Seventh in this series featuring Detective Barton who is allowed out from behind the desk to investigate this case. Full of twists and turns and interesting characters.

This was the first book I have read in the series but it was fine as a stand-alone. Plenty going on all through it. Great backstory about lives of the detectives. Enough twists and turns to keep me guessing as it was hard to keep up with them all. Look forward to the next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

DI Barton has been behind a desk for several years, but welcomes the opportunity to once again investigate a crime. A child has disappeared and people she knew are dying under mysterious circumstances. DI Barton works to discover the truth before anyone else turns up dead.

This book has a lot of quirky, yet quite believable characters. The estates are well depicted making it easy to imagine how the crimes were committed. Solid police works leads to the identity of the killers, making for a satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one.
My first by Ross Greenwood, I do have a couple of his on my tbr, which I'm looking forward to reading even more now. As usual, I've read a book out of series order, but this one works well as a stand-alone. Even though this is book 7 of the DI Barton series, I felt it had enough history in there for me to get fully immersed into the story.

This book mainly follows DI Barton as he tries to work out the mystery of an attempted murder and a case of a missing teen. You also get the pov from the unnamed perpetrators side, which I found interesting. The story has other subplots to follow, and I enjoyed finding out how they all come together. Each of the characters are well written and interesting. I loved how Barton treated his fellow female colleagues with respect and supported everyone. I got a real sense of family in this book. So it's full of twists and red herrings that kept me guessing until around 80% in when I narrowed it down to one of two ways this story was going to go. I was still unsure if I was going to be right in my theories.

The themes throughout fit in with today's world. It also made me think a lot about the rehabilitation of sex offenders, and it was interesting to see the route Greenwood took on this for this story. Overall, I really loved this book. It didn't disappoint me and kept me hooked from the start. A really good solid police procedural.

Thank you, Boldwood Books, for my advanced copy. Also thanks to NetGalley.
My opinions are my own

A great book from Ross Greenwood and an author ive not read much of

A big surprise at the end when the 3rd person narrative was revealed and not something i expected

Highly recommended

I’m so pleased that Inspector John Barton has been freed from his desk job after three years, and returns to the Major Crimes Unit as Acting DCI! This is #7 in the Barton series but can easily be read as a standalone.

A girl in her early teens, Poppy, has gone missing but her mother doesn’t appear to be very bothered. Then Poppy’s mother’s best friend, Sandy, just manages to escape from a car being driven straight at her – it looks like attempted murder. It seems that Sandy is a member of an OnlyFans-type website, and it’s starting to look as though these things are all connected.

This is an excellent police procedural series, very well-written, and full of twists, turns, and surprises. I would highly recommend the whole series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

My first Ross Greenwood book but certainly not my last!
If this book isn’t made into a procedural crime series I might cry!
It was brilliant!
I absolutely loved it from start to finish and I actually felt like I was watching this, I could see/hear the characters so clearly.
Sometimes in books with lots of dialogue it can become repetitive and flat, but the conversations between the characters in this flowed effortlessly and were written brilliantly!
It gets a huge 5 stars from me!!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC

Crime thrillers tend to follow a familiar path. The investigating police officer or detective is troubled/monosyllabic/obsessive. There are several red herrings as to the perpetrator. There’s usually a pathologist who’s a bit of an oddball.

DI Barton smashes the stereotypes by being a genuinely normal and nice guy. He’s spent 3 years behind a desk and is pleased to move back to Major Crimes, where his friend Zander works.

A missing teenager whose mother seems very disengaged forms the basis of a novel that, as well as being a crime thriller, is a study of friendships in its many forms.

Unexplained deaths at a house in a wealthy area are found to be linked to a website similar to OnlyFans, and the missing girl and her mother are both frequent visitors.

It’s a cracking plot with contemporary themes. The problem of children who are forced to grow up too fast because of absent parents. What to do with neuro-diverse offenders who are likely to reoffend because there is nowhere for them to be homed or rehabilitated.

