Dead Mile by Jo Furniss is a clever, twisted, unpredictable and unputdownable thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats throughout.

Sergeant Belinda ‘Billy’ Kidd has had enough. Driving home from the airport, Belinda is jet-lagged, fed up and ready to resign from a career that has left her dejected and completely traumatised. With menopause having robbed her of her confidence, Belinda is now a traffic cop – with an alarming fear of driving! As the traffic begins to pile up, her frustration grows – until she makes a shocking discovery when she finds a driver dead in a black sedan. Worse, it soon becomes increasingly clear that the driver has been murdered!

Belinda cannot help but feel baffled. With the traffic in gridlock and cars barely able to move an inch, how could anyone possibly commit a murder without being seen? With so many witnesses, somebody must have seen a dangerous killer putting a skewer through the victim’s neck. But with the murderer hiding in plain sight and time not being on her side, Belinda has a limited time window to catch the killer. Can she get to the bottom of this perplexing mystery? Or is the killer not done yet and is preparing to strike again?

A twenty-first century take on the locked room mystery, Jo Furniss’ Dead Mile is an exhilarating and exciting thriller that completely consumed me. Fast-paced, intelligent and hugely absorbing, Dead Mile will leave readers reeling as they find themselves completely immersed and invested in this nail-biting thriller.

Brilliantly plotted, wonderfully original and packed with twist after twist, Dead Mile is a compulsively readable page-turner from Jo Furniss that will chill readers to the bone.

What a great concept - a locked room style murder mystery, but set on a gridlocked section of the motorway.

This was quite a quick read, and despite a large cast of characters, I found it easy to keep track of who’s who.

I enjoyed the multiple points of view, which brought some extra tension and a new dimension to the story.

There was plenty of mystery, with a few red herrings thrown in, and the final few chapters flew by as all was revealed.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy to review.

The traffic is bloody murder

All tired police officer Belinda Kidd wants to do is get home from the airport but Friday night traffic has other plans. As all cars grind to a halt it’s soon clear that they are not moving anytime soon and things are about to get a lot worse. When a body is found in one of the cars and clearly the murder has no means of escape Belinda needs to put all her skills to the test to figure out who did this and prevent things getting any worse.

Great book which a really enjoyed. A unique spin on a locked room style book and it will definitely make me lock my car doors next time I’m in a traffic jam. Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#DeadMile
#JoFurniss

Such a compelling thriller
It’s Friday afternoon and everybody just wants to get home for the weekend
Cop, Belinda is stuck in the gridlock on the motorway, the she sees a dead man in a black sedan with a metal skewer in his neck
Fast paced and addictive - how’s it gonna pan out
Mainly told from Belinda’s point of view, we do get snippets of other characters points of view - giving access to their theories
An interesting and unique take on the locked room genre
Thanks @jofurnissauthor @bonnierbooks & @netgalley for the ride

