Another great holiday read in the bag! I love Tony Parsons and I love the Max Wolfe series. This book is number 7 in the series and is just as excellent as the rest. It starts with Emma Moon being released from a 16 year stint in prison. She was Wolfe’s first arrest and there are still unanswered questions from the crime. Then bodies start piling up, old suspects. So it’s up to Wolfe to crack the case before he becomes the next body.

As usual Parsons delivered another great crime thriller with all the usual hallmarks of a Wolfe novel, suspenseful and funny at times too. That twist at the end 😱😱

If you haven’t started this series, then you must!

Visceral suspense in a fiendish thriller

Seventh book in Parsons's Max Wolfe series and a palpable sense of dread runs from almost the first page. Max Wolfe faces his first ever arrest, as Emma Moon is released after sixteen years served. As the bodies begin to pile up around Emma, is Max next on the list? Or worse, his daughter?

The mysteries are fiendishly crafted and the denouement is well hidden, although the suspense is derailed slightly as other cases muddy the waters. But all in all, the unseeable threats are well played by Parsons's characters, and things, as in all crime novels, return to equilibrium by the very end.

I haven't read any Tony Parsons since Man and Boy, Man and Wife and One For My Baby. I'm the intervening years I've been aware that he's written several crime thriller/police procedural novels but have not been tempted to read them, mainly as I've been too busy reading thrillers by authors who had been producing these previously.

Despite being No.7 in a series this was relatively easy to pick up and get into without having to know his history as anything relevant to the story was, in my opinion, covered during the read. I very much enjoyed the character and there was enough mystery surrounding the deaths in the story to keep my interest into the final chapters when it was resolved. There is also a subplot surrounding decidedly dodgy police officers no doubt based on recent events of police abusing their position with vulnerable women which kept the levels of intrigue up.

A bit of sentimentality thrown in particularly at the conclusion which I was more familiar with from the previous books I'd read by Mr Parsons however this didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

I may well now be interested in reading some of the earlier novels with this character as a result.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my review copy.

The first book I’ve read in the Max Wolfe series but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of this novel. Max is a great character; a single parent detective with an aging dog.
Emma Moon is released from prison after serving 16 years for a robbery where two people were murdered. She never gave away the names of the people involved in the robbery although the police suspected they knew who were involved. On her release members of the gang started to die in strange circumstances. Was Emma involved? The book is a great read with great characters.

Lovely to meet up again with Max Wolfe, daughter Scout (now 12) and an aging, wonderful Stan - I’ve missed you (but did read throughout with a sense of dread – please can he ‘pass on’, outside the books?!’m a coward…)
The book starts with Emma Moon being released from a 16 year sentence she served to protect the 'Hole in the Wall' gang after a robbery at a posh house in which two people were killed; she never gave up secrets or names and took the full 'blame by media' for the robbery. She stayed loyal to her lover Terry Gatti - who has now moved on and remarried a 'younger version'. He and his brother have lived a life of luxury in the meantime.
But then other members of the gang begin to die. The Gatti brothers are convinced Emma is killing them all out of revenge. Max had just started to like and trust her – is he making a big mistake?
Balancing the crime aspect is the homelife part of Max’s story which I find so endearing. Scout knows her own mind and is sensitive to the injustices in the world, particularly to the homeless and those inhabiting the streets around Smithfield Market, where they live. This can lead to conflict with Max; they need to sort through priorities, safety and consideration to others. Then, one of her homeless acquaintances is brutally murdered.
A couple of irritants – repetition in a few places (particularly around fast track police entry v ‘on the ground’ coppers, and scratchy uniforms; please don’t turn into Peter James (who seems to have a set amount of ‘in’ jokes cut and pasted into his books) You’re MUCH better than that Tony!
Enjoyed this though; lovely to revisit the family as much as enjoy a good crime story. Recommended, but maybe not quite as exciting as his earlier ones

MURDER FOR BUSY PEOPLE


Murder For Busy People is book #7 in the Max Wolfe series and having either read or listened to the audio books #1, a novella we’ll call it book #1.5 and book #2 I was was anxious about making the leap straight to #7.
But I soon realised that reading any of the previous books isn’t necessary; Parsons is good at subtly recapping anything of importance making it possible to read these books as stand alone novels, as well as reading them in sequence.

Exciting and Tense Parsons draws you in to this original and ingenious story.

Murder For Busy people has a great storyline that keeps you gripped from the very first page and keeps you hooked to this clever, thrilling story with every page you turn.

And, when you think you’ve come to the end, don’t stop there though, there is more to come.

