This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

I love a great police procedural and then discover it is part of a series. It does end with a cliffhanger that will have you looking forward to read the next book.

The Cathy Connolly Series Book 1
The first book in a series and the first book I have read from this author. It's great when you find yourself a new author.
After reading the blurb about this book and then some of the reviews I had high hopes for Little Bones. I'm pleased to say that it didn't disappoint.

LITTLE BONES is Book 1 in the Cat Connolly police/crime fiction series from Sam Blake. This debut novel features Irish Detective Garda Cathy Connolly, a twenty-four-year old kick boxing champion.

When twenty-four-year old Garda Cathy Connolly discovers baby bones concealed in the hem of a vintage wedding dress during a investigation into a break in at the home of artist Zoe Grant it is the beginning of a intricate case filled with lies and secrets.

On the same day Zoe`s grandmother, (Lavinia Grant), who originally owned the wedding dress is found dead in her home. Did she put the bones in the hem of the dress?

I liked the chemistry between Cathy Connolly and her partner Dawson O´Rourke. Both complement each other, even though Cathy has some personal problem in her life.

The story is set mainly in Ireland but some parts are also set in London England. Little Bones is a captivating story about sins and family secrets. Clues are revealed on a need-to-know basis, one piece at a time. This is an excellent debut novel that ended with an unexpected twist and cliffhanger ending. I am looking forward to starting the next book in the series called, “In Deep Water”. Little Bones is a great start to a new crime series.

Many thanks to Emily Burns, Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley for the ARC.

Warning! This debut novel in a new series ends with a cliffhanger. If you hate those as much as I do, be prepared for it. I would have liked to know ahead of time because if I know it, I don't read the first one until I have the second at my side.

Set in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, and featuring Detective Garda Cathy Connolly (I refuse to refer to her as "Cat"), this is a slower paced police procedural focused on the mystery of some infant bones found sewn into a wedding gown. In addition, there are other parallel investigations that need solving. In fact, there are 3 different storylines that converge in a bit of a 'suspend your disbelief' coincidence. But, I digress. No spoilers -- it all does come together eventually.

Whenever starting a new series, it takes a bit to get the hang of the important characters and to learn about them both personally and professionally. The main character, Garda Cathy Connolly, is single and a champion kickboxer. She has recently had a bit of a personal shock, and is coming to terms with the situation. Her boss, DI Dawson O'Rourke (future love interest?) and she are handling most of the baby bones case. Whose are they? How did they get there? They were found in the home of Zoe Grant, a young flower arranger and artist, and she professes no knowledge of the bones found in the dress she claims belonged to her mother. The complicated investigation also involves a wealthy dead woman, a man on the run from Las Vegas Mafia, and an elderly lady named Mary. Stay with me!

I enjoyed the novel, there wasn't a lot of action and it wasn't grisly, so it was a bit different to the typical police procedural. I think the author was focused on setting up the characters and the location for further books featuring Cathy Connolly so there was lots of introspection and description. I will definitely read #2 and just sorry I don't have it at the ready right now!

Thank you to NetGalley and Twenty7 Publishers for the e-book ARC to read and review.

3.5 stars

I did find the start a little slow. But the pace picked up as the book progressed and I was very keen to know the outcome. Initially I found the myriad of characters a little confusing and but I enjoyed the story being written from multiple viewpoints.

I'd happily read another by Sam Blake but would recommend this book.

Got this as a review copy from Net galley. I was originally drawn in by the location; predominantly Dublin where my father was from.A few pages in I realised that the book shifted from London to Dublin every other chapter. This was not a problem as the book was written in a simplistic way that flowed throughout. I enjoyed the plot and the main characters. Although still to be fully developed, as this was a debut novel,there was a chemistry in place to build on the relationship between Cathy and her boss, O'Rourke. Be prepared the ending is quite unexpected and dramatic.

Would thoroughly recommend and have already downloaded the next book in the series.

Little Bones by Sam Blake is the first book in a new series featuring Irish Detective Cathy Connolly. A twenty-four year old kick boxing champion, Cathy already has quite a history in the police force, having experienced more in her short career than some officers can experience in a lifetime. As a result of this past she has a close working relationship with her boss O'Rourke, but she has something going on in her personal life that she is too scared to even tell him about. Something which could change everything for her.

The premise of this book is intriguing to say the least. Artist Zoe Grant has reported a strange person in her garden at night and then the following day, while she is out at an appointment, someone breaks into her house. This in itself is worrying enough but when the Garda, namely Cathy and O'Rourke, arrive to investigate they find a wedding dress, torn to shreds, in which a collection of small bones are found stitched into the hem. When the bones turn out to be human, Cathy and O'Rourke have a job on their hands to discover the source of the bones. It is made especially hard by Cathy's personal issue, the fact that the investigtions keeps hitting barriers and that O'Rourke is somewhat distracted by the search for a fugitive wanted by the FBI for a series of murders in the US, a man now thought to be in Dublin.

In amongst Cathy and Zoe's stories, there are interludes taking us to London where a woman known as Mary is found wandering dazed and confused. Quite how and why Mary fits in with the story in Ireland is not clear until the end, although it is fairly easy to guess where the story may be leading. That said, I don't think even I expected the slant that Sam Blake put on this story, a story as rolling as the Wicklow Mountains which form the backdrop to the setting. It is beautifully crafted, and the flow back and forth between the central characters is seamless. There are several points of view covered and by using this technique, Blake manages to keep several key plot points cleverly disguised. I was taken by surprise more than once, which is no mean feat these days believe me. They weren't jaw dropping, what-the-heck kind of surprises, but more subtle and therefore more effective, leaving a certain amount of satisfaction and a feeling of wanting to tell the author 'fair play' for what she had managed to keep hidden, mostly, it has to be said, in plain sight.

