I feel this author still has his L plates on. This was very much a work in progress. There are a whole lot of rookie errors, the worst being that the services of a good editor must have been completely overlooked. Grammatical errors were rife, as were spelling errors (here, here for 'hear, hear' and broach for the jewellery accessory 'brooch' amongst the many), two characters had momentary name changes and the continual use of the very incorrect 'was stood' and 'was sat' wore me down. Add to that the inexplicable use of Americanisms (gotten, math, meter) and, well...
And that's just for starters. DCI Walker and PC Briggs pair up to solve a seemingly ritualistic murder(s) and one that has alarming similarities to a cold case of particular interest to Walker. (Full synopsis here). The irritating thing was Richards insisted on referring to Walker and Briggs and all their colleagues constantly with their titles. The reader is well aware of their positions by about the third or fourth reference, so the constant use of them was very tedious.
Although the dialogue is bland and awkward and sometimes a bit inane, the plot had legs until the rather silly and unbelievable ending.
Not a satisfying read and a very poorly edited one.
