THE PORTSMOUTH MURDERS by Pauline Rowson

4* Not sure if I've not picked up book 1 in the series - there's a DI coming off suspension that happened in the previous book - but I quickly got into this read.

As an intro to this author, this is a pretty decent tale set in Portsmouth/The Solent, with a just-reinstated DI both trying to clear his name and trying to move on/(possibly get back his wife and daughter?), on top of picking up a puzzling case. There were sufficient hints at why he was suspended for me not to be lost trying to figure out his backstory, and his quest seemed reasonable, as did the investigations, although I'm not sure his brain was online over quite a few of his actions. Some of what he did could've landed him in an even bigger mess, and gotten colleagues loyal to him involved in his mess, too. 

The storyline was decent but the 'his arch nemesis' arc got killed off too quickly and kind of unbelievably right at the end, without enough shock or fanfare or crowing. The actual killer kind of swam under the radar due to their clever orchestrating, but felt a tad like a Scooby Doo villain with the fessing up. Not bigging themselves up, just kind of too unpromptedly spewing stuff. Yes, we needed to know how he'd done what he'd did, but it all felt a bit out of place and glib. Still, it was a decent enough tale for me to be looking out for more by this author.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Joffe Books for my reading pleasure. 

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