This wasn't a book which needed or suited a major shock factor. The story unwinds slowly, perhaps reflecting the pace of life I associate with my many visits to Ireland (I'm in Dublin every month), the intersecting and interwoven nature of the individual stories, and also the almost cold case nature of the crime Cathy is investigating. That said, there are still moments of real tension, particularly where the American fugitive is involved, and Blake manages to infuse enough menace and pace into these sections without jarring the reader out of the novel. And the ending... Well, that certainly sets us up nicely for book two and I am really intrigued to know quite what, how and why what occurs comes to pass and the impacts it will have on Cathy and O'Rourke.

The writing in this book is sound, the description of setting quite wonderful and with a real feeling of authenticity. The mental battles the Cathy has with herself certainly rang true given her situation and the political and religious climate of the culture of Ireland. I really enjoyed the book and was drawn in to all elements of the story. The characters were all likable and the chemistry between the two lead police officers was perfectly balanced. That said, and this is purely a matter of personal taste, it was a little slower in pace than I have been used to of late, particularly from a police procedural, and it took a little settling into, forcing me to slow my own pace down to read it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and I would still class this as a page turner, but it is more a gradual uncovering of deeply buried family secrets than it is an action thriller type. I'm not quite sure what I'd been expecting when I picked this up, and as an opener to a series this is a very high quality offering and I will definitely be going back for more.

Sam Blake has definitely won me over, and I can't wait for book two.

A very assured, slightly slower than expected, but beautifully written 4 stars

Little Bones is number one in the Cathy Connolly detective series, a fairly new police procedural set in Dublin, Ireland. As soon as I read that blurb, I knew I had to give this novel a chance. Baby bones concealed in an old wedding dress? Count me in!

What surprised me the most about this book was that it didn't exactly read as a police procedural. The main character is a detective, sure, but the book is far more than that. It's also a story about family secrets and the relationships between the characters. The plot doesn't move fast and it takes its time to develop, but it leads to a powerful and unforgettable ending. I will definitely continue with the series. I think that, even if you don't really enjoy procedurals but enjoy complex mystery plots, you could really enjoy Little Bones.

This is not a straight-forward book, as the plot seems a bit confusing at first. I couldn't imagine how all the storylines would connect together, as they couldn't be more different. The wedding dress, a dead woman, a confused old woman that gets help from a kind-hearted couple and a dangerous criminal... In addition, our Cathy has some personal issues that she needs to deal with as well. That particular storyline gave the character more depth and provided a nice twist at the end, too.

As much as I liked Little Bones, I didn't really care for that cliffhanger, as I think it left too many loose ends and I needed more closure. However, what I loved the most was the relationship between Cath and Dawson O'Rourke (I was already in love with that name, but he was amazing too!). Their chemistry is great and I loved that they deeply cared for each other. I want them together and I won't change my mind!

When twenty four year old Garda Cathy Connolly discovers baby bones concealed in the hem of a vintage wedding dress during a routine investigation into a break in at the home of artist Zoe Grant it is the beginning of a complex case of lies and secrets the roots of which reach deep into the past.

On the same day Lavinia Grant,Zoe`s grandmother and head of the Grant Valentine retail group is found dead in her home.The wedding dress originally belonged to her,did she know anything about the bones and did she really die from natural causes or was her cause of death something more sinister?

Adding to Cathy and her boss Detective O`Rourkes case load is the sudden appearance of a double murderer who is wanted by the FBI and has made his way to Ireland because he has some personal business to deal with.

The story is set mainly in Ireland but some parts are also set in London England and are about a mysterious old Lady called Mary who is being cared for by a occupational therapist called Emily.The story moves effortlessly between the two destinations and the various plot strands,the characters are mostly likeable but one is really really unlikable and I spent the whole book hoping that that person would get their comeuppance.Cathy is a very likeable lead character,because she is a champion Kick boxer she is tough,feisty but also has a vulnerable side as well.I loved the interactions between Cathy and O`Rourke,they have a history which is mentioned a couple of times but not not gone into fully.It was nice to read a book where the police team worked well together and there was no inter departmental back stabbing or one upmanship.

This is a twist packed,entertaining,multi layered story with a totally unexpected shocking ending.It is fortunately the first in a new series and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book In Deep Water.

This was an intriguing book from start. Tiny little bones which are suspected to be human are found sewn into an antique wedding dress. You can't get much more of a flying start to a book than that.
Then there's an old lady suffering with dementia who turns out to be not quite how she sends
Oh and don't forget the dodgy charachter from Las Vegas who skulks around the edges of the story.
All of this being investigated by the endearing Detective Connolly who is portrayed as someone you can totally relate to.
This book is fantastically written spinning a story from many years ago right into the here and now . The plot of all these stories skilfully comes together in the end leaving you with an ending that is wide open for the next book.....which I absoloutly cannot wait to read. I loved reading this book it was one of those that poked me in the brain everytime I tried to put it down and do something productive. Sam Blake is an absoloutly fantastic author.

Huge thanks to Sam Blake, Bonnier Publishing and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I really enjoyed it. Cathy is a no nonsense and driven Detective Garda with amazing kick boxing skills and a nose for investigating.

I will certainly check out the next book in the series

A very enjoyable thriller which kept my interest until the end.

2 and ½ Stars

I have to admit that I was so frustrated with the protagonist, Cathy, that I almost would have thrown the book in the trash – if it were a book and not on my Kindle. She has this problem with smells. It just drove me crazy. Basically, I couldn’t stand her. I seem to notice that this is not what most reviewers felt, but darn!

That being said, the book was barely okay. There were confusing points of view. The plot was not believable and overly laden with unnecessary facts. The cops didn’t act like they were very competent.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Publishing for forwarding this book for me to read.