I haven’t read Chris Chibnall’s books before but I know that he’s written crime fiction that has been turned into great TV.

From the outset of Death at the White Hart Lane, I could see how it would translate onto the screen and what a brilliant drama it would be.

A dead body is found in the middle of the road, strapped to a chair with antlers glued to his head. The police identify the body straight away but have no idea why someone in the close knit rural community would want to murder this man who is known to all of them.

There are two new police officers on the case, led by Inspector Nicola Bridge, who has just relocated to the area. Her sidekick is new recruit Harry who hasn’t done much policing and certainly never investigated a murder. The relationship between the two of them is fantastic, Nicola is used to a much larger team around her and is dismayed that she only has minimal staff with limited experience . Harry is desperate to impress her and learn all he can but is totally new to this world.

The two of them dig deep into the dead man’s life, unearthing secrets and lies as well as long held grudges far and wide. There are a great range of characters, some whose families have been in the area of generations, others newer to the region including Nicola herself.

The star of the show is young Shannon who keeps out of her house for as long as possible, knowing what’s waiting for her when she returns , and in the meantime silently observing the world around her.

I enjoyed the pace and structure of the story. It’s clearly written by someone who knows how to pace a TV drama for maximum effect. The cinematic elements of the scene setting certainly added to the enjoyment, sweeping vistas, burning pyres, and of course the body sporting the antlers.

Highly enjoyable and captivating storytelling

Nicola Bridge was much feared amongst the gangs and criminals in Liverpool. A detective with an excellent reputation, she gives it all up to return to her home county of Dorset in the hopes of saving her marriage. For a few weeks the only crimes she investigates are those common in rural areas. When a body is discovered in strange circumstances the residents of the village of Fleetcombe soon come under Detective Bridge’s scrutiny.

An enjoyable read with some good characters. Nicely written with some great expressions - ‘absolute lack of squeam’! The only point that stopped it being rated higher was the denouement. Predictable and not up to the standard of the rest of the book. Also, as in life, not all threads in a book have to have a happy ending, in this story some of the peripheral characters were tied up too neatly, readers (me) don’t always want a cosy read! Be brave and go for it.

I look forward to reading more Detective Bridge adventures.

Thank you NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House.

I didn’t know what to expect from this - I really enjoyed it. I liked the writing style, the story, the plot, the characters and the feeling of mystery! It kind of all blended together well. It’s an intriguing debut!

4* Death at the White Hart - Chris Chibnall. A debut novel from the creator of Broadchurch with plaudits from Gillian McAllister - yes please!

The landlord of the White Hart has been found dead, strapped to a chair in the middle of the road with stag antlers strapped to his head. Almost all of the pub regulars and the landlady of the 'other' village pub may have motive, may have means, may have the wherewithal but there are so many missing pieces and nuggets of information that it is tricky to assemble into a coherent whole.

Detective Nicola Bridge has just returned to her childhood haunt of Dorset, having been working serious crime in Liverpool. Her new role has been oversold and she finds not only a gristly murder but her very small team has -no experience and an even smaller budget.

Blending a formidable detective with her new colleagues and taking on a relatively complex plot is, as you would expect from Chris Chibnall, done with huge flair. The writing is sublime, in the style that is easy to read but very difficult to replicate. There is plenty going on in the book to keep the reader guessing right to the end and the pace feels just right. Some of the police procedure felt a little superficial, compared to others writing in the genre, which is perhaps more reminiscent of the level of detail found in TV scripts. This didn't spoil my enjoyment and if Nicola Bridge returns, I won't hesitate to read it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph (PRH) for an ARC.

Really great setting and very atmospheric!
Thoroughly enjoyed the story and the author truly knows how to spin a tale!
Highly recommend!

Interesting central mystery to this debut novel from Chris Chibnall, but the execution feels a bit thin - I can imagine it as a half decent ITV drama, but not much more than that. Characters / suspects are all lined up and given opportunity and motive, but they are given their own perspective which means omitting things they know about events to maintain tension, which as a device can be unsatisfying. Similarly the investigation takes a turn towards the end, the nature of which is hidden from the reader and instead we get lines about the lead detective being a whirling dervish of investigation… which just felt overwritten to me.

I was keen to know who did it and why, so Chibnall writes compelling plots… but not compelling people. Interesting but inessential.

I never say this but I think this book would be better as a TV series.

