Although I have read the first book in the series, I have found that one does not have to read them all in order.

Bill Slider is asked by the Commissioner to find Felicity, the missing wife of author Henry Holland. Holland had gone directly to the Commissioner the previous night, because he was a friend. The commissioner had told him to wait until morning, and now Slider is getting the assignment to find her. Holland is an author of novels about a Napoleonic War ship captain. His wife went to a pottery class the previous morning, and hadn't returned. Since Felicity didn't disturb him when he was in his office writing, he had no idea of what clothes she was wearing or even where the pottery class was. They had met at the launch party for his first book, and had no children. Her father, Sir John Aubrey-Harris was a very important lawyer and thought Henry was not an appropriate husband for Felicity, and did not want to talk with Slider about her.

Slider then talks with Felicity's sister Thelma, who is a little more forthcoming and tells him that when she lived with Felicity during her college years that Felicity had ONE TRUE LOVE who was a jazz musician (and already married). Slider gradually finds out more including that her true love is dead, she used a cab and the driver remembers her, and he finally gets something out of Sir John's maid! The big question is whether he can find her before she is killed.

This is a great addition to a very good series.

This was everything you need for a thriller and crime story. It is not as black and white as you first think and like most typical thrillers, is full of twists.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

It is always great to return to characters that you love! Slider is given a missing persons case that has connections to the higher echelons of the force.

When a society wife of a famous author goes missing without a trace, Slider and his team are called in (against his will) to find out what happened to her. Did she leave of her own free will, or were there some sinister forces at play? Slider must figure out how to navigate the brass breathing down his neck and investigating someone who has family in the public eye, as well as friendships with people who could make things difficult for him.

Harrod Eagles does a great job o describing all of the grand homes that they enter, as well as the suspected crime scene. As Slider and his team dig deep into the past to figure out what is going on in the present, we are given a real sense of who Felicity Holland was, and reasons why she might want to leave her life behind. Family secrets and conflicts never end well.

I must confess that I figured out a piece of the puzzle as soon as the character was introduced, as well as how it might tie in to the disappearance. It was still fun getting there.

Atherton is given a love interest, and I am not sure how that will fit in the long run, but it was nice to see some character progression.
All and all it was a solid police procedural and a good addition to a long running series.

An author calls up the Police Commissioner asking for help to find his missing wife. Bill Slider and his team are personally tasked with the investigation. The search is long, slogging, and involved with the author tossing in plausible scenarios before the case is resolved. Cynthia Harrod-Eagles provides a very good entry to the series with the characters developing nicely and in unexpected ways. The chapter titles just add to the story line in surprising ways and the ending does satisfy this reader. Makes you want to shake folks and tell them to listen before acting!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this tale!

Living in in Shepherds Bush it is a delight to read these novels. Particularly when the action slips over into our far posher neighbours in Notting Hill. Even more so when the denizens of that areas are so self aggrandising and quick to take umbrage.

I hadn't realised this series was still being written. A pleasant surprise. I think I read the first dozen or so.

In this novel I found the large cast of police characters rather confusing at first but everything sorted itself out quite fast and I could settle down to follow the storyline.

This is a police procedural with an interesting set of characters, with many an ironic quip and comment thrown in. It was the lack of other candidates which led me to realise what must have happened. This was good involving read with an interesting storyline and a great sense of the personal cost of murder. There is a particularly poignant twist in this novel.

I'm definitely going to return to the series.

The 24th (!) entry in this long-running police-procedural series doesn't lose a step. Henry Holland is a popular author of nautical adventure novels with a personal relationship with the Metro police commissioner. So when his wife Felicity goes missing after leaving to attend a pottery class, he calls in a favor and the case is immediately assigned to DCI Bill Slider and his team for investigation, despite barely any time having passed. There is very little to go on, since Holland has no idea where the pottery class is, when she left, what she was wearing, etc. So the team must delve deep into Felicity's life to understand her and what may have happened. There are enjoyable forays into the personal lives of the police team and a lot of humor and heart in this novel.

DCI Slider, second-in-command Atherton and the team are hand-picked for an anything-but-plum assignment. The homicide unit is told to look for the missing wife of a local author who doesn’t even live in their patch - but who does know the Chief. The team must build a picture of the woman’s life in order to figure out why she might have stepped out -or been taken out - of it. Along with the search we are given satisfying glimpses into Slider’s home life. Harrod-Eagle’s Detective Chief Inspector Slider series is, in my opinion, an under-rated treasure of a police procedural. While this can easily be read as a standalone do yourself the favor of starting at the beginning. Give this to fans of Louise Penny and Deborah Crombie. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

There seem to be so many police procedural series in the contemporary thriller market that it’s hard to believe that Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is brave enough to add another one – let alone a series of 24 interconnected books, all featuring DCI Slider! This time, Slider is sent to investigate the bizarre disappearance of a financially comfortable and privileged woman, Felicity, who was en route to a pottery class. Her husband, a well-known author, maintains they have been happily married for two decades and don’t keep secrets from each other, but as Slider and his partner Atherton peel back the layers of seemingly ordinary, if wealthy, family life, quite a few secrets emerge and it becomes clear that Felicity is much different from the woman she was held to be. Will Slider be able to clear up Felicity’s disappearance? A well-written thriller, with particularly apt and believable dialogues, this book left me searching for the previous DCI Slider novels, so that I could continue observing this idiosyncratic investigator’s methods. Thank you very much to NetGalley and to the publishers for the free ARC that enabled me to read this police procedural and to produce this unbiased review.

