Cold Christmas (DCI Antonia Hawkins #4) by Alastair Gunn

Synopsis:

In the small village of Cold Christmas there's a church that faces the wrong way . . . What has it to do with the three dead men found in a London flat? DCI Antonia Hawkins has a killer to catch. Only she can't predict what is waiting for her at the end of the chase.

Nobody remembers the young men entering the abandoned London flat a few weeks ago. Nobody cares if they left. Until the unbearable smell of decay.

DCI Antonia Hawkins is called in to view the dead men; three, lying neat in a row. There's no damage to the bodies, no obvious cause of death. Is this a suicide pact? Or is that just how it's meant to look?

If there is a link between the three very different men then Hawkins needs to find it, and fast. Because unless she does, more are going to die. And they might not all be strangers.

My review:

When I got this book I haven’t realised that it’s part of a series. This is the forth book in Detective Inspector Antonia Hawkins series and although it did read fine as a standalone book I would have preferred to read them in order as there were hints throughout the book at previous cases and her personal life, which has now put me off reading the previous book – I feel I already know too much.

Three decaying bodies with no obvious signs of how they died left arranged on the floor of an abandoned flat. DCI Hawkins and her team are stuck on finding a motive, let alone the killer. But as they start to dig deeper into the victims’ history and as they retrace their footsteps, the team uncover a much deeper meaning to the deaths of the young men.

This is a great, fast paced crime novel. I really enjoyed learning about Toni’s live as well as the work she does and how the whole team work together. Her personal life with fiancé Mike seems to be woven well into the story and keeps the novel on a more human, believable level.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for access to this book in return for this honest review.

My rating: 4/5

Website: www.alastairgunn.com

Available to purchase from:

Amazon UK (published 16 November 2017)

Amazon US (published 01 February 2018)