While the mystery is sound and the characters are good, this book feels very one dimensional. I loved Nicola, the investigating officer and I was hoping to find out more about her, but her only life is as mother and a wife. Not particularly progressive.

This book needs more meat, more character study and it needs to make us desperate to find out how it all happened, instead it’s a touch sleepy.

I received this eARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review, which this is.

Jim Tiernan, landlord of the White Hart pub, has been found dead, his body tied to a chair with stag's antlers attached to his head in the middle of an isolated country road.

Nicola Bridge has just moved back to her childhood home of Fleetcombe in Dorset from Liverpool, where she was a high-flying police detective, with her husband and teenage son. She was expecting life to be a bit lower key than a big city so she is shocked to find her first case is a macabre murder. Also the post she was sold/wooed with turns out to have been significantly embellished, her 'Police Station' is in a former bank and she has two staff, Mel who appears to never leave the station and Max an over-eager green trainee detective.

It seems as though there is no shortage of suspects. Jim appears to have been a serial philanderer, he was in trouble with the brewery for allegedly skimming money from the till, there was intense rivalry for trade between The White Hart and the only other pub in the village. Add in all the other inhabitants who are downright lying about their whereabouts on the night in question or not telling the whole truth and Nicola has a lot on her hands. Is this murder linked to a similar series of murders back in the 1920s - back then they hanged a man for the murders but his family always protested his innocence? The truth may hinge on what a young girl saw when she was hiding in the playground late at night.

When I saw the author created Broadchurch and the book was praise by Gillian McAllister (love her books) I requested an ARC and I did not regret it. This was engaging, clever, twisty, and although I can say the murderer/motive were a surprise they were also logical and I had had my suspicions along the way.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

On the surface the picturesque Dorset village of Fleetcombe appears to be a sleepy picture postcard idyll.The landlord of one of the local pubs is found dead in very strange circumstances, suggesting some kind of ritual killing. Former resident D..I. Nicola Bridge, back in "the sticks" after years policing the badlands of Liverpool, discovers an undercurrent of crime and a plethora of weird and often not so wonderful characters beneath the surface as she tries to crack the omerta of the local population.

This is a very entertaining yarn from Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall that will appeal to fans of Richard Osman. D.I. Bridge is an appealing character with an interesting backstory and there's a diverse cast comprising largely of the mad,bad and dangerous to know that will have you never seeing small country villages in the same way again.

When the landlord of the local pub is found dead Nicola Bridge CID is called to investigate.

This is a book that I really enjoyed and it's filled with just enough suspects to keep a reader guessing. I love a whodunit and I loved the suspense that builds with this story.

The author can really tell a tale so the wirting is sublime.

A Most Unusual Death..
When detective Nicola Bridge is called out in the early morning hours to an incident, she could never have imagined the bizarre and most unusual death scene that she encounters. The gruesome crime scene is certainly baffling. As the investigation proceeds, a whole host of suspects begin to crawl out of the woodwork. A perfectly paced whodunit with a deftly drawn cast of eclectic characters, a pacy narrative and a well imagined setting. Immersive, engaging and utterly compelling.

We all know Chris Chibnall can write and he can certainly write an engaging detective novel.

The opening was great and played out just as the opening of an award winning hit detective TV show would. It was so vivid in my head - I had a great time casting a whole host of personally hand picked actors and actresses for the roles.

And also, an extra secret star on top of the five, because the main character was called Nicola and my name is never the main character! So yay for Nicola’s all round. She was a great character too and one that was insanely easy to get behind.

The main central plot and story itself was so compelling and one that will hook you from the very first chapter. I found it so easy to read whole chunks of pages at a time and especially towards the end, I couldn’t put the book down.

We have mystery, we have intrigue, we have likeable characters - it was perfectly written. It was easily enjoyable, I hope there’s more to come!

Fast paced read.
The landlord of the White Hart pub, has been found dead and the suspects are many.
Really enjoyed this action packed story and even though there were a lot of characters i found them easy to visualize.
Exciting and full of twists.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

This had great potential. As a massive fan of Broadchurch I was excited to read this, however I struggled with this story and writing style. I would still recommend if you enjoy mysteries and thrillers. However, this did not work for me.

3.5 ⭐


This was definitely a good read.
It was decently paced and had good well rounded characters.
Not just the main ones either, despite being introduced to a lot of people, each of them stood out individually.
I was expecting all sorts of shenanigans with a death like this, but what I had instead was solid police work and the foundations of a team build.
I'm hoping there's more to come.

A very nice debut from Chibnall.