Left for Dead (DI Amy Winter #3) by Caroline Mitchell
Genre: Crime fiction, Suspense, Crime Thriller
Read: 28th April 2021
Published: 8th July 2020
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
A victim on display. A detective on the rails.
Shopping with her sister, DI Amy Winter is admiring a Valentine’s Day window display of a perfect bride encrusted in diamonds and resplendent in lace—until she notices blood oozing from the mannequin’s mouth.
This is no stunt. A post-mortem reveals the victim was left to die on her macabre throne for all to see. When a second victim is found, it emerges that both women were ‘Sugar Babes’ arranging dates with older men online—and Amy finds herself hunting an accomplished psychopath.
As she tracks down the killer, Amy’s instincts go into overdrive when the charismatic head of the agency behind the display makes no attempt to hide his fascination with her serial-killer parents. What exactly does he want from Amy? With her own world in freefall as her biological mother, Lillian Grimes, appeals her conviction, Amy pushes the boundaries of police procedure when a third ‘Sugar Babe’ disappears…Is she as much at risk as the killer’s victims?
MY REVIEW:
The third in the DI Amy Winter series by former police detective Caroline Mitchell, LEFT FOR DEAD is a dark and tense thriller that I found myself immediately immersed in from the very first page. It's not a whodunnit as such because we learn who the villain is quite early on...and yet I still sat on tenterhooks throughout waiting for a twist to turn everything on its head. There is something rather chilling still within this cleverly-written thriller that keeps us on our toes throughout.
For a recap, Amy Winter is the daughter of "the Fred and Rose West" husband and wife serial killers Jack and Lillian Grimes but, as the youngest of the Grimes' children at aged four, was adopted to a loving family - the Winters. Her adoptive father Robert Grimes was in the police force and Amy and brother Craig followed in his footsteps. For Amy, Robert was her greatest role model whom she most wanted to emulate but upon learning that her biological parents were real life serial killers, her whole world almost shattered.
Now a DI with the Met, Amy is enjoying a day off shopping with her older sister Sally-Ann...while trying to put recent events of their mother's appeal to the back of their minds. Upon admiring an expertly designed window display of wedding dresses, Amy realises that the mannequin in the window is actually a dead woman. Springing into action, she gains access to the display to ascertain the condition of the woman whilst calling paramedics and for back-up. A subsequent post mortem reveals the victim, identified as Stacy, was drugged with a rare form of heroin and left to die for all to see.
Meanwhile, Amy's boss DCI Helen Pike has retired and she is shocked to discover that DCI Donovan has stepped into the role. The same Donovan she had shared a moment, and a kiss, with previously and with their fledgling relationship still relatively unexplored Amy is now unsure where things stand between them now that he is her boss. But not only is he her superior, he has swung things to allow them to use the old conference room as their shared office. Things could get a little cosy with two relative alphas in the same room.
Amy and Donovan (I'm not sure his first name was even mentioned in this book and I can't remember if it was revealed in the previous one either) are on a trip to Southend on their day off to interview the former fiance of a murder victim from twenty years ago that bears a striking resemblance to their current case. Schoolteacher Claire Lacey was murdered in her home one night after a drunken evening with her fiance Michael who was arrested for her murder, given that they were rowing rather publicly at the time before she left in a huff and flounced off home. But when speaking with Michael he revealed that Claire had taken one of her students under her wing who appeared troubled and having some difficulty, though she never revealed his name. Was this student involved in her death? Or was Michael just covering up for his own jealousy of her spending an inordinate amount of time with the student that went beyond the remit of her duties as a teacher? He sure seemed to be hiding something when hurriedly let them out the back way after Amy and Donovan questioned him when his wife and children arrived home.
On their way back from Southend, Amy received a call from her brother who had picked up a case that appeared to be linked to theirs. A woman had been found strung up in the National Museum unconscious but alive, barely. The killer has made a mistake in leaving his victim alive...or was that an accident? Hopefully she will be able to identify her attacker. But one thing that soon emerges is that both women were "Sugar Babes", using an app to arrange dates with older men online. Is this how their killer found his victims?