Most people have been caught up in a rush hour traffic jam on the motorway; boredom giving way to frustration and even road rage at times. However, nobody expects to come across a murder – particularly one that appears to be meticulously planned, rather than as a result of a violent altercation. In Dead Mile, Jo Furniss takes the familiar concept of a locked room mystery and gives it a fresh, contemporary spin as Sergeant Belinda 'Billy' Kidd almost single-handedly has to figure out who – without being observed by any of the scores of stationary witnesses – managed to kill the man in the black sedan.
After the traffic grinds to a halt and people begin to get out of their cars, the dead man's body is soon discovered. Billy quickly spots the skewer in the back of his neck and realises he's been murdered. Dramatic events elsewhere in the city means they are gridlocked for an indeterminate period and with this stretch of the motorway barricaded by a claustrophobically high fence, the killer is trapped with them. It's up to Billy to work out what happened but as she tries to ascertain who she can trust, she also has to learn to trust her instincts and eventually begin to forgive herself.
Billy is an unusual protagonist; she isn't a detective and is on the brink of retiring from a job which has evidently left her traumatised and wracked with regrets and guilt. As the novel progresses, we gradually find out more about her past and the reason why she is returning from an extended holiday in Australia. She's a middle-aged woman who is menopausal and lacking in confidence but it isn't just her age beginning to conspire against her and as a vastly experienced traffic cop, it's clear that something terrible occurred to leave her so fearful of driving. She is also still haunted by a personal tragedy which altered the course of her life.
As she does her best to secure and investigate the scene of the crime, her resourcefulness is impressive but throughout the book, she is a thoroughly relatable character. There is no action hero type bravado here as she uses her holiday gin haul to help cordon off the dead man's car, struggles with the inevitable discomfort of a full bladder and belly flops over the central reservation to talk to drivers on the other side of the road. She is both helped and hindered by the people trapped alongside her and it becomes apparent that they all have their secrets.
While the main third-person narrative follows Billy, there are occasional first-person chapters told from the perspective of some of her fellow drivers – each of whom give her reason to question whether she should consider them suspects. They all seem to be hiding something and Billy has to sift through their lies and omissions before it's too late and the traffic starts to move again. Some of these characters are likeable in spite of their flaws, with the pragmatic, foul-mouthed nurse, Pat, being a highlight for me. Others are immediately more suspicious; some are belligerent, others evasive but should Billy really be looking at those who seem only too keen to help?
It's an intriguing premise and despite the limitations Jo Furniss sets by having most of the action take place within a confined, static area, Dead Mile is a compelling, twisty read. The tension is heightened by the pressure of time, as well as by events elsewhere which induces a nervous sense of unpredictable energy into proceedings. This is a tautly plotted, gripping and often witty murder mystery, with a particularly engaging, sympathetically realised central character in Billy Kidd; I'd love to see more of her in the future. Unlike the unfortunate drivers caught up in the traffic jam, I raced through Dead Mile and highly recommend it.

This was one of those books that intrigued me from the blurb and once I started reading it I was hooked! I really struggled to try and guess what was going on with everyone trapped on the motorway as there were so many people who were not being completely honest. It was difficult to figure out which of those untruths were the ones I should have been taking note of.
The storyline was well paced and filled with interesting characters each with their own back stories and things they wish they could keep hidden. It definitely was an interesting take on a locked room mystery!
The reveal, when it came, was totally fulfilling and gave a feeling of satisfaction at a great resolution to a quite complex storyline.
I very much enjoyed reading this book and hope you will enjoy it as much too!

What an original take on the locked room who done it. Told with lots of humour and a clever use of character development. My only complaint was that I couldn’t get past Billy needing a wee!!
This author is definitely worth keeping on the next book radar.

A locked room crime with a difference, the scene is a motorway in gridlock during terrorist attacks. Billy has just returned from Australia and is on the way home from the airport when caught in gridlock, a dead body is found in a car. Investigations are difficult because the phone network goes down and the emergency services are involved with the attacks elsewhere. It's hot, she is jetlagged and as a police officer in charge of the situation. There are a lot of people to keep track of in this book and Billy has no idea who she can trust. Everyone seems to have their own reasons to keep quiet. The plot comes together is the last few chapters but there is enough action throughout the book and it kept me interested. My one gripe is that the end is fairly sudden.
A good read, thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

This is a great idea for a crime and mystery story. An off-duty police officer, Sergeant Belinda 'Billy' Kidd, is caught up in a gridlock. She is on her way home from a trip to Australia and is suffering from jet lag, it is hot, and she is menopausal and contemplating leaving the force after 30 years. Even struggling with a couple of these problems is bad enough! If that wasn't enough, there is a car with a body. He didn't die from natural causes, well unless a skewer accidentally ended up in the back of his neck.

This has all the signs of a locked room mystery as the characters involved are all trapped as such. They remain with their cars as that is where their belongings are and also it is the only way they will be able to get home when the traffic jam is cleared. Billy is a copper with experience, but not really the drive to go further, there are mentions of why further on in the book. She does have help from some unlikely people, these are made up of other drivers. Some seem ok, but then others are not exactly being completely honest when Billy is asking them questions. Would you trust a random stranger on the motorway who has no ID, warrant card or anything to indicate they are an officer? If that person was then to start asking questions, would you tell the truth or be a bit cagey?

