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.

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.