When the killer has a third women in his sights, time is running out for Amy as she endeavours to drive the final nail in his coffin and arrest him before any more women fall victim to his charismatic charms and psychopathic traits. But how can she when someone else has confessed to the crimes and her superiors appear to be satisfied with the result?
Amy and her team are hunting a deadly psychopath who will stop at nothing to achieve his ultimate fantasy. Her radar pings loudly by the head of a media agency behind the window display in which the first victim was found who makes no attempt to hide his fascination with her serial killer parents. It seems, in her, he believes he has found a kindred spirit and that a dark side looms within Amy as well.
In her previous life before she was adopted as a child, Amy was Poppy Grimes, youngest daughter of serial killer parents Jack and Lillian Grimes. Unlike her older siblings - Sally-Ann, Mandy and Damian - Poppy was given the chance at a new life and a new start with the Winter family, starting with a new name. Now Amy must face her haunted past when her biological mother applied for an appeal against her original conviction, based on evidence Amy herself uncovered, and is now the subject of a new trial. Unfortunately, Amy finds that she must give evidence for the defence in her mother's favour but she also remembers the abuse and neglect in the Grimes household. Knowing full well what her mother is capable of, Amy fears that she may well be acquitted this time round...especially as her sisters appear to have changed their tune towards Lillian. But why? What hold has Lillian over them?
Will Amy be able to bring the real killer to justice before it's too late? And face the ghosts of her past whilst putting them to bed once and for all?
A gripping story, LEFT FOR DEAD is a fast paced story with a cleverly written plot. Despite learning the identity of the killer from the outset, it didn't ruin the story at all...in fact it kind of gave it an edge. It was like watching the TV shows "Dexter" or "The Fall" where we know who the killer is and follow their respective journeys learning how they pick their victims and how they taunt police. But unlike those two shows, there was nothing to like about this killer. Although everyone around him adored him and had not a bad word to say about him, we saw his darker sinister side and we don't like him. But it does add a chilling curve to the story.
I really like Amy, although I'm not generally a fan of strong female leads who tend to throw caution to the wind and end up going rogue when they have clearly been told to toe the line. But there is something vulnerable about Amy that endears her to me. The fact that she has such a cloudy background makes for a very interesting sub-plot. I'm looking forward to see how things pan out for her in that regard in the next book.
LEFT FOR DEAD can be read as a standalone but it is a series that is best started from the beginning. Having said that, I did not read the first book but came in on the second one. However, it's been two years since I had read that and I didn't remember a whole lot when beginning this book. Granted some of it came back to me as I delved further in and Amy's past was reignited once again, but as I really didn't remember much from the second one I can safely say the reader can glean enough background to keep up with the current state of play. It's only that the main theme that plays out over all three books and then-some really began in the first one which is why I recommend reading them from the beginning.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed LEFT FOR DEAD and Amy Winter is fast becoming one of my favourite detective series. I love crime fiction procedurals with a difference...and this one definitely offers that! Not many could cite having serial killers for parents on their CV, could they?
Perfect for fans of darker crime fiction like Katerina Diamond and Carla Kovach.
I would like to thank #CarolineMitchell, #Netgalley and #AmazonPub for an ARC of #LeftForDead in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
As well as her crime series, Caroline also writes stand-alone psychological thrillers. The most recent, Silent Victim reached the Amazon number 1 spot in the UK, US and Australia and won first place as best psychological thriller in the US Reader’s Favourite Awards. Her previous thriller, Witness, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Awards in New York. She has also been shortlisted for ‘Best Procedural’ in the Killer Nashville awards. Her crime thriller, Truth And Lies recently became a No.1 New York Times best seller and has been optioned for TV. Her works have been translated worldwide and her book, The Silent Twin, has been converted as an interactive app in the Chapters Interactive game.
Set in Shoreditch, London, her DS Ruby Preston trilogy is described as terrifying, addictive serial killer thrillers. Of her psychological thrillers, the most recent, Silent Victim, has been described as 'brilliantly gripping and deliciously creepy'. Her thrilling new DI Amy Winter series is published by Thomas & Mercer.
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