Their Burning Graves (Morgan Brookes #8) by Helen Phifer
Genre: Crime fiction, Crime thriller, Police procedural
Read: 22nd December 2022
Published: 19th December 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
They are picture perfect. A young, happy family sat around the kitchen table. But no one moves as wisps of smoke filter into the room and the house becomes a burning grave around them…
When reports come in of a family trapped in a burning house, Detective Morgan Brookes rushes to the scene. But as soon as she enters the ruined home, she is devastated by what she finds. Tied to the kitchen table, Sally and David Lawson, and their young son, had no chance of escaping the flames and the smoke…
Neighbours all agree the Lawsons were the perfect family, and CCTV shows nothing suspicious. Morgan’s only clue is the silver crucifix necklace around Sally’s neck. Because according to friends, she wasn’t religious. Was someone passing divine judgement on this mother and her family?
Focusing on Sally’s last steps, Morgan gets the breakthrough she needs – just days ago Sally had confided in a friend that she felt someone was watching her. And when Morgan finds photos of Sally on her neighbour Luke’s phone, all the pieces slot together.
Only then another local woman reports feeling watched. Nothing seems to link her to Luke, but Morgan can’t ignore it. Could the killer still be out there? Going deeper into Sally’s past and uncovering the killer’s motivations is her only chance to save more innocent lives, but can she solve the twisted puzzle in time?
MY THOUGHTS:
I just adore Helen Phifer's books and this series is one of my favourites, despite Morgan's ability to get into sticky situations all on her own with no back-up and I have to wonder...does she never learn? LOL Nevertheless, I am always eager to dive into whatever latest installment that awaits whilst piecing together all the clues Phifer drip-feeds her readers throughout. And of course I was not disappointed.
THEIR BURNING GRAVES is the eighth book in this exciting series and as with each other the characters simply grow beneath the tip of Phifer's pen. I love their camaraderie and banter and seeing how far loner Morgan has come since the first book that I read, which was in fact the second book in the series "The Killer's Girl". I still have the very first one sitting on my shelf to get to one of these days so that I can go back and see how and where it all began.
THEIR BURNING GRAVES opens with a shocking prologue and scenes of carnage that the reader just knows will come back to bite someone in the butt when they least expect it. I mean, that's how crime thrillers like this go, right? But in the final paragraphs of this opening, there is enough there to send chills down your spine as you can picture the scene as if you had witnessed it in reality.
Morgan Brookes is recovering from a sprained ankle she gained at the close of their last case in which they lost a fellow colleague and friend, Des Black. The team are still reeling from his loss, even blaming themselves, leaving them a team member down with just the three of them.
And then are called to a scene in which three family members are found dead around the kitchen table. Their neighbour called in to report their house on fire but that isn't what killed them. And that isn't the worst of it by any means. But who wanted Sally and David Lawson, and their their 14 year old son Tim, dead?
The Lawsons appear, on the surface, to the perfect family. They lived in a beautiful house in an affluent part of Rydal Falls so why were they targeted? No matter how deep they dig or what they uncover, Morgan feels sure that this crime was personal. But why? And who was the real target of these murders? Was it David, the English lecturer? Or Sally, the beauty salon owner? Or maybe it was Tim, the student who had suddenly fallen behind in his grades and had been lured to the dark web? But then what of the scene? Why was Sally wearing a crucifix if she wasn't religious? Why was the entire family murdered if only one of them was the target?
A chance encounter leads Morgan to a cafe-come-store called Practical Magic, after one of Morgan's favourite movies, where she meets the owner Annie. When Annie alerts her to concerns for one of her regular customers, Morgan is quick to lend a hand but is soon left thinking - what does it all mean? And how is it linked to the Lawson murder?
Can Morgan piece it all together and save another woman and her family from an obsessed and vengeful killer before it's too late?
Helen Phifer truly does it again with this heart-pounding addition to an already exciting series that was a quick read I read in a day. But I do find myself shaking my head at Morgan and wondering when will she ever learn? Time and time again, she puts herself in harm's way without back-up as if she is a a one woman crusader of the bionic kind that no killer can touch. Yes, it is exciting and makes for thrilling reading, but seriously, after eight books Morgan, you should know better by now. As much as I love this series and it does get better and better, I do tire sometimes of Morgan's relentless going in single-handedly to save the day. Can she not at least have a partner on hand to aid her should it all go pear-shaped? Does she always have to go it alone? I'm sorry, but for me common sense prevails. And in reality, Morgan would have been hauled over the coals for continually putting herself in danger. But I know I know...it's just a book. And of course, it makes for exciting reading. Her behaviour just frustrates me sometimes when she really should know better.
That aside, THEIR BURNING GRAVES is a brilliant read I devoured in a day. Although I found the mystery an easier puzzle this time round and easily pieced most of it together before the final showdown, it didn't ruin my enjoyment of it by any means. What I did find a little puzzling was a possible red herring that kind of backfired when Morgan was questioning a person of interest and was left feeling spooked by their summation of events and thinking to herself that she hadn't disclosed that information to them. But if you go back a few pages in that conversation, she did indeed reveal the very information she said she hadn't. So I feel that this was meant to be a red herring to put readers off the track but in the end it was kind of redundant.
Another point was the non-existent mobile phone signal at one of the scenes where Morgan couldn't call in to the station until she had left and signal had returned, but at the end she was at that very same place when she received a call on her phone...and yet throughout the entire book there had been no signal??
I did feel some of the stories of those involved weren't wrapped up as neatly this time round and I would have liked to see Maggie one last time as she was such an endearing character. I wouldn't mind sitting at her table and sampling her goodies.
Nevertheless, THEIR BURNING GRAVES is a fantastic addition to the series and an exciting story that unfolded superbly. I still enjoy the team's camaraderie and even miss Des, as irritating as he could be at times, but I welcome to addition of their newest member to the team as I feel he will be an incredible asset to them, as he was already an endearing character.
I did miss one character, though she did get a mention. Ettie. She is delightful and I would love to see more of her. I hope we do.
The ending was a little unexpected, as it usually ended with Morgan and Ben debriefing in some way. It wasn't as if it had left the space open to continue onto the next book as it was only relevant to this story. I didn't not like it, it was just different to what I had expected. However, I did thoroughly enjoy this thrill-ride and look forward to the next installment for which I hope we don't have too long to wait...
I thoroughly recommend the entire Morgan Brookes series.
I would like to thank #HelenPhifer, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheirBurningGraves in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Helen lives in a small town in Cumbria. Surrounded by miles of coastline and only a short drive from the beautiful Lake District.
She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years.
Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.
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