#MurderForBusyPeople #author #TonyParsons #book7 #MaxWolfeSeries #NetgalleyRead #fastpaced #ingenious

This is a decent police procedural about a woman who, having served 30 years in prison on a robbery charge, is now out and bodies are piling up.

The detective has a 13 year old daughter and I found their dynamic interesting and real.

However, I hadn’t realised that this was book 7 of a series and although it can be read as a standalone, this did negatively impact my read and overall I found the book a decent Good Read but didn’t enjoy as much as some of the author’s other books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the opportunity to preview.

My two previous Tony Parson book reviews on Netgalley were rated at 3 stars and four stars respectively and this one is in keeping with those.

It was a good book overall but ultimately failed to grab me unfortunately.
It didn't fail in any particular aspect but just felt a little bit like going through the motions without much in the way of tension or action, despite best attempts at wanting to get engrossed in it.

Max Wolfe has developed into a well-drawn character with a boxing edge to fall back on.
However, the interaction between Max and his daughter Scout, aged 12, was at times a little bordering on boring and exasperating. Maybe I'm out of touch in a slightly rural setting but 12-year old kids wandering the streets alone at 10pm plus is not something you see around here and, lone-parent or not, just seems a little unrealistic as something a parent in London would accept.

Emma Moon has served a long prison sentence for a robbery she was involved in and once released people related to the crime start dying in unusual circumstances. The obvious candidate is therefore Emma Moon herself. Cue Max trying to work out what is going on with his own little interaction with some of the hit-list and their own theories aided by his boss and some newbie fellow officers. Alongside this a poor, local homeless lady is also found dead nearby and this is also entwined into the story.

Without spoilers it's difficult to give further detailed feedback constructively. It just overall didn't grab me unfortunately.

As ever, really grateful for the ARC.

📚Book review📚
Max Wolfe is back and let me just say this, if you’ve not read any of the other six books in the series, it doesn’t matter, you can still hop on board with @tonyparsonsuk and won’t feel like you’ve missed anything. I did enjoy the latest book but was kicking myself that I missed the twist in the story and as a parent, Max is a lot more lenient with his daughter Scout than I’ve ever been with my two girls! If you’re a crime fan lover than jump on board this series and enjoy the dark side of London. Thanks to @netgalley and @centurybooksuk for the proof copy. This is also a very visual novel and I’d love to see it on tv someday. I wonder who would play Wolfe?

“Emma Moon is out.
She’s served 16 years for a notorious armed robbery that left two men dead – and enriched many more.
But Emma Moon never talked. She kept the code. She never revealed who was with her on the day of the robbery. She never told who killed those two men.
And now she is free – and everything has gone. Her family. Her share of the money. And her faithless husband.
So Emma Moon is in a hurry. Because it is payback time. And after all those years inside, she has friends who will do anything for her.
As the bodies of the innocent and the guilty pile up, only one detective stands between a career criminal and her quest for revenge.
The same man who, as a fresh-faced policeman, arrested her all those years ago.
Max Wolfe is back.
Single parent to a teenage daughter, owner of an ageing dog, music lover, hopeless romantic - and a murder detective who has his own code of honour.“

Emma Moon went to prison for her part in an armed robbery where two men died. She was the only person who served time as she did not rat out her gang.

She is now out of prison on licence and suddenly the other suspected members of her gang start dying, is she responsible or is someone trying to frame her?

The officer who arrested her is investigating the death of a homeless woman and a gang of police officers who are abusing their power. Will he solve the murders or is on the murder list as well for arresting her?

It was a good book, took me longer to read than I wanted it to but I was recovering from flu and my attention span was not great but the book keeps you guessing 70th the end.

This was a fairly standard police procedural, which is one of my favourite easy reads. I thought the case to be solved was well plotted but I felt that the storyline or back story about the detective and his young daughter was interesting but inconsistencies with reality jarred with me. For example he left his child alone and allowed her out late at night in central London. This did affect my enjoyment but it was a good read

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another first-class book from the wonderful author Tony Parsons. Brilliantly written, full of twists and turns, great characters, and a great plot, it is a must-read.

I really enjoyed reading this book which was by an author I have never had the pleasure of reading before. The story was very well plotted and fast moving and the characters in the story were very well described.

Sixteen years previously a very fresh-faced new Police Constable, Max Wolfe had arrested his first murder victim, Emma Moon ,and he had never forgotten her or the impression she made on him. He had been called to a house where he found two murdered men and an empty safe. The only person remaining in the house was Emma. She had been sent to prison and had never said anything about the main culprits, the Gatti brothers, in all her years inside. Terry had been her common law husband and they had had a son David, however he had moved on with a new wife and family.

