CRUEL TRUTH by Rachel Lynch

4* Would've been a 5* read but for the unnecessary tmi about the lead  character's sex/dating life. 

As an intro to the author and the series, this would've been a 5* tale for me had it not been for the above. Why bring up her recently dumped partner and even more recently dumped work colleague, plus her former boss? This added nothing to the book, especially as the latter didn't appear in the tale at all, and the colleague couldn't care less, and the ex-partner wasn't in the tale until maybe the last 15%. That aside, there was a decent team of detectives doing actual 2026 detecting, plus the lead's dad, the local coroner, doing 70s-ish detecting and getting it right. 

The tale itself made me hate Americans and their innate arrogance, and their cries of diplomatic immunity. I could go into more unsavory practices, but that'd spoiler was really was a well-thought-out and dovetailed tale. I'm annoyed that not everyone who deserved to pay for their part in the tragedies got what they deserved. 4 tragic deaths and 1 non-tragic one were a lot to deal with, but British cops being cowed by 'them upstairs' and the 'special relationship' and £££$$$$, was irritating. But sadly likely quite realistic. 

The storyline was excellent, believable, with reveals that I could believe and be sad about. Good people died because of greed, corporate corruption, lies and arrogance. I'd read more of this series if offered ARCs, but I'm not sure I'd buy the books because of the infodump.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Canelo Crime for my reading pleasure. 

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