Graham IsonRessenyes

politics, politicians, infidelities, mafia, FBI, London, procedural, entitled-attitude, actors, working-partners, law-enforcement, due-diligence, cooperation, snarky, sly-humor, multiple-murder, mystery, suspense, friends, friendship, racketeer, hereditary-peer, investigations*****

Scotland Yard DCI Harry Brock and DS Dave Poole and Aussie native DI Kate Evden begin with the investigation of the daylight shooting of a peer and end up with a FBI Agent Joe Daly working on the task of extraditing a mafia assassin back to NYC. Excellent snarkfest!
Narration by Damian Lynch was very good at differentiating people and snarks. And that's a good thing!
#BrockAndPooleMysteriesBk8

london, procedural, working-partners, snarky, law-enforcement, sly-humor, mystery, suspense, friends, cooperation, due-diligence, blue-squad, movies, pictures, international-crimes, entitled-attitude

DI Brock and DS Poole work with the rest of their team on what turns out to be sequential murders. What a tangle of 'artists' and 'film artists' along with some other odd folks, including one needing extradition! Delightful read.
Narration by Damian Lynch was very good at differentiating people and snarks. And that's a good thing!
#BrockAndPooleMysteriesBk7

London, procedural, law-enforcement, working-partners, snarky, infidelities, sly-humor, smuggling, mystery, suspense, lifestyles, friends, cooperation, due-diligence*****
Murder in Heathrow car park at Christmas leads the team on an investigation that is far from merry.
The wealthy woman leaves a surprising will, a weird tangle of business goings on and two different smuggling schemes. Amazing rendering of due diligence in this creative fiction!
Narration by Damian Lynch was very good at differentiating people and snarks. And that's a good thing!

working-partners, law-enforcement, London, Bermuda, international-crime-and-mystery, lifestyles, procedural, cooperation, friendship, sly-humor, infidelities, snarky, missing-persons*****

It all started with a call from a jeweler who was concerned about a client. That led to a monstrous amount of due diligence, including a quick trip to Bermuda!

Narration by Damian Lynch was very good at differentiating people and snarks. And that's a good thing!

After the prologue this is an average police procedural thriller. Mostly fast paced it ranges from London to Paris. On one occasion somebody uses a foul oath. I suspect the author doesn't know any.

sly-humor, London, procedural, law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, armed-robbery, felons****

It all started with a new part-time drummer with a local band getting shot by a masked man in the middle of a set in a crowded upscale venue. Then it turned into an old case with a stoolie who turned in evidence against his cronies. AND THEN there's the attempted heist of bullion from a bank, and more.
Very enjoyable.
Narration by Damian Lynch was very Jack Webb/Joe Friday, and that's a good thing!

procedural, London, law-enforcement, family-dynamics, friendship, international-crime-and-mystery, lifestyles, arson, noir*****

I got the first copy at a library sale in mid-Wisconsin, but sight reading is a problem for me, so I was delighted when it went on audio sale! I had read the first few chapters but went back to the beginning and was glad that I did.
It was great reading about professional law enforcement that was not in LA or NYC but on the snooty neighborhoods of London and even to the Outback of Western Australia as they did a lot more than due diligence on this VERY convoluted group of murder investigations.
Narration by Damian Lynch was very Jack Webb/Joe Friday, and that's a good thing!

DCI Harry Brock is called to the scene of a suspicious death. At a naturist camp called the Pretext Club. Initially thought to have been burnt in the fire, it is discovered that the man - Robert Sharpe - was first shot. On discovering that Sharpe was a con man the list of suspects lengthen.
An interesting well-written crime story which I liked but didn't love, nor did I have much interest in the main characters as none of them really grabbed my attention as individuals.
A NetGalley Book

Colonel Pierre Matthiel on his morning walk on the Brittany coast discovers the dead body of a female. The case lands on DCI Harry Tipper and DS Charlie Markhams' laps, as it turns out that she is called Penelope Lambert and works for the British Foreign Office. So maybe the case will not be as straightforward as Tipper first thinks and hopes.
An enjoyable crime story, a good solid start to the series.

March 1927 and the police have received a letter from the Reverend Percy Stoner stating that he believes that his nephew Captain Guy Stoner has been killed. Informed that there has been a fire where Stoner works in Ditton, Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle and Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott are assigned the case. The character of Hardcastle is certainly of the complaining kind and I didn't really take to him, maybe it is time for him to retire. References to which were made throughout the book.
An enjoyable mystery, certainly well-written but I didn't like the main character enough to love the book.
A NetGalley Book

3rd March 1919 and DI Hardcastle is assigned the task of locating the missing daughter of a M.P. Once she goes missing again, this time finding her may not be as easy.
But the impatient, irritable Hardcastle and his poor Sergeant Charles Marriott are determined to solve the crime.
The story had just enough interest to keep going and was a fairly easy read. It can certainly be read as a stand-alone book in the series.
A NetGalley Book

September 1939 A spate of burglaries concern DDI Walter Hardcastle and his team. But soon a double murder occurs, is it related to the burglaries or not, but months pass without an arrest. Then a body is discovered in the Thames which might belong to a German spy. Soon it is the summer of 1940.
An enjoyable police procedural and crime story with its hint of espionage.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

His partner Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott and a young and eager Detective Constable Yardley from Hampshire police. Ihe story is set in the time period of World War 1,1917 Hampshire County is the village the murder took place in. If you like Hardcastle you will like this book also.
I received this book in exchange for and honest review.

Sleuthing in the country!