An enjoyable murder mystery
What makes this book fun is the rapport and banter between Slider and his colleagues (mixed metaphors and malapropisms abound) and the affection between Slider and his wife. He's a family man to the core. Doesn't enjoy this case involving the disappearance of a woman who's happily married but seems to have a secret from her husband.

What a cleverly conceived detective mystery form the pen of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. A missing person, an affluent middle-aged woman and a bereft husband who has connections with the police top brass. Poor DCI Slider is given this poison chalice assignment to find the missing woman. What follows is a rather good piece of detective work which leaves few stones unturned. However, it seems one step forward and two back when discoveries are made. Felicity Holland, the misper, is a woman with a secret past and it takes all of Slider's skills to find her.
Whilst a great mystery, the novel also has great humour, which had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. Polson's portmanteau of mixed metaphors I wonder about. Polson is Slider's boss and I have a feeling he does them intentionally to keep his audience engaged. Very funny nevertheless. What about some of the names of the team? Jeremy Fathom who can't fathom a sauce and gets a put down by Swilley......"you have to stop pushing the Q-tip when you feel resistance!" McClaren, being the firm's expert on all things automotive (well, with a name like that?). The allusion to Robert Frost by Slider was well weaved in too.
All in all, a captivating read which I enjoyed immensely and would heartily recommend.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of Before I Sleep, the twenty-fourth novel to feature DCI Bill Slider of the Met.

Felicity Holland is missing. Bill Slider and his team have been told to find this middle aged, middle class, happily married woman, whose distraught husband has friends in high places, but how do you find a woman who left her home to attend a pottery class in an unknown location and hasn’t been seen since?

I thoroughly enjoyed Before I Sleep, which is an engrossing police procedural with plenty of twists and turns. It is told entirely from the investigative point of view, which allows the reader to guess alongside the more professional detectives and gives the twists and turns greater impact as there is no foreshadowing or hints of what is to come. Not everything is unguessable, but as a whole it works.

The format of a police procedural really appeals to me and this is a great example. The team starts with less than nothing as Henry Holland does not know where the pottery class is, what time Felicity left the house, how she got there or what she was wearing. I really enjoyed how their perseverance nailed down these details, which, in turn, led to bigger revelations about her life and her family secrets. It is extremely well done.

So, the novel has an absorbing plot, but it also has a healthy dose of humour in the dialogue that made me laugh. There are plenty of puns and dad jokes, but there is also the sniping between colleagues that feels natural and recognisable to everyone who ever worked in an office. The very everydayness of the characters is comforting and familiar.

Before I Sleep is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

When a school chum of the police commissioner reports his wife missing, Detective Chief Inspector Bill Slider catches the sensitive case. Drop everything, he is told.

After decades of marriage, could she have run away with another man? Could a predator have snatched her from a London street in daylight? As Slider and his team investigate every angle, they draw a picture of a beautiful, kind woman no one could wish harm.

Book 14 in Harrod-Eagles' Slider series keeps readers on edge, waiting for the next clue. Her usual pun play among the regulars provides comic relief. Five stars.

256 Pages

5 stars

It’s always a pleasure to dive into a new DCI Bill Slider novel.

Slider gets tapped for a “sensitive” investigation into the disappearance of a wealthy woman named Felicity Holland . She was not seen by her social climbing husband after leaving for her pottery class. The husband knows people in high places, so he calls his acquaintance. Enter Slider. He does not like these cases.

Felicity’s husband is a famous author of nautically-related novels, He is quite upset and is sure she was kidnapped. He wants Slider and his partner Atherton to get with the investigation and quit asking him silly questions. He states that he and Felicity have over twenty years of a happy marriage. They had no complaints.

Slider and his team begin by interviewing witnesses and visiting the places Felicity has been. Their investigation leads them down several paths, becoming convoluted in places. They even have to deal with a somewhat recalcitrant local police department.

This book is a marvelous example of a stellar police procedural. Ms. Harrod-Eagles crafts her characters so very well. They are all real people to the reader. They are a great group of people and the dialog between them is interspersed with small chuckles for those of us witnessing the action. This author has a very special talent,

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this wonderful book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

A well written read that I couldn't put down. The characters were well developed and believable. A really good read.

