Bloggin' 'bout Books: 07/20/17

2026 Literary Escapes Challenge

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International:

- England (6)

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Fifth Maeve Kerrigan Mystery Leaves Me Hankering for the Sixth ... and Seventh ... and Eighth ... and ...

6:10 PM

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

(Note: While this review will not contain spoilers for The Kill, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from earlier Maeve Kerrigan mysteries. As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

DC Maeve Kerrigan is looking forward to attending the wedding of a colleague in the peaceful English countryside. She could use a break from the grimness of her job as a London murder detective. A brutal cop killing in the city cuts her holiday short, however, and it's not long before she and her mercurial partner, DI Josh Derwent, are headed back to the mean streets of London. So much for the vacation Maeve so desperately needs.

Puzzled by the cold reaction of the policeman's widow, Maeve and Derwent must sort out the truth behind the murder. What led to Sergeant Hammond's untimely demise? Everyone involved in the crime seems to be hiding explosive secrets, including Maeve's boss. Can Maeve filter out the facts in time to catch a killer? Torn between loyalty to her mentor, her desire to put a murderer behind bars, and her blossoming attraction to her partner, Maeve's got plenty on her plate. And things are about to go from bad to a whole lot worse ...

It's no secret that I love me some Maeve Kerrigan. She's the perfect heroine—brave, devoted, and likable. Her narrative voice is so compelling that I would literally follow it anywhere! That's not tough, though, when Jane Casey writes such engrossing stories. The Kill, the fifth installment in her popular series, is no exception. Although I guessed the identity of the murderer early on in this one, the novel still held enough surprises to keep me turning pages late into the night. I'm especially enjoying the growing relationship between Maeve and Josh, the latter of whom gets some much needed humanizing in The Kill. The ending of this one made me sad, but it also left me hankering for the next book (and the next and the next ...).

(Readalikes: other books in the Maeve Kerrigan series, including Left For Dead [novella]; The Burning; The Reckoning; The Last Girl; The Stranger You Know; After the Fire; and Let the Dead Speak; also reminds me of books by Tana French and Sharon Bolton)

Grade: