{"id":1314,"date":"2014-03-31T17:06:59","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T23:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=1314"},"modified":"2014-03-31T17:06:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T23:06:59","slug":"cath-staincliffe-dead-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/cath-staincliffe-dead-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Cath Staincliffe: Dead to Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dead<\/a>Minotaur does a good job picking up and publishing British police procedurals and this is one of their latest finds \u2013 a genuine, no-holds-barred procedural with not one central female character, but three, which makes it a bit different.\u00a0 The men in the book are either villains, eye candy, present or ex husbands, or sidebar co-workers.\u00a0 It\u2019s the women Staincliffe is interested in and that sets this novel apart.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s labeled on the cover a \u201cScott and Bailey\u201d novel which gives things away a bit as the two main characters, Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey, are immediately front and center.\u00a0 Janet\u2019s boss, Gill, encounters Rachel on a crime scene and likes her enough to ask her to join her elite homicide team, which is Rachel\u2019s dream job.\u00a0 Janet is older, seasoned, experienced and irritated with Rachel, who is like an overeager puppy, charging in and acting without thinking.\u00a0 Part of the novel is definitely concerned with Janet and Gill\u2019s efforts to \u201ctrain\u201d her to act like a grown up police officer.<\/p>\n

The case the two catch is the murder of a young heroin addict, found stabbed in her apartment by her boyfriend and dealer, who was so distressed when he found the body he\u2019s covered it with the duvet from her bed.\u00a0 This is a genuine procedural as you follow the entire detective team as they carefully go through evidence and suspects to hit the right one.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a fan of Prime Suspect<\/i> you should enjoy this novel, which follows the same formula.\u00a0 Luckily it\u2019s an iron-clad and fascinating one, and the layers of poverty, abuse, and drug use the women uncover are heartbreaking.\u00a0 Part of Rachel\u2019s training is learning to detach her emotions so she can function on the job.\u00a0 It\u2019s a hard and believable battle as portrayed by Staincliffe.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s some humor and Staincliffe portrays the home lives of all three women vividly, so that you remember each one distinctly.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure there\u2019s much more to discover about Rachel\u2019s boyfriend, but it just makes me want to read the next novel even more.\u00a0 The story wrap-up was both unexpected and well founded, and all in all, this was a completely enjoyable read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minotaur does a good job picking up and publishing British police procedurals and this is one of their latest finds \u2013 a genuine, no-holds-barred procedural with not one central female character, but three, which makes it a bit different.\u00a0 The men in the book are either villains, eye candy, present or ex husbands, or sidebar … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-1314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}