Utterly Tremendous…
The twenty fourth Bill Slider mystery arrives with usual aplomb. A missing woman gives Slider and his team much cause for consternation as they work against the usual time restraints and, on this occasion, with the added stresses of pressure from above. Sparkling dialogue is at its’ very best as characters leap from the page and puns abound in droves whilst multiple malapropisms give Slider much amusement. Just utterly, utterly tremendous and the only downside is the wait for the next.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this eARC.

This is my first read by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and I didn’t realise this book is part of an ongoing series - the 24th actually! I have to say I really enjoyed this read which I in my opinion can be read on it’s own. I liked the main character DCI Slider and also his team - especially Atherton - and loved the rapport and banter they have with each other. Slider is asked to investigate a case where Felicity Hammond went out one day and never came home. He has pressure from above and from Felicity’s husband to solve the case and follows up every lead. I thought the story was written well and flowed effortlessly and I enjoyed the snippets into Slider’s home and personal life. The author grabbed my attention from the beginning and held it all the way through to the end, and I thought the last quarter of the story was full of tension and suspense and I’d correctly guessed what happened to Felicity, so the ending didn’t wow me. I will look to read previous books in this series when I can and would recommend this book if you are a fan of good solid, police procedurals.

The clock is ticking for DCI Slider when a woman goes missing. Can he find her - and does she even want to be found? Felicity Holland is missing.
She left her handsome West London house to go to her weekly pottery class and didn't come back. She's a mature, sensible woman with a stable home life and a happy marriage - no reason to abscond. Her distraught husband is convinced she must have been snatched.

I may be in the minority but I found this book rather slow. I don't think it helped that I did not really warm to either Felicity or her husband as characters. I felt there was no real depth to them and found myself not really caring what happened to either of them. I have read other books in this series and did enjoy catching up with other characters such as Slider, Atherton and the team but unfortunately the pace and plot of the book did not hold my attention. I am sure others may enjoy this more than I did but just think this story was not for me and I have to be honest when providing a review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review

I'm always very happy to be back in Bill Slider's world. I like him for his humanity and honesty, and his relationships with his wife, his father, his children and his sidekick. And that was all here in Before I Sleep, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles latest installment of her successful police procedural series.

Thanks to his success in resolving high profile cases in the past, Bill's superiors decide he's just the man for the job when the Met Commissioner receives a phone call from an old school friend. His wife has gone missing and the man, a successful author, is distraught. Bill is tasked with finding her and faces an uphill task as and his team try to piece together her last known movements.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles writes with skill and warmth and an off-beat sense of humour which has me chuckling out loud. Her characters are distinct and leap off the page and into my imagination right from the beginning. In fact, the only problem with this series is that, whenever I read a new title, I want to go all the way back to the beginning and read my way through them from the beginning.

I love Bill Slider so was looking forward to the next instalment. Felicity Holland is missing she left her house for her pottery class and never returned she appears to be a sensible middle woman. Her Husband wants results instantly and as he has all the right connections Bill Slider is called upon to deliver......he has no clues and nothing to go on. So, with his usual tenacity he tries to follow in her footsteps. Cynthia Harrod-Eagles produces such a great story with interesting and relatable characters who are funny and engaging. Atherton may have found the love of his life!!!! Watch this space. I would recommend reading this and getting to know Bill Slider.

I’m always eager to return to Bill Slider’s world in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ series. Before I Sleep is the twenty-fourth in the series, and it’s just as delightful as a British police procedural as all the earlier ones.

It’s never a good sign when Detective Chief Inspector Bill Slider is pointed to by the higher ups. They say he’s been involved in “sensitive cases” before. He understands that to mean if the case goes wrong, the Borough Commander doesn’t mind sacrificing Slider. This time, the expectations go all the way to the top. Henry Holland, a popular writer of sea-faring adventure novels, went to school with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. He called him directly to say his wife is missing. Although the police normally wait 48 hours when an adult is missing, this time there’s pressure to find Felicity Holland. But, what if Felicity Holland doesn’t want to be found?

According to Holland, he and Felicity have had twenty-four years of a happy marriage. Maybe so, but as Slider and his team dig into Felicity’s past, her sister tells of a slightly scandalous youth that caused her to be estranged from her father, an eminent barrister. Felicity’s history could hold the clue to her disappearance. But, Holland is insistent that his wife may have been kidnapped and killed. When her purse is found in Burnham Beeches, 900 acres of woodland where murderers traditionally dump bodies, there’s reason to fear that Holland might be right.

Harrod-Eagles brings the best of several elements to her Bill Slider mysteries. These are excellent police procedurals, with a quirky team of investigators. For those of us who read for character, there’s always dry, witty humor and a superb cast. The funny chapter headings are worth reading all by themselves.

Before I Sleep is another enjoyable mystery in a series of excellent police procedurals.