Having several people that are, as mentioned, "cagey", makes this an interesting story. It feels like a cat and mouse as Billy is back and forth between the other drivers and passengers to try to work out who the killer is, whether they are still on the scene, collecting evidence that cannot be analysed and generally running around in circles. Things are not helped when any support is not able to get to her.

This is a very good concept and I am sure it is one that many of us can imagine. Especially if you have been stuck in traffic jams. I had not thought about a murder taking place during a standstill, but I am glad the author did and it made for a great read.

There is some tension, but I think it is more the frustration that Billy was feeling as she tried to work a scene solo. She can get some help from a colleague over the phone and other leads that she can follow. The main crux of her investigation is down to gut instinct. Knowing how to read people, notice body language, and remember items of information all comes down to being in the role for years for it to become second nature.

This is a slower pace for a crime story and this is down to it being just one person going back and forth to people, asking questions differently and trying to discover the truth. What it lacks in excitement it does make up for in tension and mystery. It is a police procedural as such because a lot of what Billy does is what she would do in her role anyway. But having a lack of resources and also having the risk of the jam clearing and a potential killer driving away adds more tension.

I really enjoyed this one, a bit different and enjoyable. One for fans of crime mysteries that rely on gut instinct and a sleuthing style of investigation. It is one I would happily recommend.

This has such a great concept it’s hard not to love it - a locked room mystery where the room is a car stuck in a traffic jam. It might not quite have the elegance of a classic golden age mystery, but it does have tension coming out its ears and a great, believable heroine. Hard to put down and a great holiday read for your suitcase.

At the start of this book, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it but I can honestly say I did.
Kept me guessing the whole way through, with little twists here and there. Enjoyed all the characters and the writing style.
Would definitely recommend this book and can't wait to read more from this author.

Dead Mile by Jo Furniss is most definitely a book to add to your list. A plot that lends from the locked room mysteries we all know and love. The difference is that the author has added her own original and refreshing twist.
Told with short, fast-moving chapters and from multiple perspectives. I was hooked on the first page. Set on a grid locked motorway, just outside London. Sergeant Belinda Kidd, aka Billy, is there too. On her way home after being abroad for a time. She is deliberating whether to retire and edging towards that big decision.
A dead body is discovered in one of the cars in the miles long queue waiting after a terrorist bombing attack in the tunnel in front of them. Billy knows that, If no-one is going anywhere, that means the killer is still there, right?
I never knew a mystery about a grid locked motorway would have me as tense as I was as I read this. The layers to the story were so detailed and created almost a suffocating fear for Billy herself. The fact that she had to deal with a murder scene alone with a bunch of strangers, one of whom had to be a killer, made this so intense.
So original, with twists and turns that have been so cleverly placed within the story. It was a book that stood out for me for 2024. Highly recommended!
Thanks to Tracy Fenton, Zaffre books and NetGalley for the widget.

Returning from an extended holiday with plans to resign from her role in the Police, Belinda 'Billy' Kidd gets caught up in a traffic jam when leaving the airport, which is bad enough, then someone starts screaming...

Billy goes into autopilot and springs into action. Finding out what has happened, containing the scene, speaking to those involved to try and work out what has happened, all while waiting for back up to arrive. But due to another major incident ongoing, that support may take a while and with night approaching, Billy has to use all her expertise.

This was a different and well-executed take on a locked-room mystery. Great cast of characters, and I especially loved Billy's nicknames for them all before she had learnt all their names!

My Thoughts: very cleverly done, you know the killer is around you, you’re all stuck and no one can leave, but you don’t know who it is..

This book felt so real, it was so atmospheric that I felt like I was in the traffic jam, I could feel the hot stickiness of being stuck in the car, the tiredness and frustration of having a busy day and not being able to get home.. I even felt pressure in my bladder when Billy kept talking about how much she needed a wee!

Such a diverse cast of characters, all with their own possible motives making it plausible for absolutely any of them to have done it.

