How great that this novel is the first in a new police procedural series!  I have so much anticipation for this series and its characters.

DS Ashley Knight finds herself leading a double murder investigation when her superior has had to take stress leave. Two bodies were found buried in the sand on Cromer Beach. The method of their killings was particularly gruesome. Ashley is paired with a ‘fast-tracked’ young police constable, Hector Fade. I very much enjoyed how their relationship developed over the course of the book. Ashley finds herself confiding in the young policeman which proves therapeutic for her. Their banter and jibing was a treat to read. The rest of the Ashley’s MIT team were introduced and I look forward to learning more about them in further books. Even the peripheral characters in the book were interesting to get to know, however slightly.

“There were seven other teams in MIT, but she was glad to be the sergeant of this one. The bickering gave her the family she was lacking.”

DS Ashley Knight was an intelligent, lonely, and quite damaged protagonist. She has had a lot of ‘life lessons’ that have caused her to be empathetic to others.

The setting, the Cromer Beach area in Norfolk, England was well depicted and the early spring chill caused the narrative to be quite atmospheric.

The homicide investigation is a challenging one for the team. Suspects are few, and are unreliable and unprepared for police questioning. An historic case from 1989 seems to be somehow linked to the current murders and Ashley fears that more bodies may be found.

“Only when there are seven can they rest in heaven
For nobody can deny The Hungry Sea”

With a well-crafted plot and strong characterization, this book should appeal to many fans of the genre. All in all, “The Death on Cromer Beach” was a very enjoyable police procedural and I look forward to further books in this series with enthusiasm. Highly recommended!

This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from NetGalley in order that I could participate in the Rachel’s Random Resources blog tour.

This book was published April 26, 2023 by Boldwood Books.

ISBN: 9781804156933 – ASIN: ‎ ‎ B0BDWHCPF4 – 448 pages

Confession time: This is the first novel I’ve read by this author. He has also written another police procedural series featuring D.I. Barton. I’ve added the first book of that series to my lengthy TBR list.
Ross Greenwood is the author of crime thrillers. Before becoming a full-time writer he was most recently a prison officer and so worked everyday with murderers, rapists and thieves for four years. He lives in Peterborough, in the East Anglia region of England.

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