I’m so glad to be back for #TeamDaniels today and posting my review for Settled Blood by Mari Hannah. Thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers and Orion Books for allowing me to be a part of this special project.
When a young girl is found dead at the base of Hadrian’s Wall, it’s not long before Detective Chief Inspector Kate Daniels realizes that her death was no ordinary homicide. She was thrown from a great height – and was probably alive before she hit the ground.
When a local businessman reports his daughter missing, has Daniels found the identity of the victim, or is a killer playing a sickening game?
As the murder investigation team delves deeper into the case, half-truths are told and secrets exposed. And while Daniels makes her way through a mountain of obstacles, time is running out for one terrified girl . . .
Settled Blood is the second book of the DCI Kate Daniels series. And my second book by Mari Hanna. I was eager to get back to Kate and the team. So I made sure I cleared a day at least and sat down to discover what Mari Hannah had in store for me this time.
After The Murder Wall, the first book, I was hoping that this book wouldn’t disappoint me. What I found was another tense and truly gripping instalment with DCI Kate Daniels and the Murder Investigation Team. I am now truly addicted to this series!
The body of a young girl is discovered by Hadrians Wall. It doesn’t take Kate long to realise that her death isn’t as simple as it first appears. We see Kate and her team race against time to save another young woman’s life. In order to do this, Kate has to play twisted mind games with the killer. Will they be in time, or will Kate be pushed too far?
As the story unfolded, the pages went by at an ever increasing speed. I had the ‘just one more chapter’ vibe going on exactly as I did with the first book. Mari Hannah knows how to keep a reader in suspense with the twists and turns of the investigation.
One element I really appreciate is well written and realistic characters. The development of the characters is clearly visible in this book. Although I felt they were very authentic in the first book, Mari Hannah just builds so cleverly on the solid foundations she has set up.
The police procedure felt very real, too, but with this authors background, I am not surprised. It made me feel that this could actually be happening somewhere as I read.
Another cracker of a read from Mari Hannah, and I highly recommend this series to anyone who has a liking for police procedurals and crime thrillers. I am of to read the next book, and boy, I can’t wait!
Author Bio
Multi-award winning Mari Hannah is the author of the Stone & Oliver crime series, the Ryan & O’Neil series and the DCI Kate Daniels series.
In July 2010, she won a Northern Writers’ Award for Settled Blood. In 2013, she won the Polari First Book Prize for her debut, The Murder Wall. She was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library 2017 as the author of the most enjoyed collection of work in libraries. In 2019, she was awarded DIVA Wordsmith of the Year. In that same year, Mari was Programming Chair of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Festival. In 2020, Mari was named as DIVA ‘Wordsmith of the Year’ and won Capital Crime’s ‘Crime Book of the Year’ award.
She lives in Northumberland with her partner, an former murder detective.
To find her or see where she’s appearing, visit her events page at: marihannah.com or follow her on Twitter @mariwriter.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 