You’ve got the estate agent from out of town, the lady who has been in prison, the ‘couple’ who claim to have just met but are far too over friendly for that to be true and a whole lot more.

The suspense building and the tension it creates is perfection, the book made me feel on edge, uneasy and absolutely terrified to ever be stuck in traffic again.

This might just be one of my favourite thrillers, if not books of the year.

Did I like the book? 

Very very much! I’ve been struggling with crime fiction recently (when you’ve read so many of them it becomes harder to find anything satisfactory) but Dead Mile hit the sweet spot. To be honest, I didn’t recall much of the blurb when I began reading, so the story was a real good surprise. 

Did I enjoy reading it? 

Jo Furniss masters the power of words. I highlighted several passages for different reasons. Some sentences were poetic (try add poetry to a thriller!) some rang so real I wondered why I hadn’t read or heard them before. Others simply made me chuckle. This is how rich the author’s writing is. 

Here are a few examples:

“If someone spoke to her the way she spoke to herself, she’d tell them to stick it up their exhaust pipe” Laughed out loud! And it resonated on a personal level! I need to remember it when I’m harsh on myself! 

“Maybe the whole country was menopausal” Damn right, the whole world is!!! 

“Hazy days. Hazy daze” Bam, literary punch that got stuck in my head and reminded me of something Taylor Swift would have written! 

What did I feel? 

The first word that comes to mind is comfortable. I felt right where I belonged in the pages of this crime fiction novel. What does it mean, I hear you ask. It means the pages pulled me in right from the start with Billy driving home after a long flight, her feelings so real I felt her exhaustion. It means I received all the clues you expect from a good mystery. Oh I loved this mystery. I love driving and spend lots of time on the road, so this novel was perfect for me. Take the usual locked room claustrophobic Who Did It and make it work in the middle of a crowded road. Genius! I often look at other drivers and wonder where they’re going or if they’re hiding bodies in their truck (to each their thing, right???) So the game Jo Furniss put me in the middle of was exactly what I didn’t know I needed! 

Add to this a strong work on characterization and a brilliant web of plotting and you’ve got yourself a Dead Mile. 

I was guilty of finding real pleasure in suspecting everyone during my read. Going back and forth between people you know nothing about but are stuck with made the situation both amazingly thrilling and totally frightening. First impressions matter as long as you don't make them the last impression you'll have of someone. We're all guilty of judging, and sometimes... we jump to conclusions way too fast. Or not fast enough!!!! Cut from the rest of the world, only relying on what's around you, and in your guts... a tough call I was happy to watch unfold!

How would I describe it? 

Ride and die! Highway to mystery! Oh my mind is busy with silly descriptions, but that’s just how excited I am about this novel.

4,5 stars rounded up to 5

I didn’t click with this one immediately. I found it a bit slow and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I felt like I couldn’t quite figure Billy out.

However, once I knew a bit more of her backstory I got her way of thinking.

I loved the way the characters were given nicknames. I wish every book did that as I am useless at remembering who is who. It added a comedic level to it.

In addition, I really enjoyed when those characters had their own chapters from their pov. It gave insight to their thoughts and situations making you suspect them even more.

Having the story set on a motorway in a traffic jam was genius and it really got your brain working trying to figure out how the crime occurred and who did it. A brilliant ‘locked room’ thriller.

The ending was interesting. I didn’t suspect it but I kind of felt like I’d built up everyone’s crime but the actual one wasn’t quite as menacing. I loved the tie in though and how it all connected.

What a compelling read. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. Sergeant Belinda 'Billy' Kidd went to Australia for an extended holiday after a traumatic event and the build up of the job pressure left her broken. Returning to the UK intent on resigning from the force she is caught up in a motorway traffic jam with nowhere to go. But things are about to get worse. This is a locked room/gridlocked road thriller with all the necessary ingredients - limited potential suspects, no way to get in or out of the crime scene, someone intent on solving the mystery and a dead body!

