Welcome to Maple Valley,a small town in New Hampshire,the sort of town where the residents either know each other,are related to each other or dated each other. A town where you can't sneeze without someone on the other side of town reporting back to you what time you sneezed and how loud it was. One of the residents of Maple Valley is Officer Dean Matheson. Now Dean has always dreamed of becoming a Detective,a dream that was encouraged by his friend and mentor Detective Jones. Unfortunately Detective Jones eventually retired and was replaced by Detective Miller,a lazy,rude man who can't stand Dean. It doesn't look like Dean has a hope in hell of fulfilling his dream but then he gets a lucky break,after Detective Miller has a heart attack during a live press conference,Dean gets his chance to be a Detective and solve the case of the unknown female who was found hanging from a tree in the woods near the town. On paper it looks like a obvious suicide but to Dean something doesn't add up. Then the case becomes more complex and complicated when more bodies are found,deaths that also look like suicides. Dean is determined to prove that he is worthy of being promoted to Detective but he is also struggling with own personal issues. He is still grieving after the death of his brother and his marriage is on the rocks because he had an affair. He's very vulnerable and not thinking straight when he meets and very swiftly becomes involved in a relashionship with Beth,a British woman who works as a psychiatrist at the local woman's correction facility. Only we readers know something that Dean doesn't,Beth is not the kind,loving person she appears to be, Beth is cold hearted,conniving and manipulative. But is she a killer?
Despite having some redeemable qualities,Dean was not a very likeable character at times therefore I struggled to feel any sympathy for him as his life started to crumble around him. I most definitely didn't like Beth,from the moment she was introduced into the story you got the feeling that there was something not quite right about her. There was a mixed bag of vivid,realistic characters in this book,my favourites being Frankie and Rachel who worked at Dean`s favourite diner and of course Rocky the Rottweiler. How could anyone not love Rocky?,he was such a brilliant character and had a personality all.of his own and very bad wind after eating pancakes.
Because the identity of the antagonist is revealed quite early in the story,it's more a lesson in police procedural or more how not to investigate a crime than it is a mystery. But it is a compelling story that has some surprising twists and turns,the identity of the original victim being one of them and a heart pounding confrontation. This is the first in a series featuring Dean and Rocky,the author is currently writing the next book in the series and I look forward to reading more of their adventures,hopefully in the not too distant future.
AUTHOR BIO
Wendy is a British crime thriller writer who lives in Nottinghamshire with her husband and 3 rescue cats.
She started writing as a young girl, thanks to her love of reading, and still has some of the ghost and crime stories she wrote back then. She occasionally reads them when she needs a good laugh.
After completing a degree in Creative Writing & Philosophy, Wendy is now both an indie author (of a dark YA novel which was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition) and a traditionally published author, with several short stories published in UK and US anthologies.
‘Who Cares if they Die’ is her debut novel, published by Ruby Fiction, and Wendy is currently writing the next in the series. They are set in the US and follow Officer Dean Matheson and his mission to become a homicide detective.
Wendy is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Society of Authors.
When not writing, she wastes her time on Twitter, complaining about not having enough time to write.
Social Media Links –
Twitter: @WendyDranfield
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WendyDranfield1/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13513643.Wendy_Dranfield
PUBLICATION DATE : 25th September 2018
PUBLISHER : Ruby Fiction
GENRE : Police Procedural,Thriller
Purchase Links...
AMAZON US : https://www.amazon.com/Who-Cares-They-Die-psychological-ebook/dp/B07G38PPKP/
AMAZON UK : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Cares-They-Die-psychological-ebook/dp/B07G38PPKP/
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