A BODY IN THE GARDEN by P F Ford

3.5* Much improved writing and editing. 

This follows on from A Body In The Forest, and you do need to read the predecessor so as not to be lost in this tale. Someone at Joffe has been hard at work weeding out all the editing issues and making a smoother read, so this was much easier to get into. 

Some of the writing still isn't the clearest, such as why a character was expecting Samantha and didn't query why instead they were meeting Sam, a different person, nor why Sam took food to meet said person. Those bits were never explained. 

The tale was in parts sad and in parts, shocking. Poor Sam. Poor Emmi. Poor dad. Poor mum. And some of the crimes were a bit farfetched for rural Wales, but you hsve to go with the flow. The trafficking storyline faded out a bit too conveniently, I suspect because there's no way to really bring that to a satisfactory conclusion where justice is done, but I rolled my eyes and went on.

Is this the end of the line for the series? I think it's probably book 8 of at most, 10. Book 9 will see some sweet partings and events. And sadness, as well, as a currently paired couple may not be able to last the long-distance thing. Not sure a book 10 will be needed, but it feels odd to end a series st book 9.


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