DI Gareth Gravel aka Grav of West Wales Police to look into the disappearance of her daughter Emma Jones who went missing a few days who. Emma is a nineteen-year-old second-year student at Cardiff University.

Emma’s mother thinks something has happened to her daughter because she hasn’t heard from her since the previous weekend.

Because the chief constable is the missing person’s godfather, he puts pressure on Gareth to find her whereabouts.

DI Gareth then assigns the task to his friend and subordinate, DS Rankin, West Wales Police, and the rest of his team including PC Cary Williams.

Two weeks later a body matching Emma’s description turns up at Carmarthen Wood🌲Another body of a girl about Emma’s age is also uncovered a few feet away from where Emma was found. A total of five bodies are later recovered from the scene with their toes and fingers missing.

Could this be the work of a serial killer?

With five multilateral young women found and a sixth possibly missing until proven otherwise, DI Gareth Gravel is faced with the task as a senior investigating officer of amassing the whole police force to find the killer and real fast.

This might imply canceled leave for some of the officers for the foreseeable future, much to their disapproval seeing as they are looking forward to spending their vacation with their loved ones.

I enjoyed this well-written detective story. The pacing is terrific, the dialogue memorable, and I like the relationships between DI Gareth and his team, especially with DS Rankin. The ending was good and I will read the next one in the series.

Thank you to John Nicholl, NetGalley, and Boldwood Books for the arc of this book.

Wow, What a Book.
I throughly enjoyed reading this book. DI Gareth Gravel and DS Clive Rankin are right out of a 70's tv cop show, totally old school, they love heading to the local for a pint straight after shift and maybe that's why they missed a few opportunities to find missing student Emma, but with 5 bodies being discovered and travelling between Carmarthen and Cardiff the work load rather like Grav was on the heavy side.
You will not find a predictable ending in this compelling drama and the book is all the better for it.
There are some gruesome scenes and acts of human depravities but all well within the contexts of a very well written story.
Can't wait for the next one.

One of the best crime thrillers I have read in a very long time. The author sets his story in 1998 at a time when policing was changing from old methods to new. I found this all extremely evocative and from the very beginning the plot was totally gripping. The killer is a particularly chilling creation and Emma's plight a disturbing one - the thing nightmares are made of! I had great empathy for DI Gravel and his ill-fated colleague. A series I intend to follow.

Oh my goodness. Wow! Very well written. I loved some of the detail - Grav and his chipped Neath rugby mug, etc. Coming from the area I could really picture the character of Grav and there was the perfect amount of detail to build up his character.
I wanted to read this as it is set in an area familiar to me, although the topic was quite gruesome and not what I normally read. Hence, if you’re like me, don’t read this before bed! But the clue is in the title there so it does feel like watching a horror movie at times. (But that’s me as I’m a total wimp with these things!)

The first in the DI Gareth Gravel Series set in West Wales and what a great start it is. A cracking police procedural and dark, gritty psychological thriller in one book. Just the sort of read I enjoy. Well written and grabbed me from the start, and a warning this is one twisted, sick killer! I really like Gravel and his colleague Sergeant Rankin, both had a need to see justice served and would do anything to ensure this.

Briefly, student Emma has gone missing and Gravel is given the case but it soon becomes more sinister when graves of five girls are found, all resembling Emma. It’s clear there is a serial killer on the loose and Emma’s time is running out.

Good twists and turns and although I did guess the killer well before the reveal that didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. A good read and a great start to a series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If playing aggressive video games leads people to commit violent acts, then this book should come with a warning. Gratuitous violence against women for its own sake here alongside no real detection from the police. Sorry, but I couldn’t really see the point.

Dark Indeed…
Previously published as ‘Portraits of the Dead’, this is the first in the Carmarthen Crime series. The series begins, as it means to go on, with a dark and disturbing tale of a clearly deranged killer and his victims. When it becomes clear that a serial killer may be on the loose, Detective Inspector Gareth Gravel is called in. The tale is written in a straightforward manner - almost matter of fact, with little unfolding of characters nor the twists and turns often present in crime fiction- but with a crime to solve and a resolution to reach. In reaching these aims, however, it is often gruesome and sometimes gratuitous. Dark indeed.

Mmmmmm I really liked this book! It had crazy suspense! It also had intrigue , action, and a bit of a who done it! The police work wasn't up to par, what I didn't like was how it ended, well actually the very end was fine but I wish the victim played with her catch more?! I think that would have made things much more interesting! Lol the storyline was very interesting and got my heart pounding and it kept me glued to my kindle! I definitely enjoyed reading this book! I really did like this book a lot besides the one part! I will definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! It was very gruesome so reader beware! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

I loved this book from start to finish! A disturbing story of a deranged sadistic serial torturer/killer perfectly told at just the right pace. The bodies of five girls have been discovered and DI Gareth Gravel is back hunting his man before another kidnapped girl meets the same fate. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a good police procedural with a deadly dark side.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for an advance copy of The Carmarthen Murders, the first novel to feature DI Gareth "Grav" Gravel of the West Wales police.

When the goddaughter of West Wales' Chief Constable, Emma Jones, is kidnapped from her Cardiff flat Grav is instructed to find her. He, in turn, delegates the search for Emma to DS Clive Rankin while he deals with the five murdered young women found buried in the local woods until it appears that they might be linked.

I enjoyed The Carmarthen Murders in parts as it is a good read with several unexpected twists. The novel is told from two distinct points of view with Emma and her kidnapper alternating with Grav and Clive. Initially the kidnapper's motives seem a bit clichéd, sex and control, but this is only the tip of the iceberg and I felt my eyes popping out of my head as I read one of the twists, re-reading it to make sure I'd understood! I must admit that I did not enjoy his interactions with Emma which seem repetitive and offensively gratuitous. In this case less would have been more. The investigative narrative is more to my taste. I enjoyed the banter between the characters and the sense that they were banging their heads against a brick wall. It makes a change to see an investigation that makes little progress. The novel, however, ends with a bang with some great twists and is well worth the journey. For that alone I have rated it at 4*.

The Carmarthen Murders is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

The strength of this John Nicholl thriller is that the reader can see every facet of the crime – victims, petty crooks, killers, grieving families, the media, and the investigating police officers. Every one of them vividly drawn and grounded. Nobody is completely evil or utterly good.

So, the end is predictable? No! Fast-paced and packed with action, The Carmarthen Murders is a true chiller-thriller created by a master of psychological twists.

Safe to say I was gripped from the start! The book held my attention and I was able to build pictures of the characters in my head, which I always feel is reflective of the detail the author gives (I love Grav!).

I don’t believe in spoilers, but I will say that the book full of twists and, although dark in places, is an extremely clever piece of writing, I particularly liked the and I really liked that we find out who the captor is early on…

A well-deserved 5 stars from me. I can’t wait to read more from this very talented author.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not at all evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review, I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.