My Hands Are Tied (DCI Morton #7) bt Sean Campbell
Genre: Crime fiction, Police procedural, mystery
Read: 23rd October 2020
Published; 1st November 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A last-minute wedding invite drags DCI Morton and his wife to the grounds of Terra Farm to watch his son marry the fiancée they’ve never met.
Nerves about meeting the bride prove to be the least of their worries when they’re awoken by gunshots and one of the guests – the bride’s ex – is found dead.
When Morton’s son becomes the prime suspect, the choice is simple: sit back and let another detective work to imprison his son, or work outside the rules to clear the family name.
As if he had any choice.
MY HANDS ARE TIED is the 7th and final instalment in the DCI Morton series of crime novels. Please note this book was previously published as Double Blind.
MY REVIEW:
When author Sean Campbell put a call out for reviewers to read and review the last DCI Morton book, I jumped at the chance despite never having read the rest of the series. However, that didn't matter as MY HANDS ARE TIED can safely be read as a standalone.
DCI Morton's estranged son Stephen is getting married and Morton and his wife Sarah are invited to the event which takes place on a farm in the middle of Putney! Morton declared never having known a farm existed in such close proximity to London. However, this was a chance to bury the hatchet with his son and welcome his chosen bride into the family. As if it would be that easy!
Morton and Sarah have not long wound their way through a series of hedges before they find themselves standing in front of a wrought island gate. A camera has noted their arrival and the appearance of a young woman in a floaty white gown to open the gate has them puzzling as to what kind of farm this is. They are informed that the "binding ceremony" was to take place in the barn, their seats a selection of bales of hay. They enter to find their son Stephen kneeling in silent contemplation at the altar, having meditated for twenty four hours prior to the ceremony, as is customary. By now, both parents are equally puzzled. But even more so with the arrival of the bride who looks anything but excited. In fact, she looks daunted by the prospect if not a little frightened. Added to that, she is being almost dragged in by two men with her hands bound behind her back. And then the ceremony begins, the couple reiterate their vows and bind themselves to "the Collective" and to each other. The Collective? Just what kind of place is this?
The reception is underway and everyone is suitably drunk, and Morton finds that neither he nor Sarah are capable of driving home. So at the group's insistence, they bed down in the spare room of Stephen and Abigail's bungalow. At 6am Morton is awoken by a gunshot and leaps out of bed, hurriedly dressing, before running to the where the rest of the Collective are now gathering. It seems one of the members has been shot dead in his bungalow, their leader having confiscated the gun and presenting it proudly to Morton.
Before long, Morton has set up an incident room in the living room of his son's bungalow and has called in his team - DIs Ayala, Rafferty and Mayberry along with a bunch of uniforms to secure the scene for the crime scene tech. But as he was present at the time of the murder and his son and new wife are possible suspects, Morton should recuse himself and pass the case off to another DCI to head up. But he cannot sit back and watch another detective work to imprison his son. So he has a choice...hand it over or work outside the rules to prove his son's innocence.
When the pathologist arrives and noting the lack of blood at the scene and petechiae in his eyes, declares the deceased to have been asphyxiated prior to being shot, Morton convinces him to hold off until Monday morning before uploading his report. That gives Morton 72 hours to investigate and find a murderer...or risk the end of his career. But who would shoot a dead man? Is there one murderer or is he now looking for two?
But the case is far from cut and dried as more obstacles are thrown his way as Morton sets out to investigate the Collective and their secrets, if only to wipe the smug smile of leader Lorenzo's face. But just how many secrets are this cult hiding? And can Morton uncover them in time?
As soon as I began MY HANDS ARE TIED, I found myself chuckling at the dry wit in the prose which was peppered throughout the story. I do love a little witty humour in a mystery and I think I probably would have enjoyed getting to know Morton had I read the previous books. But MY HANDS ARE TIED works well as a standalone, so if you haven't read any of the others like me, then you won't be left wandering through the dark with this final installment.
I found myself enjoying the book although there were times I felt it was bogged down with a few excess subplots that could confuse the reader if one was not paying attention. However, they were relative to the story and no unnecessary but it did slow it down a little I thought. But as with all red herrings they are discarded as the truth becomes clear and Morton redeems himself at the eleventh hour. But is it too late?
Stories about cults are not my favourite as I find them predictably frustrating as the detective is generally lead a merry chase, but whilst this was the case for some part it wasn't for the rest. I actually quite enjoyed the mystery and the secrets that were slowly revealed.
A somewhat different yet compelling mystery read by an author I had not yet tackled. Recommended for crime fiction buffs.
I would like to thank #SeanCampbell for an ARC of #MyHandsAreTied in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Despite a very traditional legal education culminating in being called to the Bar of England and Wales way back in 2011, Sean became an accidental proponent of the ‘portfolio career’. Despite a near-decade-long stint as a carer, he has been a full time author since 2012 and is responsible for the entire DCI Morton series (Dead on Demand, Cleaver Square, Ten Guilty Men, The Patient Killer, Missing Persons, The Evolution of a Serial Killer, and Double Blind). His works has been translated, narrated, and downloaded over two million times.
He now spends his days working out how to kill people without being caught, and then flipping the switch to play detective. His non-writing interests vary from photography and cinema to rugby and hiking. You can usually find him somewhere in one of London’s coffee shops – look for the big bearded guy taking up way too much room and hogging the wifi.
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