Three severed hands. No clues. A race against time.

Book blurb

Three embalmed hands are discovered in a disused Victorian house. Is it a gangland ritual? The work of a cult? Or just a prank played by Medical Students? And what happened to the bodies?

Meanwhile the Coroner needs to issue a Presumption of Death certificate on a teenage girl who vanished eleven years ago in mysterious circumstances.

As hints emerge the two cases are connected, DI Ridpath pushes himself to the limit to find out what really happened. It soon emerges the house is a former children’s home. When another woman, a local social worker, disappears, he is under immense pressure to find answers. What really happened at Daisy House Children’s Home all those years ago?

He has just one week to discover the truth…

My thoughts

Whilst there are ongoing issues with Ridpath from his wife’s death especially with work-life balance especially regarding his daughter and looking after himself by attending hospital appointments to ensure he remains cancer free. Then there’s the DCI in the MIT unit who has a grudge against him which seems to stem from the fact that Ridpath is an ‘old style’ intuitive detective and gets good results rather than being the ‘new’ police officer who follows where leads and technology take them. With this as a background Ridpath is working for the coroners office whilst still being under the MIT unit which means he has two ‘masters’ the coroner and DSup Trent both are supportive of him in differing ways. He also acts as a liaison between the two.

When a hand is found in a gym bag in the wall of a room of an old building where some filming is taking place by the film crew Ridpath is brought back in to MIT. The DCI has other investigations that are more important to him and doesn’t want to put much resource into a case that will more than likely go nowhere. Trent agrees, allows Ridpath to assist Northenden’s CID but also to utilise some resource from MIT in the shape of Chrissy Wright (a civilian researcher) for Ridpath’s investigation on behalf of the Coroner’s Office.

The coroner’s office is looking into the disappearance of Jane Ryder, 16, when she went missing in 2009. Her parents are seeking a presumption of death certificate. Mrs Ryder has a terminal illness and not much time left so they want some closure on what happened to their only child. An investigation has to be conducted to ensure that there is no likelihood of Jane being found alive but because of Mrs Ryder the coroner, Mrs Challinor, wants this matter resolved quickly so that they can move on.

Time is of the essence for both of Ridpath’s cases with a deadline of a week for the coroner’s report so that the inquest can take place as soon as possible. Then further pressure to clear the matter of the three hands from Claire Trent. Chrissy Wright is doing more research than has been agreed with regards to her work for Ridpath because the work for DCI Turnbull is extremely boring. Then DS Emily Parkinson starts to help Ridpath out on the quiet. So Northenden are leading with DS Dave Connor and DC Oliver Davis. Ridpath is assisting but in reality Connors is allowing Ridpath to take the lead. They have overcome any conflict of interest by letting Ridpath’s assistant in the coroner’s office lead on that side of things whilst Ridpath investigates.

It wasn’t just one hand though that was found in Northenden but three so the questions are – who do the hands belong to? Where are the bodies? Is there a serial killer on the street? Also, is any of this linked to an old police operation that lead to arrests of people working in the building that the hands are found in?

Further into the investigation Ridpath feels there may be links between the two cases – are there? And when a social worker from that old operation on Daisy House goes missing the pressure ramps up. The week he has to finish his enquiries seems far too short but neither the coroner nor Trent will give him any more time.

What happened to Jane Ryder? Will the hands be identified? Will Ridpath succeed with both cases? Does he have enough time?

M J Lee brings another fascinating and complex story to his readers. He has a wonderful sense of place with this series being set within Greater Manchester. I really enjoy the different aspects that this book and series brings to a police procedural by placing Ridpath on secondment to the coroner’s office. It’s interesting to see the difference between a coroner’s investigation and a police investigation and yet Ridpath is the bridge that brings these together. This is a terrific book with a chilling storyline, a build up of tensions and goes at a timely pace.

The characters are believable and have become a staple part of the books. Ridpath, Eve, Mrs Challinor, DSup Trent, Emily, Sophia and Chrissy are wonderful and DCI Turnbull as the ‘baddie’ within the series is so easy to dislike. You get engaged in their roles within the storylines.

I highly recommend reading When The Guilty Cry and the D I Ridpath series. You can read this as a standalone but if you can reading from book 1 is even better. As, whilst the investigations are usually ‘standalone’, some threads do weave through to later stories and, of course, the character’s are ongoing stories within themselves and the books.

Book: Purchased

Read: My thoughts on Books 1-3 | Book 4 | Book 5 | Book 6

Information

Published: Canelo Crime (23rd September 2021)

Buy: Ebook: ISBN: 9781800325661 – Kobo | Amazon | Apple Books Paperback: ISBN: 9781800325678 – Hive | Waterstones | Amazon | Google Play | Bookshop.org Audio: ISBN: 9781800326231 | Read by Dan Bottomley – Kobo | Apple Books | Audible | Amazon | xigxag

Author: M J Lee has worked as a university researcher in history, a social worker with Vietnamese refugees, and as the creative director of an advertising agency. He has spent 25 years of his life working outside the north of England, in London, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Bangkok and Shanghai.

While working in Shanghai, he loved walking through the old quarters of that amazing city, developing the idea behind a series of crime novels featuring Inspector Pyotr Danilov, set in the 1920s. 

When he’s not writing, he splits his time between the UK and Asia, taking pleasure in playing with his daughter, practising downhill ironing, single-handedly solving the problem of the French wine lake, and wishing he were George Clooney.

M J Lee website | @WriterMJLee

Books

M J Lee has written two other series Inspector Danilov Crime Thrillers and Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mysteries

DI Ridpath Crime Thriller

Where the Truth Lies | Where the Dead Fall | Where the Silence Calls Where the Innocent Die | When the Past Kills | When the Evil Waits When the Guilty Cry | When the Night Ends | What the Shadows Hide