I enjoyed watching Detective Inspector Hardcastle make his way through this murder case, with the long suffering Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott.
Hardcastle's prejudices still abound, his intuitive understandings are still a puzzle given the man's inability to empathize.
This time Hardcastle and his sidekick are off to the country to investigate the murder of a young woman, Daisy Salter. The list of suspects could be long--or not! There is an army camp not too far away and Daisy has caused a ruckus already with soldiers from there.
It's 1917, London is being bombed, death is falling from the skies.
Surprising insights, cameo parts really, into Hardcastle's relationship with his wife and daughter emerge. The war is changing woman's roles and Hardcastle seems to be accepting this with regard to his daughter. The discussion in the family parlour (with a touch of alcohol involved) is rather heartwarming.
Another gem was the treatise on the role of the PC's wife in this era. It is they that Hardcastle turns to for the background and village opinions about various persons of interest.
There are some unlikely twists. Once you know the suspect the clues were there. Very subtle.

A NetGalley ARC

DCI Harry Brock is called to the scene of a burned corpse discovered by the fire brigade after being sent to put out a small litter fire. Brock’s side-kick is DS Dave Poole and the two make an interesting pair. It’s a rather routine police procedural. What makes it above average is the interplay between Brock and Dave.

Ison was a Scotland Yard detective for some thirty years and his expertise is apparent. As are his often sarcastic opinions of the state of the current British justice system.

Good story with lots of false leads. Unlike his Hardcastle series, it’s set in a modern world, rather than around WW I.

Perfectly paced audiobook nicely read by Damian Lynch.

Enjoyable audiobook. Hardcastle, a gruff, often rude, DDI (Divisional Detective Inspector) is sent from Scotland Yard to investigate the murder of a young actress, Victoria Hart, the recently married wife of a Navy Commander. The investigation wanders from husband to theater director to others who might have resented the lovely actress.

WW I in full swing, Victoria Hart, the dead woman, known for her risque outfits and dancing, had tried to help recruitment by offering a kiss to any man willing to sign recruitment papers (otherwise known as a death warrant.) When two recruiting sergeants are also murdered the investigation takes a different shift, focusing instead on looking for someone who might have resented having a loved one recruited leading to his death in France. The end result is something different, indeed.

Hardcastle is temperamental and often obnoxious sometimes getting results as much through bullying as intelligence with only occasional -- and surprising -- acts of kindness toward his inferiors in rank.

The author, Graham Ison was apparently a Scotland Yard detective for many years. He has an entire series built around the effects of WW I on the general population and the police. He’s written close to forty novels. They contain authentic details of police procedure in the early twentieth century as well has a host of obsolete slang, e.g. “who would know these days the meaning of a ‘fourpenny cannon’? But in Hardcastle’s day, it was a steak and kidney pie. And a ‘Piccadilly window’ was a term describing a monocle. “ (From the author’s web page.)

I’ll have my work cut out to read (listen) to all of the Hardcastle series.

A constable finds a dead woman in the basement stairway of her home, she is Georgina Cheney the wife of a Naval Commander. As DDI Ernest Hardcastle starts to investigate with his assistant Detective Sergeant Charles Marriot, as the investigation goes forward more murders are discovered and some very strange happenings start.
This is a very well written book with a fine plot and cast of characters. I enjoyed this book immensely and would highly recommend it as a wonderful read.

***I received this book in exchange for an honest review.***

This an OK police procedural mystery set in WW1 England. The story is mildly interesting but the characterization is weak all around.

It's an easy but not an exciting read. All the bad guys get their "just desserts" in the end, although there is likely some sympathy for their cause (a Jewish homeland) but not their actions.

There's quite a bit of British slang which may or may not be accurate for the time, but it is not always easily translateable now.

Hardcastle's character is particularly bland and not well defined -- he's two dimensional. His son's 16th birthday scene at the end of the book comes out of nowhere because he shows little or no interest in his wife and children until then. Aside from that, I'd describe him as a pompous "prig" (which I think is a British term) - he's full of himself with no good reason. It's difficult to accept that he achieved the elevated rank that he holds (maybe he's an early example of the Peter Principle at work). Marriott character is similar: too bland and colourless, although he's not priggish. The rest of the characters are similarly undeveloped.

This is the first book of this series that I've read. Despite what I've said about this one, I'm inclined to read at least one earlier one in the series to see whether I'd give it a better rating.½

...murder and motor cars
London, 1915 and New Year's Eve is being seen in by a Zeppelin air raid.
For Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle of the Met. the New Year brings a robbery at a jewelry-cum-pawnbroker's, and a murder.
Hardcastle is a bit of a stickler.
In terms of type, Hardcastle is not as likeable as the perceptive Foyle, more aware of rank and what's due than Jack Frost, maybe a bit more like Oscar Blaketon of Heartbeat, or not.
Really, there's very little personally endearing about the man, apart from his dedication to the chase, which sometimes is derailed or more often nailed by what DS Marriott calls, 'one of the guv'nor's flights of fancy.'
Set in his ways and pedantic, he has of course strong opinions. Women shouldn't work, or vote, the advent of police cars is questionable, the telephone 'is a new fangled device that won't last long.' Hardcastle does think fingerprints are a good thing. They have helped him to solve crimes in the past.He forges ahead oblivious to the demands he places on his underlings. His long suffering sidekick, Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott is on the case. Fortunately Marriott is 'accustomed to the DDI ignoring the common courtesies.'
Marriott is a splendid foil for Hardcastle. More caring and considerate of his fellow officers, yearning for time to spend with his family, he wonders from time to time why he took this position.
As an aside, in 1915, bowler hats are apparently de rigour for all Senior Detectives.
Murders, spies, deserters, MI5 interest, and Zionist plots are all grist for the mill in this latest Hardcastle and Marriott investigation.

A NetGalley ARC½

don't like this character, Det. Chief Supt. Fox. He's a bully

like this detective,