Briefly, with a skewer through his neck it’s clearly murder and Billy’s training kicks in, she needs to preserve the crime scene and try to find out who the killer is. Her investigations are thwarted at every turn with difficult drivers and passengers, and to be fair, I can kind of understand this stuck in a massive traffic jam in the searing heat. Luckily, she does have some support, particularly from former nurse and ex-con Pat; who was my favourite character in this story. With terrorist bombs going off all around London, and the police stretched to their limits, Billy is on her own.

I really enjoyed this. It was an original concept (to me) and a well constructed and well written story. There are a great mix of characters and I loved how Billy’s boss and friend Superintendent Dominic Day was so supportive. With some great red herrings and a twisty plot this kept me guessing until the killer was revealed. A good entertaining read.

I was intrigued by the description of this book. A quite different scenario for a murder. Once I had fathomed who was with which vehicle it all began to make sense. A clever plot with unexpected revelations

3.75 stars rounded up. A version of a locked room mystery, wherein a man is murdered in a car on a motorway, around the time it is gridlocked due to a terrorist incident nearby. People can’t escape due to the jam and barriers, so where did the killer go?

An intriguing idea, this sounded like my kind of brain teaser. There’s a range of characters with apparently everyone having something to hide. Time pressures and pieces of clues falling into place. Though I would have liked answers to a few people who are thrown into the mix early on and then never heard from again, like the lady who ran off… she even gets her own viewpoint chapter, and then vanishes. We do see Billy gradually gain in confidence, which is nice.

Overall a decent read if you like locked room mysteries.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Sergeant Belinda "Billy" Kidd has just returned from a trip to Australia. She's jet lagged, and hot, and miserable, and just really wants to get out of her rental car and get home. Be careful what you wish for, right? Before Billy realises what's happening, she finds herself stuck in the middle of a traffic jam. And then, there's a scream. Despite the fact that Billy has decided to retire from the force, she's still a police officer at heart, so she goes to find out what is happening and discovers a dead man in a black sedan with a skewer in his neck. Puzzling to say the least. The killer can't have escaped without being spotted, which means they must still be here. Billy has time to figure out who it is until the traffic starts moving again and the killer gets away. The clock is ticking.

This is quite the refreshing take on a kind of locked room mystery. I say "kind of" because obviously the story is taking place outside on a motorway. But it doesn't look like there's a way out of there, even if you're willing to abandon your car. Tunnel somewhere in front of you, lots of cars behind you, gridlock as far as the eye can see. Let's face it, it's not exactly a place to go walk about. The knowledge that the killer must still be here already notches up the tension. Might they strike again?

First things first. Billy needs to somehow preserve the crime scene and find out who the dead man is. With nothing on her, that's no easy task. No evidence bags, no gloves, no back-up ... not even her warrant card. She's going to have to be super inventive. Luckily, some of the other drivers are happy to help out. And so Billy, and the reader, are able to get to know some of these people and add or remove them to the suspect list. Some are behaving rather suspiciously, hiding secrets and lies. Unraveling it all, and determining who the killer is, is no easy task for Billy.

I didn't figure it out at all. 'Dead Mile' is brilliantly plotted, has a few red herrings that distracted me, and was hugely entertaining throughout. Billy is a fabulous character. She's struggling with quite a few things that mess with her head and her confidence (and really needs a wee). But fortunately, she has one or two people who are firmly in her corner, who spur her on to bring this tricky murder investigation to a satisfying conclusion. There were moments where my heart broke for her, and moments where she made me chuckle. She's one of those characters you definitely want to succeed in whatever it is they're attempting to do.

I very much enjoyed my time with Billy and 'Dead Mile'. It's a well-paced, suspenseful thriller that held my attention throughout, and an original, creative and fresh take on a crime fiction story. There are a few characters to keep track off, but I never felt things became complicated. It's a wonderful cast of different personalities and backgrounds who really bring colour to the story. My favourite one is probably Pat, and I wouldn't at all be averse to meeting her again in the future perhaps. Same goes for Billy. I feel there's a lot more story left in her.

'Dead Mile' is clever, and fun, and is truly well-executed. With plenty of twists to keep you guessing, it's a crime scenario with a difference, unlike any locked room mystery you've ever read.