‘Death At Rainbow Cottage’ by Jo Allen is the fourth instalment in the DCI Satterthwaite series of crime thrillers set in Eden Valley, Cumbria. I have not read any of the previous three books but I found this to be a perfectly fine story to read as a stand-alone. There was references to previous relationships but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story.
DCI Jude Satterthwaite is called out to a body of a middle-aged man who is discovered on a rutted track at the side of his car. He is identified as Len Pierce, a baker as well as running a café. He was found by Natalie Blackwell while out running. Natalie has several issues so after she discovered Len she ran home, to Rainbow Cottage to get help for him. A post mortem finds Len died of a single stab wound to the chest. His sister blames his murder on the fact he was Gay and got around a bit. Insinuating he was messing with the wrong types. DCI Satterthwaite and the team are on the case to get to the bottom of this before there are any more victims. Alongside this Satterthwaite finds himself dealing with his recently found girlfriend, a brother that isn’t happy in any way and also a new boss who is on point with diversity in the workplace in theory, but not so great when it comes to implementing anti-bullying and wow, she either has a great dislike for some of her subordinates or she is holding a grudge. Whichever way it doesn’t bode well in Satterthwaite’s world.
The team keep on digging to find a suspect all the while knowing the killer only just escaped throughout the investigation.
A solid story that gives us opportunities to learn about the characters as well as the plot. Jo Allen had done a marvellous job balancing her writing and letting us into the characters personal as well as professional lives. I enjoy this type of writing as I feel it helps to create more likeable and real characters and Jo Allen has achieved this in this book.
Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Jo Allen for the copy of the book and my place on the tour.
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