Move forward 16 years and Emma has been released. Her son, David had unfortunately committed suicide previously and Emma is out for revenge or so it seems. One by one the people involved in the crime die under suspicious circumstances, all of the accomplices until the only two people left alive are Terry and DS Max Wolfe.

She’s served 16 years for a notorious armed robbery that left two men dead – and enriched many more.
But Emma Moon never talked. She kept the code of silence. She never revealed who was with her on the day of the robbery. She never told who killed those two men.

And now she is free – and everything has gone. Her family. Her share of the money. And her faithless husband.
So Emma Moon is in a hurry. Because it is payback time. And after all those years inside, she has friends who will do anything for her.

As the bodies of the innocent and the guilty pile up, only one detective stands between a career criminal and her quest for revenge. The same man who, as a fresh-faced policeman, arrested her all those years ago.

Max Wolfe is back. He is a single parent to a teenage daughter, owner of an ageing dog, music lover, hopeless romantic - and a murder detective who has his own code of honour.
Once I started this book I just had to read it until the final paragraph. I regret having not read any of the authors previous books but I will certainly check them out. I strongly recommend this one.
My thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the advance review e-copy.

Thank you RandomHouse Cornerstone and Netgalley for the ARC.

I have read the whole of the Max Wolfe series and it gets better and better.

I was hooked on this one as it went back to the past in some respects when Max was a young PC.

As always it was very well written and kept me hooked (stayed up until 2am last night to finish it!!).

Highly recommended and more please.

Read it, enjoy it, I couldn’t put it down.. For the full review go to https://www.tumblr.com/joebloggshere/772042680597463040/murder-is-for-busy-people-max-wolfe-7-by-tony

This time I felt disappointed with the book by Tony Parsons. Most of his other books I have really enjoyed.

Despite enjoying Max and his relationship with his daughter, dog and all the people he worked alongside the book lacked something and left me feeling very flat. There was not enough bite and excitement to the plot.

It was too lightweight and needed spark. I did however finish it……I never like leaving a book unfinished.

Murder for Busy People is the 7th book in the DC Max Wolfe series by Tony Parsons.
In short, Max Wolfe is back & Emma Moon is out after serving 16 years for a notorious armed robbery that left two men dead. But Emma Moon never talked, never revealing her accomplices and the missing money and now the men involved start to die in suspicious circumstances…it’s looking like a targeted hit list and Max is said to be on the list as he was the young policeman that arrested Emma Moon all those years ago.
This is the first book I’ve read by Tony Parsons, now I’m hooked and will be looking at reading the previous Max Wolfe books.
Murder for Busy People is a smart, gritty crime novel…it’s fast, hard and yet at times exposes the vulnerability in people during dangerous and chaotic times, it’s a story that doesn’t let go until the very last page and I loved it.
Big thanks to Tony Parsons, Random House UK and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

I have read and enjoyed other books by Tony Parsons but not any from the Max Wolfe series. Murder For Busy People does work as a standalone story but it lacked the tension you'd expct from a police drama. I enjoyed Max, his daughter Scout and Stan the dog and even Mrs Murphy and her family, his long term friendship with Jackson Rose and his burgeoning relationships with Sita and Bear but the crime aspect just fell flat in my opinion. It still made for an easy, interesting read but I really didn't care who wa frightening these people to death.

I have read and enjoyed quite a number of books written by Tony Parsons both from this series and his standalone ones but I am really unhappy to say that this fell a bit flat for me unfortunately.

I love the character of Max Wolfe, his relationship with his daughter, dog and colleagues and I love the style of Tony's writing but this just didn't seem to have the thrill or tension that I was expecting nor did it have me gripped like his books usually do.

Whilst the main story was intriguing and had me guessing, there were times when I felt it was quite repetitive and, I'm sad to say, boring. I did however finish it and it certainly won't put me off reading Tony Parson's work in the future or more in the Max Wolfe series as I am rarely disappointed.

I may be in the minority here if other reviews are to go by so don't take my word for it and give it a go and I must thank the author, Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this, the latest outing for Max Wolfe.

I was sent an uncorrected advance proof copy of Murder for Busy People by Tony Parsons to read and review by NetGalley. I have to say I was rather underwhelmed with this novel; it didn’t seem to have any of the tension found in the one other novel I have read by this author, which was not a Max Wolfe story. Having said this, the book, although rather repetitive in places, was readable enough for me to finish it. The final chapter however, I found totally unnecessary and out of character with the rest of the novel. I understand of course that this may have changed by the time the book was published.