There’s lots of humour, particularly between Zander and Barton as they play tennis in unprepossessing outfits and make up humorous ditties about each other. There is kindness and empathy too, as Barton reaches out to the grieving pathologist whose wife has died.

Barton's rare gift as a detective is that he is intuitive and empathetic. He doesn’t just want to solve crimes, he wants to join dots and prevent mistakes from happening. He finds some innovative solutions - magical touches, he says proudly - to help the troubled souls in this complex plot. Well done Ross Greenwood for finding a new way to present crime.

This is an excellent police procedural. The story moves at a steady pace throughout, and the characters are likeable and relatable. The story includes several modern day themes. I hadn’t read any previous books in this series so can ascertain that it can be read as a stand alone novel, though I am now looking forward to catching up with the earlier books. I definitely recommend this book.

A big welcome back to DI John Barton in the 7th book in this series.
A story filled with lots of secrets and lies and the impact they have on the people involved.The plot is filled with twists and red herrings with clues along the way that hold your interest,and the authors ability to write police procedures and emotional themes are spot on.
The interaction between Barton and his wife Holly are filled with such wit and are so natural that I laughed out loud many times.
A really good thriller read for crime loving readers.
Recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC.

Inspector John Barton wonders if he’s still got what it takes in The Village Killer by Ross Greenwood.

An opportunity arises to return to Major Crimes, so Inspector John Barton jumps at it, after all, he’s been around the block a few times. When he and his team are called in to investigate an attempted murder that seems to be linked to the case of a missing child, Barton is immediately thrust back into the life of a detective: early mornings, late nights, and endless pressure to get to the truth.

The story is a good police procedural with a twisty plot and credible characters. I really like the Inspector.

I would recommend this book and this author.

#TheVillageKiller #NetGalley @BoldwoodBooks

Barton is back and i am so happy.
This is the 7th DCI Barton bock in the series.
Barton has had 3 long years working behind a desk he gets asked to run a team for a year and jumps at the chance.
A young girl called poppy and a rich wife called sandy how do there lives inter connect??
Another mystery for Barton and his team to work out
Bring on the next book ross I love your writing style and can not wait for the next one.

Brilliant, as ever the only real issue I have with Ross’ books is that they come to an end because they’re such an enjoyable read. I loved the contemporary angles to the story including the DreamViews aspect. You almost made me consider a career change with that one, sounds lucrative, don’t worry I said almost…. There are also, as always, a lot of really relatable and very well observed mentions which I feel are talking to me, haha. I liked that the Detective’s wife was a TA because they needed one of them to be (reliably) around for the children and the nod to the fact that dad had missed a number of occasions due to work, basically mirror image of my life then! I also get very twitchy when cupboard doors and drawers are left open, so you do make me smile at regular intervals throughout the story with these gems.
Human nature also acutely well represented such as staying in a marriage for convenience- not a relatable one this time but definitely thought provoking. The backdrop this time was a nice leafy affluent area with slightly bored rich people, very cosy and slightly Midsummer Murder. I did slightly miss the beach though.
All in all great entertainment, a good whodunnit that kept me guessing and lots of smiles along the way. Keep at it please because I can’t wait for the next one.

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for an advance reader copy. If you want a synopsis, click on the book.

This was my first DI Barton book and I enjoyed it. The main character is a seasoned detective and family man with a strong moral compass. It's a police procedural novel with plenty of suspects before the culprit is revealed. Overall, it makes for a good enjoyable read.

DI Barton is back and has a slightly new role- that of acting DCI. There’s been some harassment of young girls and a woman has had a possible murder attempt, a car having driven right at her. A young girl has gone missing however her mother doesn't seem unduly concerned, saying good luck to anyone who has taken her. When the mother of the missing girl is found at the home of the attempted murder it looks like there could be a possible link or is it coincidence? Alternate chapters give the reader the village killers point of view and what he is planning. Can Barton sort out both his new team, the missing girl and the potential killer?

