I thoroughly enjoyed Death Under A Little Sky. I liked the fact the author takes what would be the setting for a nice cosy mystery, a nice rural village and turns it into something much darker and more intense. The book lulls you into a false sense of security when Jake first arrives in the tranquil village and gradually gets darker as the bones are discovered and Jake finds himself pulled into the investigation despite the fact he hoped he had left being a detective behind. The author does a great job of bringing life in a small village to life. Like the best type of thriller I had no idea who the killer was until the end.

I have read and enjoyed Stig's non-fiction books and have enjoyed listening to him on the radio but sadly this book just missed for me. I appreciate it is aiming at literary fiction with a crime element but the pace of the book is weighed down by its long drawn out descriptions. The writing isn't to my taste for a novel, the characters are well drawn but the romance was too intrusive and the pacing was misjudged. Overall its trying to do too much, there is clearly a creative writer there but thrillers need better tension.

Stig Abell has got proper crime form. Previously the editor of the Times Literary Supplement and a passionate crime fiction fan, Death Under a Little Sky is his debut novel. But this is not your standard crime novel. We meet Jake, who is starting a new life thanks to a very generous inheritance and separation from his wife. He's retired from the police force and set up home in the palatial grounds left to him by his uncle. Life is pretty sweet, especially when he meets local vet Livia.

But his new life takes an unusual turn when a bag of human bones are found. Jake and Livia found themselves drawn into the investigation ; how close to home is it going to lead?

Death Under a Little Sky is a true delight to read, with the deep characterisation of Jake and his new surroundings giving a real depth to the story. Stig Abell is a force to be reckoned with.

Talk about a slow burner! I really did wonder what the book was about when I started reading especially given the use of words for the chapter. It’s easy about a quarter in before you start to get any idea of what the storyline is and once it fully gets going it’s an enjoyable book to read.

Firstly, let’s set the scene, Jake has given up his detective job following a letter from his uncle, leaving him a property in a beautifully depicted rural escape. Jake leaves for a fresh start, but everything isn’t quite as beautiful as it seems following the annual treasure hunt and he winds up pulled into old boots to assist with solving the mystery of an uncovered death!

This book was so well written, I enjoyed the setting of the scene, it seemed beautifully idyllic and such a relaxing escape, until it isn’t. The character building was strong and well thought out.

I’m a bit of a newbie to the crime detective genre and the pace was a slow burn, but I can confirm I was satisfied with how the plot escalates as the case draws to a head, the last few chapters had me gripped and the realisation over what’s been happening in the calm, cosy, peaceful village is unsettling to say the least!

I think it was a great debut, i would recommended it to anyone who likes a good detective with a side of realistic reality for the main protagonist, I felt the author normalised the character which made it real for me. I’m interested to see what’s in store for Jake moving forward.

When ex-Policeman Jake's marriage collapses, he retreats to the remote house that he has been left by his Uncle. As he starts settling into village life, he takes part in the village bone hunt and discovers that the "bones" which should be sticks are actually human bones.
This leads him to investigate where the bones came from. not everyone in the village is happy about this and he is warned off. This doesn't stop him he pursues the truth regardless.
An interesting book with some lovely descriptions of the land he is living in.

A really good read,brilliant plot,superb characterisation.
Non stop crime in a seemingly quiet village away from the tourist trail.
More from this author please

May be for other readers. This just was not to my taste. Pacing was a bit slow and therefore I could not connect with the characters and story.

Interesting atmospheric murder mystery/love story of an ex detective left a large remote piece of land by his uncle. A seemingly accidental death ten years ago re-emerges with the discovery of human bones in an annual village game. Full of dark suspicious characters all with things to hide ..a murder or suicide is the question until another death happens. This one definitely a crime and the story heats up to its thrilling denouement. Excellent read!

With such a brilliant debut, Abell definitely demonstrated a great deal of talent as a crime fiction writer!

Death under a little sky is a beautifully written piece of work, with a great balance of description and action. The remoteness of the setting conveys feelings of seclusion and isolation, in a closed rural community that does not welcome 'outsiders' very easily. I could easily empathise with the rejection and suspicion Jake was enduring.

The description of the landscape was spot on, and it was easy to picture the lake, the woods, and the remote roads. A remarkable setting that made all the happenings take an even more unsettling perspective.

