What secrets hide behind these crumbling walls in Find His Grave by Kate Watterson.

Ivy Manor is every realtor’s nightmare. A derelict old pile out in rural Tennessee, with a past even darker than the woods that surround it. New owner Cal Nolte gets the shock of his life when he finds a bloody handprint smeared across the doorstep.

Detective Chris Bailey arrives to check it out. But his search of the house turns up no body, no weapon, only a terrified young woman and her daughter. Then Bailey uncovers a body hidden away in a corner of the house. But this man’s been dead way too long to have left the fresh red handprint. The clock is ticking to unravel the secrets of Ivy Manor before the killer strikes again.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through this story. The pace is slow throughout, and the characters are a bit boring and one-dimensional. The dialogue is tedious to get through, stilted, and sometimes hard to follow who is talking and the various POV shifts. I was not able to connect with any of the characters. This was not a gripping or page-turning story for me, and the scenes seemed to drag on.

I would try other books by this author, but Find His Grave missed the mark for me.

I give this a 3 out of 5 stars.

#FINDHISGRAVE #NetGalley @JoffeBooks

This book is about a trio who are planning to turn an old abandoned house into a hotel and all of the unexpected things that happen along the way, including murder.

This book contains several elements that I look for in a book: interesting characters, twists, and creepy old houses. That said, at times I found the story hard to follow as it wasn’t always clear whose POV that particular section was from. I also found the relationship between Ross and Whitney to be unrealistic. Overall I did enjoy the book, it was a quick read and did keep me wondering.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Find His Grave, the fourth novel to feature Detective Chris Bailey of an unnamed rural Tennessee Sheriff’s Office.

Cal Nolte, new owner, of the rundown Ivy Manor, is shocked to find a handprint in a pool of blood in their latest development. Bailey is tasked to investigate but all he finds is a frightened young woman and her two year daughter, who are hiding there at the behest of her missing husband. With blood and no body Bailey can’t help but link it to a series of mysterious anonymous calls about a body.

I thoroughly enjoyed Find His Grave, which is as much about a budding romance between Whitney Nolte, sister of Cal, and Ross Waylan, the development’s financial guy as it is about murder, anonymous phone calls and a derelict building, with the point of view switching accordingly. To be perfectly honest much of the romance side of things is padding, enjoyable padding as it offers a change of pace, with a few insights thrown in to make it relevant. Chris Bailey’s investigation, on the other hand, starts off intriguing and gets more complex with all sorts of strange events adding to the mystery. With that description it will surprise no one when I say that there is more than one agenda at play, but which one belongs to which event? Bailey isn’t revealing everything he knows and that adds to the mystery. I like the fact that the perpetrator and motive are well concealed until the final chapters as it keeps the reader curious and turning the pages.

I like Chris Bailey and the way he is portrayed. He is smart, dedicated and straightforward, but, in the style of earlier fiction, there is little discussion of his thoughts and feelings, just a concentration on his work and whatever case he is pursuing. He has a girlfriend, Anna, but I think that she is more a convenience than a real partner.

Find His Grave is a good read that I can recommend.

A bloody handprint in an abandoned house, mysterious phone calls to the police. Are they connected? Suspense from the first page that never lets up, plus a romance. What more could you ask for. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I will preface to say I did not finish this book. While I did try my best to get to the end since I was reading an advanced reader’s copy, I just couldn’t will myself to do so.

The dialogue is unnatural and makes it hard to get a flow into the book. The point of view switches so much without necessarily learning anything new from the switch which makes you wonder what the point of it was. There’s a few times were things are repeated to characters as if it’s new information when really it was already discussed between those two characters in a different chapter. One of the main characters makes spaghetti like two nights in a row and each time it seems as if she hasn’t made it in a long time.

It had potential for being a page turner but unfortunately fell short for me.

While I didn't realize this was in the Detective Chris Bailey series (this is book 4), I really enjoyed it and didn't feel lost.

New author to me and she did not disapoint. I liked the mystery and the way it was played out, definitely a great beach read. I go into this book early on and before I knew it I had finished it. Loved the mystery and suspense and writing style. I didn't find this book predictable i thought it was quite different how it was wrote. If you like mystery and suspense you will not be disappointed
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really really enjoyed this book. This book definitely got me back into mystery thriller and all I want to do is read mystery thriller books now. I definitely want to get the rest of the bailey detective series now and read the other 3 so I’m very excited about that. I was hooked on the book from chapter 1 and I’m so glad I read this book because it had me guessing the whole way through

This was pretty good, but there were some parts that I struggled with. I liked the mystery and the way it was played out, definitely a great beach read.

Tearing through the pages of this! A good suspense can't put you down novel is right up my alley! Doesn't disappoint!

I enjoyed this book. It had enough suspense to keep my attention and was well written.
I liked the characters and will go back and start at the first book.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this one.

Not too sure about this one?! On one hand it was a very good book, but it was very confusing at different times?! I didn't really like the notes and back and forth with that it just confused me at times! But the book did have good suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, great police work and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and had me glued to my Kindle! I will recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading, it just confused me at times! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!