I love Ross’s books. Despite the subject matter they are a gripping easy read which very easily keeps the pages turning. There’s a warmth of character and I like Barton as he is a no nonsense, determined detective, keen to see justice served. This is one of a series but happily stands alone (I’ve loved all of the others). It's a twisty plot (easy to follow) and some great characters along the way both honest and not!. A compelling read I thoroughly enjoyed


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I was excited to read this Ross Greenwood crime novel as I always enjoy the way he writes. This is the 7th book in the DCI Barton series and this story has two distinctive threads. Firstly, someone is so obsessed with rich wife Sandy, that they will kill to prevent her leaving her home for good and secondly a missing teenage girl sucked into the lucrative world of online titillation on the lines of 'Only Fans'. As these two cases begin to overlap, things become very complicated for DCI Barton who has recently returned to major crimes to team up with his friend Zander. As a sub theme the author dwells a lot on the plight of offenders with neurodiverse conditions who fare badly in the criminal justice system. Greenwood's characters are well-defined, particularly the police officers whose private lives are heavily featured in the books. I enjoyed seeing where their stories had got to and how the softer side of Barton's character comes across in places, especially at the end. My only negative was a slight feeling of loose ends as the killer's motivation is never fully explained for all of their actions. However, this remains a good procedural crime novel. I would recommend Greenwood's books to fans of L J Ross and Elly Griffiths.

DI Barton is back! So happy to see the return of this detective. You can never go wrong with one of Ross Greenwood's books but DI Barton is by far my favourite of his series.

This is the seventh novel to feature DI Barton. For the past three years he's been "riding the desk" as they say. Now, his children have grown and with the support of his wife, he wants to return to more active policing before his career winds down. It just so happens his boss offers him a return to Major Crimes. Just the challenge he was looking for. He's worked with almost everyone here before and it feels good to return to a close knit team like this. Before he even gets settled in, he and his team are called to the village of Castor for the disappearance fo a young girl and a car accident. A woman was deliberately run off the road. Then a man is killed. Barton and the team must work flat out to discover the connections and stop a killer.

A well crafted book, with a likeable detective and team. Thank you the NetGalley, the author, and Boldwood Books for the eARC copy of this book. 5 out of 5 stars for me. Although you don't need to start at the beginning of the series, I do recommend checking out the other works in this series, and by this author.

This is only my second book by Ross Greenwood I've read so far, so far... as in the first in this series I read only a few days ago! And I am hooked, because I quite like both Barton and Zander for not being your typical male characters full of testosterone.

'The Village Killer... is closer than you think' according to the cover and of course I was glued to the e-reader for wanting to know who they really are. There were twists and turns, but not too much, nothing too far-fetched, and also not too gruesome.
And with nothing being easy in a black and white distinction it felt real enough which I appreciated as well. So with that I just bought the first book in the Ashley Knight series :)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Wow. What a gripping read from this author. Barton is a great character and his team sound so nice. So many twists and turns.
Thankyyou netgalley

This is the seventh book in the Inspector Barton series, and it is another winner.

Barton is one of my favourite characters and it is good to see his return. After three years in a desk role Barton is about to decide on how he wishes to finish off his last working years to look like and what kind of role does he want. Soon a proposal is presented to him and after discussions with his beautiful and supportive wife he decides to return to major crimes and is extremely excited to get his teeth back into some complex work.

This role will really be the making of him as in this case it is obsession that will lead Barton to bring all his knowledge and experience to solving this crime, a theme that is well explored in this book. In this scenario a young girl has disappeared and then a woman run off a road, are the cases connected and if so, what has brought these two occurrences to the forefront. I always find with Mr Greenwoods books that I pick one up and the next thing I know I am at least halfway through it. Last night I had decided that I would just read a few more pages but now with bleary eyes at my desk this morning I am glad I stayed up and finished the book, a very engaging read with lots of twists and turns along with a satisfying ending.

I hope that Barton continues, he is such a great character that many readers have come to love, and I look forward to each new storyline with which we are presented. He is a truly authentic character and am sure there is still a lot he has to offer regarding future storylines.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of the book, all opinions expressed are my own.