Review: Long Shadows (Detective Craig Wild Mysteries #1) by Derek Thompson

      

Print Length: 238 pages

Publisher:  Joffe Books (May 31, 2020)

From Goodreads.com:  A SECRET THAT WON’T STAY BURIED. A KILLER WHO CAN’T FORGET.

Detective Craig Wild couldn’t cut it in London. Now he must swap the Met for Mayberry, a sleepy Wiltshire backwater where ambition goes to die.

It was supposed to be a second chance. Then Wild is faced with the most baffling case of his career.

Eccentric farmer Alexander Porter is found shot dead in his own field. Everyone assumes it was suicide. But Wild knows there’s more to it than that.

Determined to uncover the truth, he teams up with plucky PC Marnie Olsen. They set off on a twisting trail.

The first suspect is Nathan Porter, Alexander’s tearaway son. Wherever Nathan goes, trouble follows.

Then someone else dies.

Wild and Marnie must delve into the darkest corners of the family’s history if they are to uncover the truth.

Can they unmask the killer before Wild’s own chequered past catches up to him?

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My Rating: 1 star out of 5

So my first experience with this author was actually the second book in this series. And while I had found it slow going, on the whole, I enjoyed it. And I am glad that I read that one first, because this book? Would have made me swear off this series altogether. 

Not only were there so many characters that it became hard to tell them apart at times, but this book was so slow going, and with so many odd twists and turns that by the time we got to the ending, I really didn't care who was responsible for the murders, or why. I was just glad the book was over. Part of what made this series drag on was the constant reminder of Wild's past, it took away from the murder aspect, and at one point actually took him away from the murders themselves when he decided to go back to London to work on an old case he had nothing to do with anymore. Instead of adding to the plot, or to the character of Wild himself, I felt it was more of a distraction than anything else. 

However, because book number two was a more solid read for me, I will be giving this series one last chance.

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                                        Long Shadows is available on Amazon.com 

                                            (for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)

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