The Elisenda Domenech Investigation Series by Chris Lloyd
The Elisenda Domenech Investigation Series by Chris Lloyd
Hello All!
Today I am here on the The Elisenda Domenech Investigation Series blog tour and I have for you a review of the first book in the series – spoiler – I CANNOT wait to read the next two!
Before I get into that part of the post though, here’s some information about all the books in the series!
About the Books
An intense and brilliantly realised crime thriller set in the myth-soaked streets of GironaA killer is targeting hate figures in the Catalan city of Girona – a loan shark, a corrupt priest, four thugs who have blighted the streets of the old quarter – leaving clues about his next victim through mysterious effigies left hung on a statue. Each corpse is posed in a way whose meaning no one can fathom. Which is precisely the point the murderer is trying to make.
Elisenda Domènech, the solitary and haunted head of the city’s newly-formed Serious Crime Unit, is determined to do all she can to stop the attacks. She believes the attacker is drawing on the city’s legends to choose his targets, but her colleagues aren’t convinced and her investigation is blocked at every turn.
Battling against the increasing sympathy towards the killer displayed by the press, the public and even some of the police, she finds herself forced to question her own values. But when the attacks start to include less deserving victims, the pressure is suddenly on Elisenda to stop him. The question is: how?
Be careful what you dig up…Still recovering from the tragedy that hit her team, Elisenda takes on a new case. Except it’s not new. On an archaeological dig by the coast a body is uncovered, seemingly executed with a spike thrust through the base of the skull – an ancient tribal ritual. It soon becomes clear that this body is neither ancient nor modern, but a mysterious corpse from the 1980s.
Assigned to the case along with her team, Elisenda soon uncovers a complex world of star archaeologists, jealousy and missing persons. They find a dark trade in illicit antiquities, riddled with vicious professional rivalries. And even though she’s staying close to the crime scene, Elisenda is also never far from enemies of her own within the police force.
Just as the case seems to become clear it is blown wide-open by another horrific murder. Elisenda must fight her personal demons and office politics, whilst continuing to uncover plots and hatreds that were long buried. How far will she go to solve the crime? Is her place in the force secure? And can she rebuild her life?
When a child disappears, the clock starts tickingDetective Elisenda Domènech has had a tough few years. The loss of her daughter and a team member; the constant battles against colleagues and judges; the harrowing murder investigations… But it’s about to get much worse.
When the son of a controversial local politician goes missing at election time, Elisenda is put on the case. They simply must solve it. Only the team also have to deal with a spate of horrifically violent break-ins. People are being brutalised in their own homes and the public demands answers.
Could there be a connection? Why is nobody giving a straight answer? And where is Elisenda’s key informant, apparently vanished off the face of the earth? With the body count threatening to increase and her place in the force on the line, the waters are rising…
Be careful not to drown.
My Review
How Long
I don’t often read books set abroad, especially not crime procedurals but I will definitely be rectifying that after finishing this book! City of Good Death is a compelling, mystery book that had me racing to reach the end to find out who the murderer was. Not only that, the location of Catalan plays a large role in the book and I absolutely loved learning more about the location and all of its myths and legends. This book was a very unique and gripping read.
Does It
What really won me over with this book was the way that the plot occurred. There were twists and turns that caused so many theories to appear in my brain but ultimately none of them were correct! I found it fascinating how Chris Lloyd has created a novel that is so very clever and still entertaining too. I am very much looking forward to reading more of his work for similar narrative style.
Take To
It took a short while for me to get all of the characters differentiated in my head but this is more to do with the vast number and the foreign names as opposed to being badly presented by Chris Lloyd. However, once I had them all filed away, I found them all really fascinating to read about. I specifically found Elisenda to be an intriguing protagonist for the book and loved how many pressures she was under and yet still managed to be kick ass and amazing at her job.
Catch a Killer
All in all, this was a very entertaining and interesting book to read. It kept me guessing throughout and I really came to love all of the main characters and cannot wait to read more about them in the next two books! This book is compelling, intense and mysterious. It is a book that many crime lovers will absolutely love as it holds a very interesting case between it’s pages. I would definitely recommend this book and I am also really looking forward to reading the next one!
About the Author
Chris was born in an ambulance racing through a town he’s only returned to once and that’s probably what did it. Soon after that, when he was about two months old, he moved with his family to West Africa, which pretty much sealed his expectation that life was one big exotic setting. He later studied Spanish and French at university, and straight after graduating, he hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia where he stayed for the next twenty-four years, falling in love with the people, the country, the language and Barcelona Football Club, probably in that order. Besides Catalonia, he’s also lived in Grenoble, the Basque Country and Madrid, teaching English, travel writing for Rough Guides and translating. He now lives in South Wales, where he works as a writer and a Catalan and Spanish translator, returning to Catalonia as often as he can.He writes the Elisenda Domènech series, featuring a police officer with the newly-devolved Catalan police force in the beautiful city of Girona. The third book in the series, City of Drowned Souls, is published on 6 February 2017.
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