EXCERPT: Midnight.
Leaves, damp bark, stone, dew-covered petals, all reflected the silvery sheen of moonlight. Even the soil in the garden seemed to shimmer with a metallic glow, except for a patch of newly turned earth. Its blackness swallowed any light that fell upon its surface, like a dark star. In the centre stood a newly planted butterfly bush, a figure in miniature, protruding from the shadowy earth. It was less than fifteen inches tall. Its erstwhile home, a plastic pot, was lying to one side of the patch, upturned next to a garden fork spiked into the ground.
The late-night gardener stood back from the freshly turned bed and looked at the results of the past hour's efforts. Droplets of perspiration, shining in the moonlight, ran down a pale face and onto the chin, spattering the dark blue jacket. A cat wandered by and paused nervously for a while, tail twitching, hearing the sound of laboured breathing. The gardener leaned heavily on a spade and looked around. Nothing disturbed the silence of the cool night. The figure stood looking down at the newly planted bush for several minutes before slowly gathering the tools together and walking back towards the house. The terrible task was completed.

ABOUT 'BURIED CRIMES': A family move into their dream home in Dorchester: it seems perfect, particularly for their two children, but when Philip and Jill Freeman decide to move a buddleia bush, what they find buried beneath its roots will haunt them forever.

Why have two children’s skeletons been lovingly wrapped and buried in their garden?

DCI Sophie Allen is forced to probe crimes that occurred many years before, crimes that cause emotional upheavals within the local community. In a complex investigation, Sophie Allen unearths family secrets which carry on having devastating effects to this day and risk taking new lives.

MY THOUGHTS: Buried Crimes, the 4th book in the DCI Sophie Allen series, can easily be read as a stand-alone as it contains a complete case and is not dependent on any developments in earlier books.

This is really a police procedural, relying less on suspense and more on uncovering the who, where, when, why and how of the crime. It relies a lot on research, because of this being such a historical crime. Who lived in the cottage where the bodies were discovered, and when? It is made all that much more difficult because of the cottage having been rented out to many different tenants over a long period of time.

There is a clever blending of the private and professional lives of the characters, and a few surprises in store! One of the suspects seems intent on inserting themselves into Sophie Allen's family life, while another person of interest disappears. Rae, a transgender policewoman takes more of a role in this investigation, but not everyone is happy with her involvement and Sophie has to deal with the discord that interferes with the investigation.

This is a series that improves with each book, though I still find the dialogue quite stilted at times. The mystery of the children's deaths is an excellent one with many twists and turns and a few dead ends.

⭐⭐⭐.9

#BuriedCrimesDCISophieAllen #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: The mystery writer Michael Hambling is a novelist very much one of his background, hailing from Dorset in the United Kingdom. Writing with a definite British set of sensibilities, he manages to convey a different style of writing through his books, which is why so many have taken to his work. Using his British surroundings as the backdrop for most of his works, he creates mysteries that really keep his readers guessing constantly throughout.

Michael Hambling is not a social media user.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Joffe Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Buried Crimes by Michael Hambling for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

A dark and gripping thriller of a read with plenty of twists and turns that leave you guessing.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

The death of children is never an easy subject to read or write about. Having the deaths occur in the not-very-recent past isn't much of a buffer for emotions. DCI Sophie Allen works extra hard to uncover what happened to the small twins found buried in a family's garden. Unraveling their past ends up involving a myriad of other people, dead and alive, and along the way they find additional murders (maybe). The maze that Allen and her co workers go through to solve the mystery took the forefront in this book. Personal stories did not play a prominent role with the exception of Rae, who has successfully completed her transition from a man. I enjoy reading the overriding personal arcs as much as I do the individual mysteries. This one does not disappoint.

I hesitated reading this book because it was 4th in a series, but decided to go ahead. One of the best mysteries I have read in a long time. It caught your attention and you couldn't put it down. Now I am going to read the other books in series. And if you have questions you don't have to have read the others to enjoy this book.