However, I did find the story a bit stagnant in the middle; this may be due to the nature of the story - Jake is a secluded character who does not use technology, cars, etc. - so each step of the investigation took a long time. I appreciate this can be appealing, and it definitely depicts an alternative way of living and doing things, but I am generally more drawn to fast-paced storylines. This is 100% a personal preference though, so it really does not take anything away from the book, and I look forward to reading the next installment in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A talented writer in his first foray into fiction. It gets off to a slowish start but the writing is beautiful; rich
evocative and atmospheric. Changing your life as Jake does from the City to complete isolation in deepest countryside with almost no amenities, given his inheritance from an elderly uncle is one thing, but then it becomes a cold case when bones are found in the village and the tension starts. Because of Jakes background in the Met, investigating cold cases, he has to follow through helping the local police which brings danger to himself and people he has come to care about. I was invested in the story but still didn’t guess the ending. A love story runs alongside the main plot which I didn’t feel was out of place and for me it was the complete package which will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an Arc in return for an honest review.

The marriage had run its course. It might have been different if the pregnancies hadn't ended in miscarriages but no one else was involved - certainly not on Jake's side and he didn't think there was for Faye either. They were still polite to each other and wished each other well - but didn't wish to remain married. The perfect solution arrived in the form of a legacy from Jake's Uncle Arthur. He'd been left a secluded property in the hamlet of Caelum Parvum - Little Sky - and enough money to live there without the need to work.

So, Inspector Jake Jackson of the cold case unit, became Jake who lived in King Arthur's old house. He generally kept himself to himself apart from the odd trip into the hamlet to buy provisions and have the occasional drink with the locals at The Nook. The lack of mobile coverage, landlines and mains water can all be overcome and it's not long before Jake's fitter than he's ever been, with his daily runs, swims in his own (ice-cold) lake, the need to walk everywhere and work on the house.

The company's a little sparse, too but Jake soon relishes the change from London. There's Dr Peter, the botanist and Mack, the village handyman, Livia, the local vet and Diana, her daughter. He's taking part in one of the village traditions - a bone hunt - with Livia and Diana when he realises that the bag of 'bones' that they've found are human bones. He's seen too many of them to be in any doubt. It's not long before Jake's involved in an investigation into a decade-old death - and not everyone in the hamlet has his best interests at heart.

I loved this book from the first page. Yes - it is a little leisurely at first, as Jake makes such a dramatic change but I was happy to enjoy the pace. I loved meeting the locals but it's not long before the tension ratchets up: if you're thinking that this sounds more like cosy crime - think again. This is anything but.

The writing is exquisite: not a word is wasted but the plotting is even better. I had all sorts of people pencilled in as the wrong 'un. I even - briefly - entertained the correct solution and then dismissed the idea. It was a most-satisfying ending and - best of all - I read that Little Sky is the first book in a new series.

A beautifully atmospheric crime thriller, Death Under A Little Sky is a remarkable debut with strong characters and a setting that you will want to crawl into.

The book starts with a dream situation - a distant relative leaves Jake a beautiful lakeside mansion full of books. I'm already jealous. But of course, the situation is a little more dire for Jake, who's looking for an escape and somewhere to get himself together.

The setting is described beautifully with its shadowing forests, ice-cold lakes, and narrow dirt roads. It suits the story perfectly, instantly adding so much mystery with its vast wilderness and isolated community. And with so much distance between each resident, there are many places to bury your secrets.

I could easily picture the landscape and the first 100 pages had me completely absorbed in the captivating atmosphere and engaging characters. I immediately warmed to Jake and his developing relationship with Livia, and the way that the crime was brought to Jake's attention felt so original that I was completely invested in this town with its odd traditions and closed-off characters.

However, because of the expansive landscape and restrictions with technology, this does keep the pace quite slow. The investigation almost takes a backseat as the police don't have the funds to make it more of a priority and Jake must get to know his community before making any assumptions. So instead, we focus on character, which isn't a bad thing at all as this is done exceptionally well. But had the investigation been more gripping and fast-paced alongside the fantastic character development, this would have easily been a 5-star read for me.

Nevertheless, as a debut, Death Under A Little Sky most certainly proves that Abell has a lot of talent as a fiction writer and I definitely want to see where Jake's story goes from here.

(I'm on the tour for this on the 12th of April so my reviews will be live then)

What a great debut and start to a new series!
A very atmospheric book with vivid descriptions of the scenery and you see yourself there in real life!
a Brilliant murder mystery!

Jake Jackson, a detective inspector at the Met, is tired of his life. He and his wife have drifted apart after many failed attempts to become parents and then out of the blue he gets a letter from a solicitor. His uncle has passed away and left him his house in the middle of the countryside between nothing and nowhere.
He grabs the chance with both hands because all he is craving is solitude, no cell phone, no television just him and nature.

But once a detective always a detective and after a chance meeting with Faye he's invited to join her and her daughter to go on the St Aethelmere Bone Hunt and lo and behold in the bag are not fake bones but real human bones and here start the mystery. Who do the bones belong to? Soon he is in the middle of the investigation with threats to his life but he's like a dog with a bone. (pun intended) He will not give up until he finds out who the bones belong to and what happened to this person.

