The Body in the Mist by Nick Louth

Posted on May 21, 2019 by J-LBRBSBLOGS

A brutal murder hints at a terrifying mystery, and this time it’s personal.

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Book blurb

A body is found on a quiet lane in Exmoor, victim of a hit and run. He has no ID, no wallet, no phone, and – after being dragged along the road – no recognisable face.

Meanwhile, fresh from his last case, DCI Craig Gillard is unexpectedly called away to Devon on family business.

Gillard is soon embroiled when the car in question is traced to his aunt. As he delves deeper, a dark mystery reveals itself, haunted by family secrets, with repercussions Gillard could never have imagined.

The past has never been deadlier.

From master storyteller Nick Louth comes the third installment in the DCI Craig Gillard series.

My thoughts

This is becoming a pretty good series. Whilst The Body in the Mist can be read as a stand-alone book quite easily it is actually the 3rd in the DCI Craig Gillard Series by Nick Louth. What a story!

Craig is called back to Devon to sort out some family business. He has two aunts both a bit odd who seem to insist on his help much against his own better judgement he, rather reluctantly, agrees to take a look. His uncle is in a wheelchair and is in a nursing home with the onset of dementia. While there on top of everything else Craig gets embroiled in an investigation into a hit and run. One of his aunts owns the car identified as the vehicle involved but both aunts have a solid alibi. The police are at a loss especially as they cannot identify the victim, have no witnesses and no real leads.

In this book we delve into Craigs family and it’s recent history which is quite dark and learn some sad and rather appalling things. It’s good to see how Craig and co. are developing as characters in this very good series. Craig has his doubts about a lot of things to do with his aunts, he’s not very keen on them, and as we read on it becomes clear and understandable as to why this is. Nevertheless, despite any misgivings, Craig is drawn back to Devon and into helping them out. There are some strange goings on at his aunts farm, then there’s something odd at his other aunts house and what they reveal about his aunts, uncle and, long dead, grandfather is awful – it’s not, perhaps, a family you’d want to be a part of either – still what happens is tragic. Craig is on the side of the law so he will always try to get justice done.

This is a well written, well paced book which has some nice twists and an interesting standpoint with Craig, the main character and a DCI, not actually the investigating officer as the crime takes place out of his jurisdiction. It’s a fascinating angle and a well plotted storyline.

Unlike many books were the end comes when the ‘baddie’ is caught, or not, here we are taken through to the court case and given a glimpse of what happens on the legal side. You get a little insight into how things work and I wonder if you would agree with what happens especially because of what we know from the rest of the story!

Just when Craig, indeed, me and perhaps many other readers think all is sorted and he’s free of his family – and what a family – there’s a rather creepy twist that makes you wonder and look forward to what might happen in the next DCI Gillard book!

If you’ve not read any of the series I would certainly recommend them and should you give them a whirl hope you, too, will enjoy them.

Book Spotlight

With many thanks to Ellie at Canelo for the invitation to Spotlight #TheBodyInTheMist Like to hear more about this terrific book? Take a look around the rest of the Tour…

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Information

Published by: Canelo (20th May 2019)

Buy the Book: Amazon (UK) Kobo (UK) Google Books (UK) Apple Books (UK)

Author:
Nick Louth is a best-selling thriller writer, award-winning financial journalist and an investment commentator. A 1979 graduate of the London School of Economics, he went on to become a Reuters foreign correspondent in 1987. It was an experience at a medical conference in Amsterdam in 1992, while working for Reuters, that gave him the inspiration for Bite, which was self-published in 2007 and went on to become the UK No. 1 Kindle best-seller for several weeks in 2014 before being snapped up by Sphere. It has sold a third of a million copies, and been translated into six languages.

The terrorism thriller Heartbreaker was published in June 2014 and received critical acclaim from Amazon readers, with a 4.6 out of 5 stars on over 100 reviews. Mirror Mirror, subtitled ‘When evil and beauty collide’ was published in June 2016. The Body in the Marsh, a crime thriller, is being published by Canelo in September 2017.

Freelance since 1998, he has been a regular contributor to the Financial Times, Investors Chronicle and Money Observer, and has published seven other books. Nick Louth is married and lives in Lincolnshire.