I can't wait for the next installment!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

4.25 Stars
For years, Jake Jackson has been a high-flying detective in London. Then everything changes his career as a detecive for the Met is over as is his marriage to Faye. But then one day he receives a letter from his reclusive uncle – he has left Jake his property in the middle of the countryside. For Jake, it is the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. At first, life in the middle of nowhere is everything Jake could wish for. His new home is beautiful, his surroundings are stunning, and he enjoys getting back to nature. A death that disrupts everything, what starts as a fun village treasure hunt turns deadly, when a young woman’s bones are discovered. And Jake is thrust once again into the role of detective, as he tries to unearth a dangerous killer in this most unlikely of settings.
A new author with a new series & I thoroughly enjoyed it. More on the cosy end of the spectrum. The characters have depth, the pace is good - more of a saunter than a run & I found myself engrossed. I did work out who the killer was & maybe as the author hones his craft he’ll make it harder to deduce but overall an accomplished debut & I’ll definitely be looking forward to more
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

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

i found this book very descriptive about everything to the point that i wasnt enjoying it as much as i thought i was going to...

sorry to say this book wasnt for me but i can see others enjoyed it

Although I have never read either of Stig Abell’s non-fiction works and have seen him only briefly on TV I was actually quite excited to read his debut novel- a literary crime thriller. Stig is without doubt a high achiever – a double first English degree from Cambridge led to him joining the Press Complaints Commission, which doesn’t seem the most natural route to the role of the managing editor of The Sun newspaper and from there he went on to become the editor of The Times Literary Supplement. He has since been the Launch Director for Times Radio where he presents the Breakfast Show. I was intrigued by this mixture of the literary and the mainstream – here is a man who is able to put his ideas across and he is equally at home with the academic as popular culture (he’s also quite easy on the eye) and here he is opting to write a novel within the crime genre because of his deep love of detective fiction. Could this be where he falls flat on his face? Not as far as I am concerned as this novel is very good indeed.
We meet main character Jake Jackson at the start of the novel getting out of a taxi in the middle of nowhere in an unspecified part of the English countryside. He walks to a house he has inherited from an uncle where he intends to embrace a solitary, rural life, giving up his career in the police. As much as it is a crime thriller this is a novel of escaping and of adapting to circumstances, all feeling rather relevant in this post-Covid 19 world. Jack is going to wing it- he is happy to give up technology, has no transport and no real survival plan. What he does have is his uncle’s impressive library of detective fiction which Jake believes initially will do. I really like this man.
However, this is a crime novel and things will not stay quiet, even though for a considerable time the thriller aspect just simmers alongside Jake’s coming to grips with his new life but slowly the author ramps up the pressure and we get a highly satisfactory crime fiction set-up.
As you might expect it is well written and the grounding Jake has in police-work and detective fiction gives the novel a huge respect for the genre which elevates it onto a higher level. Stig Abell knows exactly what he is doing here- his love and absorption of crime novels and his years of professional analysis of literary works is so evident and has resulted in this first-class example. Is there anything this man does not excel in?
Death Under A Little Sky is published by Harper Collins on 13th April 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Wow - what a great book! A wonderful combination of a crime thriller mixed with a love story with a chunk of humanity thrown in. Beautifully written - I loved it.

The blurb for this book was interesting - what starts as a fun village treasure hunt turns deadly, when a young woman’s bones are discovered. And Jake is thrust once again into the role of detective, as he tries to unearth a dangerous killer in this most unlikely of settings - but in actual fact the book is very slow to get going. There is a huge amount of description of the house that Jake has inherited and the relationship with his uncle and wife and then a lot of detail about him moving and settling into this very remote place before anything really gets going.
So it wasn't quite the action packed drama I was expecting, more cosy mystery. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just considerably slower and gentler, with somewhat more romance, than promised.
I also found the present tense writing a tad awkward. It can often ramp up the action and make it more immediate but here there wasn't enough action to justify it and it felt wrong in places.
However, it is a readable mystery, with a gentle pace and pleasant setting, and I see book one in a series - although heaven knows where the hero is going to find more villains given where he's chosen to live.
If you are looking for something mellow this might be for you.
With thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for an early copy in return for an honest review.

What a brilliant debut from the talented Stig Abell. A crime novel which draws on the rich history of crime fiction and yet spurns many of the tropes of contemporary fiction. When former cop Jake inherits his uncle's country house, he is looking forward to a quiet life surrounded by the beauty of nature. However, when crime raises its ugly head, his copper's instincts lick in, but he has to solve the mystery without most of the advantages of 21st century living. Highly recommended.